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Published: January 10th 2010
Islas Flotantes
Uros people awaiting our arrivalWe said goodbye to Cory and Cusco on the morning of the 27th and headed for Puno and Lake Titicaca. I've been told that Lake Titicaca is best seen from the Bolivian side, and I think I can see why now. Puno is nice enough, but doesn't really compare to Bolivia's port of Copacabana (at least from what I've seen in pictures and other blogs). But Americans have to pay around $150 to get the Bolivian visa, and we didn't feel it was worth it for only a couple of days.
Our first night there was pretty low-key... we sat in our hostel, watched TV, and drank tea. We left the next morning around 6:30AM for a boat tour of the lake.
It took about an hour to reach our first destination, Islas Flotantes (the Floating Islands). These islands are built by the Uros people by cutting and layering a kind of reed called totora. They have to continually layer more reeds on top, as the bottom layers rot away. The Uros use totora for everything from boats to homes to crafts, and it can even be eaten (tastes like lettuce).
It was pretty cool to see, but the whole thing
Gateway arch
Islas Flotantes has become so touristy that it almost has a Disney feel to it. As I said to Sun Mi and Laurie, it made me feel like I was visiting a new addition to the World Showcase at Epcot. The guide would say, "See how a traditional woman spends her day on the islands," and on cue, the woman would run over, plop down, and begin sewing... And of course, you could buy whatever she was making!
For what it's worth, it's certainly an experience and others may appreciate it more than me; I'm not trying to discourage anyone from going -- I'm just giving my impression of it.
After Islas Flotantes, we continued for another 2.5 hours to reach Isla Taquile. There isn't much to do, unless you opt to do an overnight homestay, but the views of the lake are quite breathtaking. Due to our tight schedule, we pretty much just got off the boat, walked to the top of the island (which is also the center of town), had lunch, and then walked down the opposite side, where we got back on the boat and set sail back to Puno.
The following day Laurie headed
Cute kids
Islas Flotantes back to Cusco and Sun Mi and I took a bus to Arequipa.
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brenna
non-member comment
howdy
Loving the story and pictures! I was bragging about you yesterday to Andrea. ;) You go, world traveler! Miss you!