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Feeding the Alpaca
Tourist stop on the way to Puno - got to feed this cute alpaca! We took the tourtist bus from Cusco to Puno on May 20th. The usual bus ride is 6-7 hours, but we opted to take the First Class tour in which we stop at various villages and ruins along the way. Total time was 9.5 hours and costs $25 US each. We arrived in Puno at around 5:30 PM.
Puno is the closest city to Lake Titicaca, which is the highest navigable lake in the world. About 70% of it belongs to Peru and 30% to Bolivia. Puno houses around 100,000 people and is overflowing with markets - I have never seen anything like it! At an elevation of 3830 meters, Puno gets extreme weather conditions where it is hot during with day and sunburn is a problem, but freezing cold at night. Though I had not real problems in Cusco (eleation 3326 meters), I definitely was short of breath with minimal exertion in Puno (so was Shane). We stayed at a highly recommended hotel called Hostal Pukara fo $40 US a night. It is a five storey building with eclectic decor throughout. Our room was on the fourth floor and I was seriously winded about climbing only three flights. So
Lake Titicaca
Shane on the boat on our way to Uros Islands. You can see the totora reeds growing in the background. this is what it feels like to have emphysema!
The next day (yesterday), we set off for our two day tour of a couple of the islands on Lake Titicaca. The first islands we visited were the Islas Flotantes (floating islands) of the Uros people (therefore, often just called the Uros Islands). The Uros Islands are actually comprised of several islands, each with their own names. These islands are Lake Titicaca´s top tourist attraction and is quite over-commercialized. But it is too interesting place to pass up visiting! The islands are man-made by their inhabitants using the totora reed plant, which is partly edible (the white part is edible and it is sort of a spongy consistency and tastes vaguely like lettuce). Every month, they put a fresh layer of reeds on the ground to prevent the ¨ground¨ from rotting through. The islands are anchored in place using eucalyptus wood and are very easy to move. If two neighboring islands are disputing, one island just gets moved! Hilarious! It takes about eight months to build a small island and about five families in on the smaller islands in - you guessed it! - reed homes. The islands last about
Uros Islands
Here´s one of the floating islands. 30-35 years before they have to build a new one. The Uros people had begun living on their man-made islands centuries ago in an effort to isolate themselves from the aggressive Collas and the Incas. There are about 400 people who live on the islands and make a living out of fishing, hunting birds, crafts, and tourism. Fascinating place to visit! Shane and I even rode on their reed boat and Shane helped to row!
Next was a three hour boat ride to Isla Amantani, the second largest island on Lake Titicaca (Isla del Sol is the largest and is on the Bolivian side). It has a population of 4000 people whose main source of sustenance is agriculture - especially potatoes if would seem! There are no hotels and stays overnight are with families so that you get a taste of their lives. Food, accomodations, and toilets (outhouse) are basic. Showering is by sponging with a bucket of water. We stayed with Roberta (mom), Juan (dad), and Ruth (daughter). There also appeared to be two sons, but we rarely saw them and they seemed to come and go as they pleased. Lunch consisted of vegetable soup, boiled potatoes, sliced
Uros Islands
Eating totora reeds! tomatoes and lettuce, and fried cheese. Fresh fruit is hard to come by. Dinner that night was vegetable soup again, rice, and a vegetable stew. Nice and fresh, but would it ever get boring to eat night after night!
Just of note: the people who live on Amantani Island are on the smallish side so you had to be careful not to hit your head on the doors. First time ever that I could touch the ceiling in a house without any effort. Felt kinda like living in a hobbit house without the round doors.
At around 4 PM that evening, we set off for a trek to the top of one of the hills to see come ruins and the sunset. Our guide said that we were starting around 4000 meters elevation and would be climbing up to 4200 meters in 45 minutes. I just about died! I was so winded the entire time, wondering how people could be active with the air being so thin and whether I should cancel doing the Inca Trail! At one point during the trek, I did develop a headache and wondered if I was developing soroche (altitude sickness). However, the
Uros Islands
A scaled-down version of how they make the islands! headache passed so I continued upwards, praying that I wouldn´t go into flash pulmonary edema. The hike up was well worth the effort - the views and sunset were incredible!
That night, the villagers organized a traditional dance for the tourists. We are expected to dress up in the villagers´ traidtional party gear. Women wear a blouse, skirt, and a black head scarf while the men wear the typical hat (looks like a toque) and a poncho. The skirt is tied very tight around with a wool belt and I could barely breathe - not good when I was already having problems! Dancing was REALLY hard work as well; I have never been so out of breath dancing before.
It was cold that night and we were huddled under several blankets. The bed itself was interesting as it seemed to a dip in the middle, resulting in Shane and I continually rolling towards the middle. No double a clever mechanism to keep couples close and warm ; )
That morning we awoke and had pancakes for breakfast (yummy!). I was seriously afraid we would have more potatoes. At 8 AM, we set off for the nearby Taquile
Uros Islands
Could not resist a boat ride in this fabulous hand-made reed boat! Island (an hour´s boat ride away). There, we had to hike up to the village from the harbour. Strangly, about halfway up, the sensation that I could not breathe seemed to ease - don´t know if that meant that I had acclimatized! Taquile Island is interesting in the traditional clothes that men and women wear, advertising their marital status. Men who are single wear a white and red hat whereas married men wear a completely red hat (with color knitted through). Women wear clothes similar to the women on Amantani Island except that their black headscarves had large colorful pompoms at the end if they are single and small, darker pompoms if they are married. After a lunch of fried kingfish for me and omelette for Shane (with potatoes, of course!), we headed back for the harbour and our three hour boat ride back to Puno.
Shane and I are taking the night bus back to Cusco tonight, arriving around 3 AM but hopefully will get to sleep in (a luxury we have not had for some time)!
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Norm
non-member comment
hurry home
Hurry home so you can cheer for the one and only real team...ret's go oirers! Awesome trip photos and blog. cheers