Puno and Lake Titicaca

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Ola,

Well, it finally happened. We arrived early at a destination!!! 45 minutes early no less!!! However, that 45 minutes early meant that it was 415am when we made it to Puno on the shores of lake Titicaca in southern Peru.

We were able to get cab to Bothy Hostel, where security let us in and was kind enough to let us crash in a room, even though we hadn't booked for that night. We got a few hours sleep, and then were treated to an excellent pancake breakfast on the roof, something that we also did not have to pay for. The hostel iotself wasn't the nicest, but what was lacking in paint was made up for in service.

Belinda, Val and Peter then were taken to the docks where we went out to Uros. Uros is a community of floating islands in the middle of the lake. Hundreds of years ago, the current inhabitants of the islands created them in order to protect themselves from some of the more aggresive peoples of from the mainland. Now, people still live there but they are largely touristy. It was cool to see how they made the reed islands by inter-weaving the reads together consistantly and they are quite strong, for the most part. Peter still managed to get his pants and shoes wet when he kind of slipped through the surface of the island. There was also a ridiculously cute little girl, the first one in Peru, running around selling her drawings for one sole so we had to buy some. We then visited another island that one could actually stay on, complete with electricty provided by solar power, before heading back to the mainland.

Valerie and Peter wandered around town for a little bit until they were picked up for their afternoon trip to Sillustani. Sillustani is located at 4000 metres on top of a windswept, and ridiculously dusty, plateau. The area was used as a cemetary by by different historic groups including the Inca. There are many large funerary towers there, all partially above and below ground and all have their doors facing the rising sun in the east. It was an interesting site to walk around.

We were dropped back off in Puno and we rejoined belinda at the hostel. We ordered pizza for dinner and tried to watch some of a movie before realizing that we were far too tired and heading to bed before 9pm.

Bye for now,
Peter and Valerie

Things we learned at Lake Titicaca.
-Floating reed islands cannot always support the waits of large Canadians
-Peter generally frightens little children

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