Lake Titicaca

South America » Peru » Puno » Lake Titicaca
October 27th 2007

Published: November 1st 2007

Edit Blog Post

Neil and Jay

Cuzco

A well deserved drink

After the Inca Trail we returned to the Inca capital, the city of Cuzco, to celebrate with a few cocktails. It was census day so all nationals had to remain in their homes until 6pm or face a spell in jail for 24 hours, and this meant that bars and cafe´s were also closed for the day! Lucky for us our guide Claire owns a great little bar in the centre of Cuzco and she organised a lock-in for us. The drinks were soon flowing strong and fast!

From Cusco we had a very hungover bus journey to Puno, situated on the banks of Lake Titicaca, the world´s highest navigable lake. Like many other Peruvian towns Puno´s suburbs are made up of unfinished houses - the result of an odd law that means that people leave their homes half built in order to avoid taxes.

From Puno we travelled by the slowest boat ever to visit some of the islands on the lake. First stop was the Uros ´floating islands´where the local people have lived for generations using the reeds for their boats, homes and the actual islands on which their homes stand, which float on the lake.

Cuzco on census day

An almost deserted Central Plaza

Next stop was the Island of Amantani where we were each allocated a local family to stay with for the night. Our hosts, Silverio, Irma and their daughter Nellyda made us very welcome but, as their first language is Quechua, communication was a bit limited. That night after a dinner of potato soup and vegetable stew prepared by Irma we all got together with our fellow travellers and their families for an evening of local music and lively dancing, dressed in local costume.

Next day Irma served us with pancakes and jam (called Fanny) and escorted us down to the lakeside market from where we rejoined our boat. After a day on another island called Taquile we chugged back to Puno.

To be honest although we enjoyed our two days on the lake, it did all feel a bit touristy and vouyeristic. At the same time it is a source of income for the locals who otherwise live a subsistance lifestyle.

Lake Titicaca straddles Peru and Bolivia, and it was from here we crossed the border on a very rickety ferry. La Paz is the highest capital city in the world and was our first stop in

Puno by bike taxi

The only way to travel

Bolivia. It´s a vibrant and exciting place set in a dramatic valley surrounded by a mountain ridge. We were staying in an area famous for its Mercado de Hechiceria (witches market), which was very handy for when we ran out of love potions and llama foetuses.

Additional photos below

Photos: 15, Displayed: 15