Island hopping from Puno

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Our overnight, cold, sleepless bus from Cusco to Puno, on the Peruvian shores of Lake Titicaca pulls into town just before dawn and it´s freezing. No hostels are open yet, so we huddle round an electric heater in the bus station restaurant drinking cafe con leche. Our first glimpse of the lake through the windows as the sun rises does not dissapoint. All looks calm and the pale dawn makes everything take on it´s pastel tones.

We head into Puno, find a hostel and finally we´re able to sleep for a few hours til the sun is high in the sky and we´re not cold anymore. In the Andes you get all 4 seasons in one day, waking up to Spring mornings, easing into hot Summer days, beautiful Autumn sunsets and freezing Winter nights.

A walk down to the port through town shows us that Puno is much larger than expected and far more industrial. The lakeshore is dominated by the port and isn´t particularly picturesque. No matter, we know there´s good things off shore. We wander around and decide to book a tour of the Islas Uros and Taquile for the next morning...another dawn start. We spend the evening eating roast chicken from a bbq takeaway and watching movies in bed 😊

As the boat fills the next morning we both feel a twinge of dread...it´s tour group central, but there´s no other option...the only way you´re allowed to visit the Uros is on one of these tours and we really want to go, there being nothing like it anywhere else in the world.

Uros is known as Islas Flotantes, the floating islands. About 700 years ago the Uros tribe fled the mainland to escape the warlike Collas and Incas. They built the islands by layering and binding the buoyant totora reeds that grow in the shallows of the lake. They have lived much the same way ever since. The islands and everything on them are made with these woven reeds and are quite amazing...and bouncy underfoot. There are about 30 of these small islands anchored with about 10 families on each...apparently if people fall out they have been known to cut their island in half and float away to anchor up away from their ex-friends and neighbours!

As our boat arrives at the island I feel a little depressed...there is a tourist boat for each island all arriving at the same time and I feel like we´re intruding. They are very friendly and the women welcome us with a dance, but when our guide tells us that 70% of the islanders are against the tourist boats my bad feelings are compounded. Hence we take few photos as it all feels a little exploitative and I am probably as relieved as the islanders when it´s time to board the boat and move on.

It takes another 2 hours for our boat to reach Taquile, a natural island outside of Puno bay. We are now in the open waters of Lake Titicaca and the sapphire expanses I´d read of are now all around us. This is more like it.

We have about 3 hours on Taquile, which lovely though it is, is enough to be honest. People live very simply here, in much the same way they have for centuries...their time spent in agriculture, using the extensive pre-Incan terracing, or weaving intricate textiles. We have a tasty bbq trout lunch and I get dragged into a traditional dance with some children. It is a bit tourist ready, but doesn´t feel intrusive like the floating islands and we have a fun afternoon.

As our boat takes us back to Puno, we sit on the top deck and take in the sunshine and the view. We can see Bolivia´s Cordilla Real mountain range in the distance and my mind wanders over the border that we´ll soon be crossing. I´ve heard the Bolivian side of the lake is even more beautiful...less built up and with more possiblities for independent exploration. I do hope so, as I really don´t like the heavily timetabled tour group thing. We have had a good day, and it is the only way you can visit these islands, but I can´t help but think that maybe we should´ve left them in their hard sought peace and solitude.

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Comments

[Jason]

Who...
..is your hair stylist?

[Flo]

what you talkin´´bout Jason
eh, who me?