The Islands of Lake Titicaca

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Woke up and all the laundry we washed in the bathtub was dry -- yeah!

We had a traditional breakfast buffet and the best part was the great views of Lake Titicaca and the hillside above Puno. And, there were several llamas and alpacas grazing on the lawn. The views were almost as good as the lit hillsides the night before at dinner.

Ruben picked us up and took us to the launch area and we bought water for ourselves and chocolate and rice for our hosts on the island of Amantani.

The boat had a capacity of 25 and we ended up with 20 passengers. There was a seating area on the roof and in the stern that could accommodate six at one time.

Our first leg was about 30 minutes to the floating reed island of Uros. We were sitting on the roof of the boat and the views of the reeds, open water and Puno were great on a sun-filled morning.

Upon arriving on Uros, we were introduced to the 1/2 dozen women in the community of about 20. The men were out fishing or gathering reeds.

Angel, our guide, with the help of the local women, gave an excellent demonstration of how the islands are built. They presented it in about 30 minutes, but in reality, it takes about eight months. The island, the small one-room homes and their boats are all made of reeds. The lowest section of the reed is also a food source (we tasted them and found them to be flavorless), nothing of the reed is wasted. The islands are anchored down, but can be moved. The roofs and walls of the home are rebuilt each year.

The islands were originally built to escape from the Incas.

After the demonstration, we were treated to a couple of songs by three of the local women and then given a chance to purchase their embroidered work. When they are not working the reeds, they make handicrafts. One of the women grabbed us quickly (she definitely had us pegged) and took us inside her home and then proceeded to give us a rather hard sell. We bought two beautiful pillow shams -- one depicting a typical reed boat and the other Mother Earth (Pachama).

On Uros they still speak a pre-Inca native language. However, several in the community speak Spanish. All provisions other than reeds, fish, hunted birds, and eggs from the marsh birds are bought in Puno.

We visited another island within the Uros community -- five minutes by power boat or 20 minutes on a two-deck reed boat powered by a local man and woman. We took the reed boat -- very cool!

At this second island, we got our passports stamped, had a cup of coffee and coca tea.

Then we were off for the three-hour ride to Amantani island. Lake Titicaca is huge with maximum depths of 800 ft. If you can see the shore on the left, you can't on the right and visa versus.

Three hours later we docked at Amantani, along with at least two other tour boats, who were already there. There were probably 20 locals there dressed in their native clothes to greet us. We were assigned to Presentacion Quispe Mamani. She escorted us to her home. Our room for the night was on the second floor with two other rooms that also looked like guest rooms. The bathroom was just off the small courtyard (which had small finger like potatoes drying on the ground). Off of the same courtyard was the dining room/kitchen and the family's bedrooms. There was electricity powered by solar. All cooking was done with propane. They did not have running water.

Lunch consisted of a large bowl of vegetable soup, followed by fried cheese, regular and finger potatoes, cucumbers/tomatoes and the large kernel corn on the cob. All was washed down with coca/mint tea. Too many potatoes to eat!

We started up to the square to meet the rest of the group after Dave felt guilted in to buying one of Presentacion's knitted alpaca hats. She led the way, knitting the entire way -- very slow. We were met by Angel who wondered if everything was okay since we were late!

He took us to the secondary school where they were celebrating Mother's Day. The families surrounded a volleyball court where the girls were playing a very competitive game. The community center next to the school was filled with locals eating and drinking.

Before we got to the school, a woman who was all dressed up was peeing on the sidewalk. Presentacion greeted her like nothing was wrong!

Then, Presentacion led us to the square where Angel gave a short historical commentary about the area. He said the church was always locked except for weddings and festivals when the priest came! He gave us three choices for what we could do next and we chose the sunset hike up to the Pachatata Temple. We had gorgeous views of the lake, village and surrounding mountains. It was a steep hike and since it was harvest time, we saw several men and women hard at work with beans and barley. At about the half way point, there is a small temple and the custom is to leave a small rock to leave behind all evil -- we left a rock!

The temples to Father Earth and Mother Earth (on separate hillsides) date back to pre-Inca times and have very little left of them. It is good luck to walk around the temple three times, but we were so concerned about the spectacular sunset that we only made it once!

Angel pointed out electrical wires throughout the village but there was no electricity. The locals could not afford it so they voted to drop it and replaced it with solar power which is heavily subsidized.

In Presentacion's bano, there was a sink, toilet and shower -- none with running water. They are planning on pumping water from the lake and letting gravity bring it down.

Tonight we would have the much awaited "festival", in which our hostess would dress us in local costume and we would dance the night away! That would not happen without some libation, so in the the square on the return from our hike to the temple we bought a bottle of vino from a small shop.

Presentacion met us and walked us back to her home in the dark. We would never have found it through the winding stone side walks and dirt paths.

Apologies to our hostess, but we had the worst meal of our trip, spaghetti with a mystery red sauce, topped with hard boiled eggs. We took into consideration that Presentacion would never prepare that for her family. Dave ate it happily commenting that he was just happy it was not potatoes!

After dinner Presentacion got us prepped for the festival. Dave had a wool poncho and one of our hostess' stocking hats. Sue was much more colorful. She had a flower embroidered white shirt, green puffy/gathered skirt, embroidered belt, topped off with a long black embroidered scarf that hung to either side of her waist.

Once at the festival, the gringos were sitting around the edge of the room like a junior high dance. As soon as the band struck up, Presentacion grabbed us and the dance began. Within seconds, the chairs were empty and the dance floor full and it stayed that way at least until 9:30, when the three of us left - way past what we imagined was Presentacion's bedtime.

May 13th
We actually slept pretty well, in our single beds covered with four blankets that had to weigh 50lbs, and we were still a little cold. The temps dropped into the low 40's and the homes have no heat.

After a breakfast of pancakes (the locals eat potato soup), we were escorted down to the dock for pictures and a one hour boat ride to another island, Taquile.

Nearly everyone on Taquile and Amantani are farmers or dependent on farming. There are terraced farms and all the work is done by hand using a foot plow, small blades, and the corn is picked one at a time.

Like Amantani, Taquile is all solar powered. However, this island has running water pumped from the lake.

After docking, the group hiked up a very steep stone path to the main square. There is a small church which, again, is not open because there is no priest. The dominant building is a cooperative that sells woven goods (made by the women) and knitted items (made by the men). Yes, the men are the knitters on this island! Unlike anywhere else we have been, the cooperative sets a price and there is no bartering. Of course, we couldn't resist a woven sun hat. The cooperative shares it's sales equally and they also send them to Puno to sell in shops.

We had incredible views of Lake Titicaca from the roof of the cooperative.

We ate lunch in a group and enjoyed grilled fish from the lake. Our outdoor table offered wonderful views on a beautiful sunny day.

After lunch we continued on the stone path that circled the island and now had to descend very steep stairs to the boat dock.

The 3-1/2 hours on Taquile island offered some of the prettiest scenery of the trip. It also became obvious that the colorful attire of the locals was not for a photo-op but the way they dressed everyday as they worked the fields.

We arrived back in Puno and took our transfer to the main square instead of our hotel. Following the advice of Angel, we strolled the pedestrian street filled with shops and restaurants. Still searching for a few souvenirs, we went in a lot of shops. Our stomachs were calling for pizza so we found a nice little pizzeria. Grabbed a taxi back to the hotel and packed for our trip to the Amazon!

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