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Published: November 25th 2007
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Paddle boats on Lake Titicaca.
Yes, we rode around in the Pelican! Here we go again. . . it feels like every time I come to update this a months worth of events have taken place. I´ll do my best to catch the big events of the last week(ish).
Oh, and today is a special day because you will have 3 new blogs to read/glance over. Matt is writing his own take on the journey so far. I am as curious as you to see what he has to say about the adventure!
Last time I wrote I believe we were off to see Lake Titicaca for the first time! The Peruian side of the lake, in Puno, is very different from the Bolivian side. The lake is really pretty, but polluted close to the towns. There is a small amusement park and a ton of people trying to see you boat rides to the floating islands. Even with that being said, it was FAR less touristy than Cusco!
Here is a typical South American event for you. We went to see on old ship that was brought from Europe in the 1800´s. It was shipped to Chile, taken by train to the Andes, and carried in pieces by mules
Matt and his Guinie Pig!
Not to sound cliche, but it did taste like the dark meat on chicken! Surprisingly good! where it was reassembled on Lake Titicaca. It is now a museum that is docked in Puno, or at least it was. Now, it wasn´t the purpose of our trip to Lake Titicaca, but we thought visiting the museum would give us something to do that first afternoon. Well, we took a cab to the "museum" to find that it had floated away! Yeah South America! Oh, and there was a big, white guy (he looked American) who had his arms crossed and was frowning as the boat/museum floated away 😊 We loved it!
We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the extensive markets that line the streets of Puno. We know where all the left over Goodwill clothing go when they die! It was nice to see a market that wasn´t aimed at selling overpriced trinkets to the gullable tourists!
The next day we took a boat out to see the floating island. The islands themselves were beautiful and would have been great if they weren´t so touristy. Yeah, I know. . . . . we were one of the tourists that helped make them like they are today! At least we didn´t stay the
Matt and Claudia!
Pizza place in Puno. night, where they make the tourists dress in the traditional clothing and dance! Even that is a little too much for us!
Oh, here is another "South America" for you. We got on the first boat to ride over to the floating island. We noticed about 10 mins into the boat ride that the motor wasn´t sounding like it was going to make it. The "captian" of the boat went and pulled some extra spark and tried desperately to replace them before the motor died completely. However, is efforts were all for naught. . . the boat died.
Lucky for us, boat #2 came to the rescue! So, the 10 passengers from boat #1 joined the 10 passengers on boat #2. We thought we were off to see the floating islands. Unfortunately, the battery of boat #2 decided to die! Lucky for us he had a spare battery! Unlucky for us, that one was dead too! So the "captain" of boat #2 tries to rig them together with some ragged wire. The only problem, as Matt pointed out, is that the "captian" was wiring the batteries together backwards, which made Matt very nervous! Lucky for everyone on the
boat Matt came to the rescue, almost.
After Matt wired the batteries together (the right way) they still wouldn´t start. But lucky for us boat #3 came to the rescue. So the 20 people from boat #2, joined the 20 passengers from bat #3, and off to the islands we went! It all makes for better vacation stories, right!¿!
The next day we decided that we´d had enough of Puno and caught a bus to Copacabana, Bolivia. We changed our original plan of traveling back across Peru and into into Chile. Instead we decided to travel through Bolivia into Argentina. .. . . either way we are heading south!
Copacabana is really pretty and clean in comparison to Puno! We stayed in a decent hotel (it was only $12) that overlooked the lake. Seeing that we were so close the water, and Matt had yet to go fishing in South America, guess what we did the first morning! That´s right, I sat in the kayak while Matt tried to catch fish. Now, it didn´t matter that everyone told him there were no fish to catch in Lake Titicaca, he had to find out for himself. After fighting
the current for about 2 hours, he determined it was a hopeless cause. Instead we went to town, started to plan our Thanksgiving in Bolivia, and drank a $3 bottle of wine on the beach. Much more productive as far as I´m concerned.
The next day we took a boat out to the Isla del Sol. It is about 60 min boat ride from Copacabana. Little did we know that was going to be the easiest part of the journey by far! Once we got to the island we were greeted by a boy around 8yrs to took us to a hostel on the hill. I mean WAY up on the hill. With our huge backpacks and lack of oxygen, I never though we were going to make it! It took us a while, and we looked horrible when we got there, but we made it to the top.
Naturally, the first thing we did was drop off our bags and head to the highest point on the island. It just wouldn´t be right if we didn´t climb to the top of everything! There were sheep, pigs, and llamas all over the island that we had to navigate
One of the Islands.
At least we made it! through on the way to the top. In the distance we would see the storms rolling in from all sides. We got some great pictures but knew we needed to find shelter, quickly!
There was a sign for a restaurant that claimed to be the ¨"best on the island". While we were skeptical of this, we really need a place to hide out while the storms passed. We planned on just getting some coffee to warm up but the owner talked us into trying to the trout. We were sooooo glad we did. It was some of the best trout we had ever had. it was huge, and we are pretty sure that he went down to the tank and killed it right after we ordered. We at the appox. 17in trout, rice, french fries, vegetables, large beer, and coffee for less than $7! We LOVE Bolivia! While we couldn´t wait out the storm because it was getting dark, at least we got to go back to the hostel with a full stomach!
The next moring to took the boat back to Copacabana and started our shopping for Thanksgiving dinner. Trying to find the ingredients for a big
dinner, with very limited Spanish, is an interesting experience to say the least. However, as the day went on I started getting few confused looks! I´ll take that as a sign that my Spanish is getting a little bit better!
We tried to get as many of the¨"traditional" dishes as possible. No turkeys, but we did get half a chicken. We found sweet potates (the skins were purple but they tasted like home). Mashed potatoes, guacamole, stuffing (made on the stove because the oven didn´t work) and apples with cinamon and suger. It wasn´t perfect but is was close enough to feel like Thanksgiving for us.
The hostel we stayed at had a nice, clean kitchen and a living room with a large selection of movies. We spent all of Thanksgiving Thursday cooking, watching movies, and sampling the wines that were available in the little stores. Hopefully we can make something similar for Chirstmas!
We are now in Oruno, Bolivia waiting for our 17 hour train ride to the Argentina border that leaves at 7:00pm. All the nice tickets were sold out, so we will be sitting in the cattle car section of the train! I´m sure
it will lead to some interesting stories for the next blog!
PS. . . . don´t come to Oruno. . . there is NOTHING here! All the cool things listed in the guide book have closed.
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Erin (your mother type)
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Sounds like fun!
Hey thanks for the updates (I even understood most of yours, Matt :o). Sounds you are having a fantastic time--I want to go now. We are going to go join a gym today so maybe we can get in "climb to the top of very tall mountains shape". All is well here---Thanksgiving was nice and fairly quiet for a Dodson gathering---sounds like the Gibson gathering was pretty quiet too----guess that shows who the LOUD people are----they are in South America. Glad there are no more swollen feet and fat ankle (that's just gross) stories--- Be carful and keep having fun---- Later!