Trip to the Islands

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Hi everyone. Lorna here. I think that Ali is planning to blog later as well, so you will probably get two versions of our latest adventures, but that´s ok as I´m sure we will have different things to say!

First just a mention of Guinea Pig. A few of you have emailed me asking if I have tried it, and what it tastes like......well....no I haven´t tried it and frankly it looks gross. Back in Arequipa, a guy in our group ordered grilled Cuy (guinea pig). We were sitting up on the roof terrace when he ordered it.....several minutes later there was lots of squealing noises from the garden outside the kitchen....and shortly after there was a loud thud....and the squeaking stopped. 20 minutes later, the cuy arrived, laid out like road kill - thankfully no teeth hanging over the edge of the plate. Apparently it tastes like a cross between rabbit and chicken.....lots of bones and not a lot of meat. Bloody expensive too - about 30 soles....thats 5 pounds to you and me.....and thats a lot for a meal in peru!

Anyway....the trip to the islands. The day started with a visit to the doctor for me.....due to the blood in my sinuses and my now black eyes....a prescription for antibiotics, painkillers and 20 mins of oxygen and we were on our way. First of all we headed to the Uros Islands...this was a boat trip of about 30 minutes. Here we stopped off at a small island totally made of reeds and met the local people who lived there. From memory there were about seven families living in the islands, which was probably no larger than the size of a football pitch. It was pretty interesting...their whole life revolves around the reeds....the island is made of them, their houses are made of them, mattresses, boats etc all made of them....they even eat them! We were shown how they fix the reeds together to make the island and how they add new layers every few weeks as the bottom layers rot away. We then got to taste the reeds - not particularly nice or unpleasant, just bland and had a look round a house to see how they lived etc. They explained to us how if two neighbours have an argument, they just cut a chunk off the island and set the neighbour adrift, until they make up! Sounds cool.

We then had a ride in a reed boat and travelled for 10 minutes to another island, which was larger (but still made of reeds) and was I think, the capital island. There was a kind of strange museum here, which was basically full of stuffed birds - couldnt really work out what that was about.

All the people were really friendly....had lots of craft work for sale that they had made and most of it was really nice.

From the Uros Islands then, we spent a further 2.5 hours on the speedboat and travelled to Amantani Island, where we were all allocated a local family to stay with for the next 24 hours. This was an amazing day - kind of surreal, but gave such a fantastic insight into life on the islands.

Ali and I were allocated to a couple called Sabina and Raul. Both were in their early 30s but looked much much older....I guess in some ways that life on the islands is hard. Sabina walked us to her house high on the hillside overlooking the lake - the view was really beautiful and the peace and quiet is deafening. The walk was hard....still adapting to the altitude and still at 4000 plus metres. The house was very very basic but quite pretty. They had clearly made an effort with their guest room, which was upstairs. The room had a table, three beds, three pots for the night(!) and a couple of small windows looking over the lake. We didn´t see much of their living area other than the kitchen, but it looked very basic. Certainly the whole family, mum dad, three children aged 2 - 14 and grandparents all slept in the same room. The kitchen was a bit like something out of the flintstones and the toilet was "orange hut number 34" in the field next door. Most homes on the island had no electricity and relied on candle light, we were lucky in that we had a light in our room powered by solar panels - luxury.

So after being delivered to our room, we were basically left to settle in. This consisted of sitting on our beds shivering because out of the sun, the temp was really pretty cold! After about 30 minutes, Sabina returned with our lunch......a bowl of quinoa (spelling?) soup, followed by a plate of potatoes with a slice of cheese. As is obvious, food on the island is incredibly simple - they are largely vegetarian and eat hundreds of potatoes and lots of rice. The soup was actually pretty nice, the potatoes were kind of dry, but ok in their own way...and the cheese was...well, cheese. I felt really rude as still being ill, I really didn´t feel like eating much and had to leave most of it......hopefully they werent too offended.

After lunch, there was an organised hike up to the summit of the island. The doctor who I had seen in the morning had told me I wasn´t allowed to participate in this as it would make my sinuses and breathing worse so unfortunately I had to stay back at the house. Communication with Sabina and Raul was virtually impossible due to language (they spoke mainly Quechua with a small bit of Spanish), so I spent the two hours reading my book and sleeping. It really was very cold....I had on about 5 layers of clothing including thermal long johns, and was under 4 blankets but still shivering!

Ali shall have to tell you about the hike to the top of the island....

In the evening then, we were invited to share dinner chez flintstone with Sabina and Raul in the kitchen. It really was like a cave but kind of cosy. It felt really odd as they made us sit at the table, whilst they sat on rocks around the fire. Ever the perfect hosts! Dinner was again a bowl of Quinoa soup followed by a dish of pasta, beans and various other ´things´. Again, it was pretty tasty although simple. We managed a little bit of conversation over dinner...although the language barrier did throw up some obstacles...such as Raul indicating he was going to give Ali a chicken to wear to the dance that evening???!!! Raul was a star....he decided that eucalyptus tea was what I needed for my sinuses...so off he went into the night to pick some leaves and brew me up some tea! They´re great people - so hospitable.

At 8pm it was the shindig at the WI. Again, still feeling like crap I just retired to bed. I shall leave Ali to tell you what the dance consisted of....sounds like people had a good time though and a bit of a giggle.

Breakfast the next morning was pancakes and jam...yummy. Then we were off back down to the harbour to get our boat to Taquile Island. The stay with Raul and Sabina really was an experience...to see how simple their lives are and how content they are with this was humbling. The peace and quiet, totally stress free environment (although cold) was great. The night sky was phenomenal - I have NEVER seen stars like that before.....and if any of you ever make it to Peru and get a chance to spend a night on the islands, I would jump at the chance!

On the way back from Taquile Island that evening, we stopped off at a ship moored on Lake Titicaca. It is a British ship, which was broken up into several thousand pieces and transported on the back of donkeys across the Andes and then reassembled on the lake. Apparently it took 6 years to transport the whole thing there. The ship itself is nothing spectacular, but when you think about how it was transported I guess it makes it kind of special. I think that next year they are hoping to start taking tourists cruising around the islands on it.

Back in Puno then we went out for a slap up meal that night. Lovely food...unfortunately very rich though and after such a bland diet, it reignited the Inca 2-step for many of us. Hurrah!

The next day...it was off to Cusco....to prepare for the Inca Trail!!!!

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Comments

[cathy]

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i really feel for you lorna ! the thought of having sinus trouble while you should be enjoying this experience must be absolute CRAP ! PLease "whoever" that it eases for you......................Am really glad you didn't experience the " joys " of guinea pig sarnies...Keep the "Blogs" coming as the detail truly is amazing and i'm quite sure i'm not the only one who can almost feel they are there.......Be safe ..Cathy x