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Published: September 30th 2008
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(Catherine)
Our final destination in Peru was Puno, on the shores of Lake Titicaca, a three-hour bus journey from Cuzco. We´ve found bus journeys in Peru highly amusing because the normally calm Peruvian people become very impatient when it comes to public transport. If a bus is due to leave at 10am and it hasn´t moved by 10.01am the passengers will start stamping their feet on the floor and shouting 'Vamos!' meaning 'Let´s go!´. The same thing happens if the bus stops for more than a minute along the way. Passengers on this particular journey became very aggitated when the bus stopped at the side of the road for almost 10 minutes - there was stamping, shouting, banging on the bus door and, in one man´s case, a fully-blown argument with the driver! It was a far cry from bus journeys in Asia where stopping every 20 minutes for no apparent reason seems to be perfectly acceptable!
Our main reason for stopping at Puno was to visit the nearby floating islands of Uros, made from layers of reeds, which Lonely Planet describes as 'shockingly commercialized´. We thought if we were going to do the tourist thang we may as
well go the whole hog and booked a two-day tour which included visits to the floating islands, the islands of Taquile and Amantani and a homestay with a local family (with the promise of getting to dress up in traditional costume!).
The floating islands were a truly unique experience. I´d imagined there would just be a few of them and they´d be fairly big but there were loads and they were tiny - only a few families lived on each one. When you walked you could feel the island moving underneath your feet - a very strange sensation. Our guide explained how the islands are made (new reeds are constantly being added to the top as the ones underneath rot away), we got to go for a ride in the islanders reed boat and, of course, we bought reed souvenirs from the stalls the islanders had set up!
Our next stop was Isla Taquile, a few hours boat ride away. We were met on arrival by our host family and were very pleased to discover that another couple would be staying in the same house as us - that would make the whole experience a little less strange!
How it´s Made
This model shows how the islands are made - they begin with lots of earth then add criss-crossed reeds on top. After a very plain home-cooked meal, the two oldest daughters helped us change into traditional costume for the highlight of our stay - a fiesta with the locals!
The first half an hour of the fiesta was great fun. We laughed at each other´s clothing, listened to a band, danced around a fire and drank a few beers. But then it all started to get a little samey - the only dance move the locals seemed to know was holding hands and moving around in a big circle. Every so often, someone would try to liven things up a bit by suddenly going faster or changing direction! Needless to say, we were quite pleased when our host daughter decided it was time to take us home!
After visiting the final island, Isla Amantani, the next morning, we headed back to Puno. The islands trip had certainly been the ´shockingly commercialized´ experience Lonely Planet had warned us about, but parts of it were also very enjoyable, and when you´re prepared for something to be touristy I think sometimes that can be half the fun!
From Puno we crossed into Bolivia and spent a few days in Copacabana, also
Unusual Hairdo
All the floating island women wore big pom-poms in their hair. on the shores of Lake Titicaca. The main attraction in Copacabana is a visit to Isla Del Sol but it sounded pretty similar to the islands we´d been to in Puno so we decided to give it a miss. Instead, we opted to do the Yampupata to Copacabana trek, a 17km walk with stunning scenery. Most people walk there and back which takes about 8 hours but we cheated and got a taxi out there so we just had to walk one way - the only sensible option when faced with heat and altitude!
On our last day in Copacabana we headed to the cathedral to watch the daily blessing of automobiles ceremony, which was fascinating. People bring their cars, vans, and in one case a public bus, decorate them with flowers, pour sparkling wine or beer over them (what a waste!) and have them blessed by the priest so they will be kept safe on the road. There were about 15 vehicles being blessed that day and it was a real event for the people involved.
Later that day, when we saw the bus we were to travel to our next destination on, we hoped that had
A Reed Boat
The inside of the boat is filled with thousands of empty plastic bottles to make it float. been blessed recently too!
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