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Published: August 29th 2006
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We arrived in Puno as a starting point for seeing the lake, Amantani and the Uros floating islands. At an altitude of 3,827 meters, Puno is still the capital of Peru's altiplano - the harsh highland region much better suited to alpacas than to people! Puno is also the stepping-off point for exploring Titicaca with its amazing array of islands, Indian inhabitants and colourful traditions. Lake Titicaca is the worlds highest navigable lake and now the natural separation between Peru and Bolivia. It has a surface area exceeding 8,000 square kilometers.
Firstly, we took a boat across to the best-known of the islands, the floating reed Uros Islands. It was really strange to step onboard an island completely made of reed and walk around. The ground sinks beneath your feet and it feels quite unstable. We took a look at their reed houses, tasted the reed, which tasted a bit like celery (babies chew it as the stem is supposed to be good for them), saw all the handicrafts made of reed, boats made of reed, museums made of reed, churches made of reed...basically everything is made of reed. The people were clearly very used to visiting tourists and friendly.
Legend has it the Uro Indians had black blood that helped them survive the frigid nights on the water and safeguarded them from drowning. The last full-blooded Uro was a woman who died in 1959. Now, they are a mix of Uro, Aymara and Inca descendants who still follow the Uro ways. We visited one of the other islands via reed boat and the local children joined and entertained us with "Frere Jacques" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"...
Amantaní is another small island in Lake Titicaca populated by Quechua speakers. About 800 families live in six villages on the basically circular 15-square kilometer island. There are two mountain peaks, called Pachatata (Father Earth) and Pachamama (Mother Earth), and ancient ruins on the top of both peaks. The hillsides that rise up from the lake are terraced and planted with wheat, potatoes, and vegetables. Most of the small fields are worked by hand. Long stone fences divide the fields, and cattle, sheep, and alpacas graze on the hillsides.
There are no cars on the island, and no hotels. A few small stores sell basic goods, and there is a health clinic and school. Electricity is produced by a generator and
limited to a couple of hours each day. We were lucky enough upon arrival to be there for the sun festival (see pic). There was maypole dancing and the women wore brightly coloured skirts (it looked like they were wearing about 10 layers) and everyone looked slightly inebriated or maybe it was just incredibly dizzying to go around in a circle for 6 hours...fun all the same. Around the central square you could buy everything from knitted hats to scarfs, socks and mittens. Basically, everyone on the island, including the boys, learns to knit from a very young age. It is all taken very seriously (see pic).
Some of the families on Amantaní offer a meal or overnight stay to tourists and this is what we did. We spent a night with an Amantani family who fed and watered us and in return we offered food staples (cooking oil, rice, sugar), a recorder and colouring books for the children as gifts. The family were one of the more wealthy on the island and we even had the luxury of our own private bedroom. The house was very basic and the toilet outside. The kitchen (as you can see from
the photo) was nothing more than a small room built from adobe and with a fire in one corner for cooking. We heard squeaking at one point and realised this was coming from a cupboard where the family had at least 25 guinea pigs running around. We could only assume these were being stored for eating at a later date! (we actually tried alpaca and guinea pig in Peru and liked both, particularly the alpaca).
The children worked hard on their homework during our stay and it made us very grateful for our very comfortable upbringings whereby the want for a felt tip pen, calculator or notebook even was met with ease.
In the evening we were dressed in local attire (much to the families amusement, although this is no new event for them...they have guests stay 2-3 times a week in peak tourist season) and we attended a village hall dance which was lot of fun. We had a drink and were proud onlookers as one of our family was in the band (no less) and played at least 2 instruments. The locals greeted us with fervour and we enjoyed the dancing and amused ourselves with each others
unusual outfits.
The next day we headed back to Puno and made our way to La Paz in Bolivia.
Our time in La Paz was fairly short lived and we didn´t particularly like the city much. Although some parts are wealthier than others (there is a very large divide between rich and poor), the city on the whole is very dirty and the people are not very hygienic. The children are taught from a young age to go to the toilet anywhere and everywhere and you see people (old and young) just going to the loo anywhere they like which is a bit gross. Also, the food was poor. There is very little fresh produce you would actually want to eat. We did however do a city tour and managed to see the government buildings (with all its bullet marks!) moon valley (really weird!) the witches market (see pic below...the witches sell dead llama foetuses for burying under newly built houses. This protects the new home from bad spirits apparently).
Bolivia is the poorest country in South America and La Paz is the administrative capital, standing at an altitude of 3660m. Sucre is the legal capital and Bolivians
would much rather Sucre be considered representative of their country...partly because it is a lot nicer...with its colonial buildings and gentler climate. We spent our time in both La Paz and Sucre around National day and celebrations were ongoing. We even heard the prime minister (Evo Morales) was playing football in one of Bolivia´s largest stadiums to celebrate the event! (Imagine Tony Blair in his footy "get-up", playing at Wembley...)
Our next stop would be the salt lakes and we were really looking forward to this...
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Marky
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Looking good?! :)
Ha ha that is classic! particularly sexy dresses not to mention extraordinary head gear! i just want to cuddle both you two nanna sherpas or maybe lady lamas is more appropriate! :) And those little kids are so cute! they look like little porcelain pigmys! i want one for my bookshelf at work! bring me one to oz! :) xxx