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Published: January 14th 2010
Wow, another great place! No pictures right now as I don´t have time, but before I leave for my next excursion, I thought I better say hi. I took a two day trip on Lake Titicaca and it was amazing. There were 3 americans who were very nice, two from Maryland so there was an instant connection 😊 We started out with a visit to the floating islands of Uros. These are islands that they made and live on. It is pretty amazing. It feels a little skuishy and in some places looked like water was getting through, but they add more reeds on top, and then eventually build a new island, but that takes a lot. We visited one group and they gave a demonstration of how they built the island and then we got to look around. The kids were adorable, though as I was going to look in one of the little huts, a little boy less than 2 years old emerged carrying a LARGE knife and piece of a reed which he was trying to slice out. Using my rudimentary spanish, but forgetting the word for knife in the heat of the moment (while taking pictures of course) I tried to alert the older folk about what was going on and the knife was taken away.
After Uros we took a 3.5 hour boat ride to Amantani where we spent the night. It wasn´t all that far, but the motor was ancient and we went about 2 miles per hour. The weather was gorgeous though so I didn´t mind sitting on the boat for so long. Amantani is very secluded from the mainland and has maintained a lot of its traditions, also there is only limited solar power and no plumbing, just an out house! When we finally arrived on the island, someone from the family we were staying with came down to meet us at the docks. Maribel, the 13 year old daughter collect me and one of the other Americans to stay in the familia de Domingo. What a great experience! While the room was basic, the bed was comfortable and it was definitely eye opening. Jose, the 5 year old son, and Maribel took a liking to us and sat in our room for about an hour chatting with us and Jose and I played peek-a-boo with the window shade while I tried to take pictures of him. He was absolutely adorable. After a lunch of quinua soup, rice, cheese and veggies, we headed to meet the rest of the group in the center of the island to hike up to the temple accompanied by Franglica, the mother, who spun wool as she walked up the rocky path, quite amazing. Low and behold the center of the island was a soccer stadium! Also, we just happened to catch the yearly soccer tournament. After watching a bit we hiked to the top, to see the rest of the island. After that Brian and I walked back to the house, where we again played with Jose , and this time his 4 year old nephew Antonio as well. Dinner was intereting, we eat in our room and some of the family members cycled through and spoke with us while we ate. We were seated on the bed facing them on another bed so it was kind of like we were being interviewed. They were all very nice though and listed to our broken spanish. After dinner we were dressed in traditional island clothes to go to a disco. With flash light in hand we set out up the mountain in the pitch black. There was a little band that played fast songs and the dancing was very active! Unfortunately after one dance my stomach was not feeling well so I sat and watched the rest, but it was still fun. The next morning we went to Taquile, another island about 1 hour away, and eplored and had a great lunch of grilled trout before heading back to Puno. I caught a bus to Arequipa an hour later and now here I am! Gotta run, time for dinner, off to Colca Canyon tomorrow morning! Thanks for reading 😊
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dad
non-member comment
whew
so exciting; but i got tired just reading it!! Sounds like a trip for the young, although I do wish I were there! LOL DAD