Isla Taquile - tranquile and thunderous

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Hola all!

So after our exhausting Inca Trail experience we planned to play it cool for about a week to reboot and relax. Although in the end that meant lots of night bus journeys (possibly the worse way to catch up on sleep) and a growing awareness of time slipping away.

Before we took the night bus to puno the day after finishing the inca trail we planned a relaxing day of blogging, laundrying and catching up with some friends made on the trail. The day quickly developed into a maelstrom of organisational chaos - the computers were slow and continuously deleted our attempted photo uploads and finding out bus times and booking them turned out to be much more complicated than planned, meaning we might even miss picking up our laundry. We were given different information by everyone asked when the last bus was and when we should arrive to buy tickets. even the iPeru information office didn't know! So rather annoyingly we had to rush dinner (missing our friends) take our bags out of storage early and stuff our laundry in as we hailed a taxi.

In the end all the stress and hassle was, of course, for nothing. We arrived at around 8 and managed to very easily get a bus that left for puno at 11 15, later than anyone told us. also as we sat for 3 hours watching our bus company's stall we realised we could have easily arrived an hour before and still there would have been space. But ah well. We managed to get some computer time in a station internet cafe, though this did mean we almost missed our bus. Due to more baffling peruvian organisational methods we came back to the bus stand 10 minutes before load-in time and a good 35 minutes before departure time so that we would be ready in lots of time. however, as we descended the stairs into the now empty bus station our bus lady came steaming towards and quickly through us through the several tax counters out into the bus park where we could see out bus already leaving a good 30 minutes early! we ran for it and managed to stop it and get on. but why!? why would they do that!? the mind baffles, though luckily we did manage to sneak into the imperial class rather than the standard seats due to the rushing stewards, so all was well.

when we arrived in puno in the early morning we immedietly took the first local boat we found to isla taquile. this of course meant they told us 7am departure but left at 7 45. we were knackered still from the trail and bus journey (plus I (tom) wasn´t feeling all too well) and the ludicrisly still waters of lake titicaca sent us to sleep, despite the morning sun and lake wind. though we did see lots of the journey and it certainly is a unique place. lake titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world at well over 4000m above sea level and also the largest lake in south america at something like 60km by 170km. it also has an amusing name.

we arrived on isla taquile, one of two permanently populated islands on the peruvian side of the lake, just before lunch time and then had the massively demoralising task of having to lug our bags up the very steep ancient steps to the peak of the island. connie's bag was taken half the way by our family host which was... very friendly of them.

the island is a tiny place with no cars or mains electricity. islanders are obviously not doing too badly though as many houses have small solar panels. like every different region in peru the islanders have their only special traditions, expecially obvious in their clothing. the men wear hats that look a lot like old-fashioned night caps, only far more intricately embroidered with tiny waistcoats, big brightly coloured belts, thick white shirts and woollen trousers. Apparently whether there hat is white tipped or red tipped signafies their marrital status. the women wear big pleated skirts, sometimes several at a time and big black head shalls with tassels.

accomodation on the island is rotated around certain families in a kind of homestay arrangement. we turned out to be very lucky with our family as we'd heard that some offer very basic services. we had our own room and the food was excellent. we also met a really nice english couple from london who were our first experience of the trip so far of that classic travelling stereotype - the city slickers who realised their jobs were not only pointless but verging on evil and quit to travel the world for as long as possible. not they were actually at all stereotypes and we ennjoyed sharing travel tips and recomendations.

due to the remoteness of the island the attraction of the island is well... it's remoteness. we strolled around the island taking in the stunning scenery of the lake and island and watching rural island life. particularily enjoying our superiority when the island is flooded for about 3 hours every lunch time with tour groups who get to spend a stupidly short amount of time on the island. the calm day, however, quickly turned into an amazingly exciting evening. almost as soon as the sun went down the whole lake, well what we could see and hear, seemed to be descended upon by fiercesome stormclouds and what followed was one of the most awe-inspiring natural events of our lives. for almost 4 hours thunder clapped and lightning snapped all around the island, coming to a awesome climax when the height of the storm was right above us and a huge lightning fork hit ground on the island. it really was jaw on the floor stuff, especially with the flat lake water acting as a huge reflective mirror as the lightning flashed and cracked across the sky.

after the excitement of the night before we woke up early (again!) to find a spot on the island to watch the sunrise, which was very nice, if only slightly dissappointing due to the distant storm clouds blocking much of the sun's ascent.

the day turned into another pristine sunny day (as apparently it always does on the island) and we enjoyed strolling around again and also bought some local textile work from their co-operative shop. Connie got a very of the moment headband/earmuff type thing and for an anniversary present connie bought me a local waistcoat, though we did struggle to find ones european male size.

and then, after a hearty lunch of freshly caught trout, we took the 2pm boat back to puno to catch a night bus to arequipa.

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Comments

[anonymous]

Night bus to arequipa!!! Dooo dooo doo dooo do, doo doo doo dooo.

[Craig]

Taquille
Taquille is not tacky. Looks fantastic. I loved the rubber sole gate hinges. The thunderstorm sounded excellent - hey doesn't your camera have 'lightning mode'?