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Published: January 3rd 2010
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Luquina, Peru
Sunday 29th November - Day 84 We were up at 5.15am to travel to Luquina. We had to cross the border from Bolivia to Peru and when we arrived it was pouring with rain. Before we went across we were 'advised' to buy a present for our family we would be staying with and 'advised' to spend about $10 each. We were told before that they appreciate presents such as rice etc however Vanessa took us to a sweet store basically so there was little choice. The border control was in a tiny office and there was a queue about a mile long to get in. The place hadn't even opened yet and we were about 2514th in the queue. The good part though was that this time queueing gave us a good chance to get to know everyone. In total the queue took about 2 hours.
We arrived in Luquina where we were going to be staying with a local family. Luquina has a population of about 350 people and everyone farms. It is situated among hills on a peninsula overlooking Lake Titicaca (translated Grey Puma). The main language is Aymara with Spanish being their second
language. They spoke very little English if at all.
We were greeted by our local guide Mario and our hosts who were all dressed in traditional clothes. Mario told us about the area and that we shouldn't expect much during our time here. Some of the houses don't have showers and the toilets/holes will be outside.
Our host was Higinio, he was 26 and head of his family as his father had passed away. Like many of the locals, Higinio looked decades older than his 26 years due to working the land from sunrise to sunset. There are also no local dentists or doctors.
Our house for the next 3 days was very nice, we had our own room with an ensuite! We were lucky.
We met Higinio's family...his 2 younger brothers, younger sister, his mother and grandmother. As his brothers were still in school learning English, they practiced some English with us.
Higinio then took us for a walk around the area, showing us his farm and the animals. After the walk we had lunch which consisted of soup to start followed by lots of rice, pasta and potato. After lunch we had mint tea which was grown in
their garden.
We then met up with the group and played a game of football...gringos vs locals. The gringos won 4-3!
After football we had dinner which consisted of soup to start followed by lots of rice and potato. After dinner we had mint tea which was grown in their garden.
In the evening we had a 'party' where the gringos got dressed up like the locals. For Rick this meant putting a pink poncho on over his normal clothes with a hat however for Lizzy this consisted of 4 skirts (yes 4), jackot, a heavy white shawl and a bowler hat. The local women plaited Lizzy's hair once we arrived.
We then watched the locals dance and we joined in on a few occasions. Higinio turned out to be one of the lead male dancers.
We got into bed exhausted from being up since 5am under 5 heavy blankets which pinned you to the bed and you could barely breath underneath.
Monday 30th November - Day 85 We met at the port at 9am after having breakfast which was basically fried bread and resembled pitta bread. It was made out of wheat flour, water, salt and lots
Our hosts
Higinio is on the right of oil.
We took a boat to the island of Taquile which took about an hour. When we arrived we had 90 minute hike up to the top of the mountain. We hadn't been informed of this so a lot of us came unprepared with no water. The first 30 minutes were a steep uphill climb.
Halfway up we met a local man who stood there all day meeting tourists and collected money to enter the island. They take turns to do this for 1 year at a time.
Once we reached the top we saw the main square with the council building. They had just had the results of the election and were celebrating with crates of beer. We walked round the local markets and had lunch; fish, rice and chips for 10 solas (2.50 GBP).
We then got the boat back to Luquina and relaxed during the afternoon. We helped prepare dinner in their TINY kitchen...which didn't look like a kitchen as we know it. It was a small freestanding building with an open fire stove, it was about the size of a small pool table. The mother was hunched by the fire while we peeled the small
vegetables with a huge sharp knife. Our eyes were watering after about 10 minutes from the thick black smoke. Higinio and his brother watched us, Higinio was trying to help while his little brother was giggling at how useless Lizzy with the knife.
Dinner consisted of soup to start followed by lots of rice, pasta and potato. After dinner we had mint tea which was grown in their garden.
We played cards in the evening (snap and pairs) and spoke with Higinio in spanish (as best we could).
Tuesday 1st December - Day 86 We were up at 7am to have breakfast which was basically fried bread and resembled pitta bread. It was made out of wheat flour, water, salt and lots of oil.
We walked to the port for 8.30am and got the boat to Puno. On the way we stopped at the manmade floating reed islands - Islas De Los Uros which are now a major tourist attraction. The people originally made the islands to escape war and are very peaceful people. However now they were laughing at the benefits of escaping taxes and being able to move away from annoying neighbours if they wish. We
Higinio and Rick
Looking out at Lake Titicaca were told about the construction of the islands and got to try some of the reed. They have to add another layer to the floor every 2-4 weeks, rebuild the walls/roofs of the huts every 3 months and the islands last about 8-10 years before sinking.
One of the islands had flamingos whose wings had been clipped which was sad.
We then had a picnic on the boat to Puno and once arriving in Puno we said goodbye to our local guide Mario.
Rick and I walked round Puno after checking into the hotel and met up with the group later. We all took Tuk Tuks to the black market to purchase some DVDs to entertain us on the long bus journeys ahead of us.
We went out for dinner in the evening and we tried Alpaca Kebabs which was tougher than llama meat. We also sampled the local brew - Pisco Sours which was nice but strong!
After dinner we all went back to the hotel as we had to be up early again the next morning to travel to Cusco.
Poor Lizzy spent the whole night being ill...
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Jane
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Brilliant blog, love the photos, especially lizzy, pretty in pink!!