Advertisement
Published: August 6th 2007
We departed Arequipa on a bus destined for Puno, a supposed 6 hour journey away but due to a breakdown and some quick (ish) roadside repairs it took closer to 8. At least it gave us a much needed toilet break.
Puno is a small port on the Peruvian shores of Lake Titicaca. The town is largely uninteresting and quite dirty but it’s a perfect base from which to explore the lake’s various islands. The vast lake (altitude 3820m) is South America’s biggest lake and is also the highest navigable lake in the world. It straddles the border between Peru and Bolivia, with 60% owned by Peru, a fact that the Peruvians seem very proud of.
We arrived quite late from the bus but thankfully were able to find a hostel with ease, and organise through the hostel our trip to the Islas Flotantes (Floating Islands) the next morning, and a bus to our next destination across the border in Bolivia in the afternoon saving us from spending any more time than necessary in Puno.
We were picked up (almost on time) by our tour company early the next morning and after picking up several other members of
the group, dropped off at one of the piers at the port, we then took a ‘speed’ boat to the floating islands. These islands are used by the Uros people and they were originally created to isolate themselves from the aggressive Incas. There are approximately 40 islands still in use today with several hundred people living on them. We were taken to one island which seemed to be used only by this tour company, and greeted by the ‘president’ of the island. This particular island housed seven families and this gent has been elected by them to be their spokesperson. We were talked through how the islands are created and how these people live their lives. They trade fish caught in the lake for other necessities in the town and make a whole host of sellable crafts from the reeds used to create their islands, homes and boats. The reeds are constantly replenished from the top as they rot away at the bottom which gives quite a spring to the step as you walk over them. The homes are also completely portable, so if the view isn’t quite right they can always pick them up and move them to a
different part of the island. The islands are anchored to the lake bed using ropes with large stones and stakes attached. The islands can (and do) move, and the inhabitants joked about waking up in Bolivia, which although a gross exaggeration, in bad weather they can wake to find themselves in a completely different location than when they went to sleep.
We were warned beforehand that the islands are shockingly over commercialised due to their popularity, but we found the islands incredibly interesting and although a large chunk of the islanders revenue now comes from tourists, they still live their lives largely the same way they have for centuries, bound to the reeds and lake which make pretty much every part of it possible.
Once back on shore, we headed over to the bus terminal for our three hour journey to Copacabana (Copa) on the Bolivian side of the lake. We passed through the border fairly easily though it did seem that the police on the Peruvian side were creaming off the people from richer nations so they could be searched and checked for ‘fake dollars’ a well known scam where they distract you while checking your wallet
then switch your real dollars for fake ones then send you on you merry way unaware you’ve just been ripped off. Thankfully I’d heard about this so made sure I had no dollars on me, Faye was a great source of amusement as I think they’re unused to people having no money on them whatsoever.
We’d stopped in Copa as it’s a great place to stay if you want to visit the Isla Del Sol (Island of the Sun), this island is the legendary Inca creation site and the birthplace of the sun in Inca mythology, so early in the morning we set out on a supposed short 3 hour trek to Yampupata, a village just across the water, planning to spend the night on the island itself. Following the directions set out in the guide book we made our way out of the town and through open farmland, soon discovering that we couldn’t see any of the landmarks set out in the book. Finally admitting that we had no idea where we were, we just figured we’d follow the shoreline assuming we’d get there in the end. It was a really pleasant walk; the weather was glorious, we got
incredible views of the lake and we got to see how rural Bolivia lives. After 4 hours of up and downhill hiking however the novelty started to wear out and we really started to wonder how much further it could be but thankfully a young chap came along on a bike and we got to practise our Spanish some more. He told us that Yampupata was another 3 hour walk along the road, but if we wanted, we could walk to his boat which was only an hour away and he’d row us the rest of the way. This sounded like a fantastic idea so we followed him on his bike making extremely small talk as our Spanish is still terrible.
After half an hour or so he led us through a small farm where we met up with an old guy (we can only assume his father) and he grabbed some equipment for the boat. The four of us then headed down to a small makeshift pier and onto his boat. We soon headed off, Faye and I kicked back ready to enjoy the ride, while the two guys grabbed a pair of oars each and started rowing.
A few minutes in though, Faye noticed that the bottom of the boat was filling with water, after which the older guy turned around and handed us a couple of buckets and made some bailing out motions. We’d been told previously that due to the density of the water in the lake, the temperature of the water and the lack of oxygen in the atmosphere if Gringo’s were to fall in they’d only be able to last about 5 minutes before drowning, with this in mind we started bailing like crazy.
In all it took about 2 hours of rowing for the guys to get us along the shore and onto the island. All along the way we could see the path we would of taken if we’d of carried on so we were all the more thankful that we’d accepted the offer of the ride even if we did have to do some work in the end to get there. It also only cost 40 Bolivianos which comes to the grand total of £2.66 so it was an absolute steal.
We spent the night in fairly good hostel on the island (although the whole islands electricity gets
View from the Island Of The Sun.
That´s our row boat, although they put the sail up for the return journey!turned off at 8pm) and then headed down to the island pier early in the morning as we’d heard we’d be able to catch a speed boat with some locals all the way back to Copacabana, and as our legs still hurt from the previous days hiking we really didn’t want to have to rely on our map reading skills again to get us back. Once we arrived back in Copa we were able to book ourselves onto a bus, leaving for La Paz in a couple of hours, which left nothing else to do by the lake except enjoy some breakfast and soak up the morning sun!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.325s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 29; qc: 108; dbt: 0.1475s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.4mb
rockape100
non-member comment
sore feet!!
the pictures are great, you seem to be having a great time. you'll be needing a new pair of boots in a couple of months, plus a new Goretex jacket, nevermind it was worth the rip! XXXXX