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Published: September 12th 2008
Traditional style
Uros island, Lake TiticacaPuno has a reputation for being both dreary and full of pickpockets, and indeed its outskirts were grubby and packed with buildings under construction, but its centre possessed a couple of pleasant plazas. Our first evening there, we were passed by a parade (possibly for the Virgin of Carmen), consisting of a bunch of young schoolkids holding lanterns, a float bearing the figure of the Virgin herself, a band, and a guy letting off fireworks from his hands.
The town is most famous as a base for visiting the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca, which boasts the meaningless title of the world's highest navigable lake. More significant is its actual height above sea level - about 3,800m - which makes it a prime location for
soroche for anyone coming from much lower altitudes.
The RG's gushing descriptions of "vast, almost infinite" skies of "deep, deep hues of blue", and horizons that "appear to bend away below you", seemed like excessive hyperbole on the day we ventured onto the lake. Though still an impressive body of water, whatever meteorological conditions are needed for vastness, blueness, and horizon-bendiness were clearly not present.
We took a day tour to visit the
Watchtower detail
Uros island, Lake Titicaca lake, taking in 2 of the most popular areas. Most of the day was spent in transit, as there appeared to be a 10km/h speed limit in force, meaning a lot of slow chugging. First up were the reed islands of Uros, about 30km out from Puno and home to a society of Aymara Amerindians who had first moved there in pre-Incan times. There were 48 islands, each containing 20-50 people, when we visited, though this number can change due to disputes, population increase, etc. Each island was constructed from floating blocks of reed roots, staked then tied together with rope. A metre's thickness of loose reeds was then added on top. The houses on the islands were also constructed from reeds, though solar panels dispelled any illusions of a lifestyle unchanged in centuries. Our hotel room on the mainland had been a little chilly at night but frost on the islands indicated it was hardly warm out on the lake either.
Life on the islands seemed to centre on survival activities (gathering reeds, catching fish, and hunting birds) and making handicrafts to sell to the hordes of tourists. It appeared as though each tour company had "adopted" a
Cloth detail
Taquile island, Lake Titicaca couple of islands to which to bring their customers, as all the places we passed had a posse of snappers. These weren't the first foreign invaders - the 2 most important fish from a food point of view are species introduced from abroad in the last century. The islander I spoke to said he only visits the mainland once per week in order to buy and sell at the market.
From Uros, it was a 2.5 hour chug to Taquile, first through channels that navigated the reed beds, then out of the bay of Puno and into the lake proper. Taquile is a non-floating island and is home to Quechua people. We landed at the same time as 3 other boats and the resulting tourist crush was to be repeated at all the places we visited on the island. The scenery was again reminiscent of Spain, with stone walls, farmland, and the odd cow. Far across the waters, on the opposite shore, the snowy peaks of the Bolivian Andes were visible.
The inhabitants of Taquile lay claim to being the best knitters in the world (a job only carried out by their men), and UNESCO has accorded their
Local man
Uros island, Lake Titicaca products the title of "Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity". Over lunch, our guide explained to us the significance - marital and societal - of the different colours and designs in the knitted hats worn by the men. It was interesting that what to Western eyes appeared the most gaudy and frivolous pattern was actually indicative of the highest rank in island society. Belts of alpaca wool are used in place of wedding rings, with the wife's hair being incorporated into the material and the embroidery on the belt portraying aspects of the life of the families involved in the marriage. There is apparently no concept of divorce in the society and - a rarity in South America - the islanders only eat meat on special occasions.
After lunch we were treated to some traditional dancing with the dubious benefit of audience participation, during which I found something incredibly interesting on my lunch plate. We then had a short visit to the main square, roamed by local kids running a photos-for-cash exchange, then joined an enormous tourist crocodile to descend the 500 steps to the main harbour for our journey home.
Though an interesting day,
it was also a transport-intensive one and in hindsight we would have only visited the Uros Islands. And clearly the high season in Peru is a genuine high season, hence not a good time to be in the country for anyone even mildly touristophobic. I came away with a decorative knitted square and a small mobile, to which was added a free pendant in a clear sign that I'd paid way too much for the first 2 items. The following morning we were on a bus to Arequipa.
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