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Published: March 19th 2010
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4th Feb 2010, Puno/Lake Titicaca
We arrived in Puno at dark where we were met by our Hotel transfer by a lovely lad named Roy, We stayed in a place called Hotel Antiqua, A lovely place with great staff, our room was comfortable if not quite luxurious. We cleaned up and went to meet Claire who as luck would have it had the hotel next door, We went to the main square to meet Hugo our guide as we wanted to treat him to dinner, he never showed but there was huge crowds so we may have missed him, We needed food it had been a long day.
We headed for the main street (Calle de Lima) while fire crackers exploded above our heads, women danced around us in stunning attires, brass bands tried to outdo each other and handsome men paraded the street in beautifully tailored suits and immaculate fedora hats spinning noise makers above their heads in perfect timing to the music. It was day one and only practice…………I was overwhelmed already.
We went to a reggae bar after dinner, time for drinks, Claire is a bit of a party animal as well as myself and
it took no time to get most of the bar on their feet and dancing, oh what fun………..
The following day we chilled for obvious reasons, there is always tomorrow.
We had gone for a quiet dinner the night before and met a chap from San Francisco named Chris who agreed to go to Lake Titicaca with us and explore the islands, The object of the trip was to take a boat to Titqua then on to the floating lake of Uros, We hired a private boat for the 4 of us and off we went, It was a couple of hour to Titaqua and the sun was shining, spirits were high. We made it to the Island and walked to up the steps with the prospect of lunch at the top, Many many steps, it was a hard slog made even harder as we watched the locals scramble up and down with little effort as our hearts reached exploding point, we were on the highest navigable lake in the world. The whole island is terraced and the small community that still live here work the terraces growing crops and tending goats and sheep, they are used to
seeing tourists like us but remain private and shy, they don't want our cameras in their faces but they were not short of smiles, the children as with everywhere are curious and friendly, we respected their wish for privacy and put our cameras away, taking photos and trying to breath is a feat anyway, Gotta admit I could not resist one little girl who who unaware of me looked on shyly as her brothers played, it was obvious she wanted to join in but like siblings the world over the youngest was not encouraged, I noticed a curious thing here, the Island is famous for its knitwear and everywhere you look men women and children knit from course wool wrapped around a length of stick, this industry on this Island is not just for the women.
We eventually reached the top though John and Claire had got there well before Chris and Myself and lunch was on the way, Quinua soup and fresh trout, worth the climb and miraculously cold beer. The decent was a breeze though the skipper was not impressed, nightfall was approaching and Uros was a way away.
Arrived on Uros as dark fell, said
a quick hello to the locals and headed back to the mainland, I knew we had to go back, We had dinner watched sleepily the festival and called it a night, next day we said goodbye to Claire mores the shame.
We decided to make a return trip to Uros the following day, Uros is one of the floating Islands on Lake Titicaca, its a strange place, bed after bed of reeds created an Island where there people have lived for centuries, Titicaca is huge and to the eye appears like an ocean, later we were to witness its powers.
The Island survives on Tourism and fishing and we were greeted with an honest warmth and after a chat and tea one of the families decided we should go visit another Island, We boarded a reed boat which curved up at the front to make a elaborate head and the helm was taken by a husband and wife rowing combo, We had not left Uros long when an almighty wind blew up, Rowing was impossible even for these hardy lake people and mother nature pulled us back towards Uros, I thought it was funny though I think some
of our companions were a little scared by our adventure, We got back to the Island with a very undignified crash landing, Our guide decided Tierra Firma was our best bet so back we boarded a much steadier vessel and headed back to Puno.
The following day the festivities took off in full swing, The colours were blinding and the music deafening as each band tried to outdo the next, it was crazy random and exciting, of course we had a laugh, We climbed to the top of a hill over looking Puno and the lake, A massive statue of Huajsapata a chap believed to be the first Inca stands on the hill overlooking the city.
It was time to go back, We had tickets booked but had to bribe a guy to let us keep our seats, I was not impressed and started to get a wee bit peeved, he backed off and we left, I slept but John was sitting next to an elderly indigenous lady who had many packages some of which had ominous odors, He didn't sleep much and was not in the best of mood when we reached Cusco.
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Heather
non-member comment
I really enjoyed reading your Peru post. It really reminded me of my time there. My blog is looking for some good travel photos. If you have the time send us some at dirtyhippiesblog @gmail.com or check us out at dirty-hippies.blogspot.com. Continued fun on your travels, Heather