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Published: October 6th 2008
Lake Titicaca
Well 4 of my classmates and I left around 10pm friday night on a bus from Cusco to Puno. We arrived around 4am Sat. morning, and were all quite out of it, for it was difficult to sleep on a bus, especially for one with long legs. When we arrived, we were taken to a nice hotel, where we slept until 7am and ate Continental bfast, which consisted of bread, juice, and coffee. Continental apparently doesn't mean a whole lot here. Bread and juice is very popular here though in the morning. We were taken by van to the port where we hopped across boats to sit in ours. The guide explained to us that one of the islands only spoke Quechua, and Spanish, while the other only spoke Ayamara, and Spanish. Quechua and Ayamara are ancient languages of Peru. The first place we went to were the Islands of Uros. These are literally floating islands of reeds. They unearth soil from underwater and layer them with reeds 4-5 feet thick. Really cool to see, and they explained to us how they are made. We spent time in their homes as they tried to sell us clothing or
tapestries, and then left for a 2 hour boat ride to Amantani, our first real island. Here we were greeted by the locals and taken to our host families house. Tom and I roomed together while the other 3 girls were taken to another home further up the mountain. Our place was a small compound to describe it best. Four small huts built around a small dirt courtyard. One for the mom and son, one for storage, one for cooking via fire only, and one where Tom and I stayed. We ate dinner there, of soup and potatoes that looked like fingers. I've eaten things here that I would never have thought of eating, but have all been good. We then were taken up the mountain to the futbol stadium, keep a visual that everything above the houses is dirt or rock as you can see from the pics. We met everyone else there and hiked up the mountain. Tom, Ben, me and a French guy stayed in front of the pack, but it was such a hard hike. We ascended over 1200 ft in 30min, so lots of huffing and puffing. When we made it to the top, everyone
instantly stopped and stared at the view. It was more than we had expected, so amazing from all sides. We had a lot of time to walk around and take tons of pics while we waited on the sun to go down. As you can see, it was breathtaking. On top is the Incan temple to the father god,while down below was the mother god. They used to do sacrafices inside the stone wall in the pics. After the sun had set, the group went down a bit for coffee and warm drinks. I remained behind and was the only person on top of the mountain looking over the lake toward the last glimpse of the sunset. The silence and beauty at that time was equivalent to an englightening moment. I have never experienced something like that from my senses. I'm not really sure how to describe either. When there was no more light we retreated down the mountain with our flashlights in hand stumbling on the occasional errant stone. We made it down to our home with the help of Danny, the son, and waited patiently for dinner. Again we had soup and rice with a veg mix. After
we ate we walked back up the hill a bit to the community center, were we were all dressed in local wear. The guys wore ponchos and the girls wore layers of skirts. All the guys had purchased alpaca hats from our families. I'm pretty sure I had the most colorful there. At the center the local boys played music for 2 hours while we danced, very similar to square dance, nothing to difficult. Tom and I closed down the dance with our Quechua mom. Even the band was packing up. We returned to our house and slept well under layers of alpaca blankets. The stars where so abundant as well. I saw so many I have never seen before, which I guess comes with being in the opposite hemisphere. The next morning we woke up early trying to catch the sunrise, but it was too fast for me, so I just walked around for a bit. I became pretty cold, so I returned to the house. We had bfast of break and Mane tea, which looks a lot like lavender stems. This we also had the night before, since it helps with digestion and change in altitude. We were
all given pieces and instructed to rub in our hands so we could breathe it while we hiked up the mountains to open up our lungs. After bfast we were taken back down the mountian to the lake, so we could board our boat. Such a beautiful day, and the lake was so blue. Saturday had been overcast, so we were unable to witness its true color. We took a 1 hr boat ride this time across the lake to the nearest island, Taquile, where they speak Ayamara. Both islands were terraced all over for food cultivation and runoff protection. The colors at this altitude were so brilliant, but the sun was very sneaky. It never felt hot, but the sun was always burning you. We made sure we applied several layers of +60 sunblock and wore shades and hats if we could bare it. I luckily left the island with only a red nose. We hiked half way around the island on the stone path and made it to the main plaza where there were opportunities to purchase drinks or food. We stayed there for over an hour and walked another 15 minutes to our lunch destination, were we
ate ceviche (fresh trout), soup, or chicken. It really was such a pretty day, and the view was constant of the ocean nearby land. You could also make out the white peaks of mountains in Bolivia. The lake is so big, and we only saw a small portion of it. I can't imagine being in row boats like many locals we saw were and trying to maket it to any other main part of the island considering it took us 1 hr from Amantani to Taquile, and 2.5 hrs back to main land. After lunch we hiked a bit more and made our way to the beginning of a "500 step" descent. There had to be more than 500 steps though. It felt like it took forever, and looking back up made since this was true. We were all pretty tired, and ready to make it back to Puno, the port city, but everyone could not get enough of the sun. 26 of us either rode in the back or on top of the boat. The water was so clear, and freezing though, apparently 40-50 degrees Farenhiet. I really had intended to jump in, but never found the time to.
Once we made it back, we were taken by taxi to the Plaza de Armas and dropped off until we were to find ouf bus station 5 hours later. We teamed up with some others from the trip and walked around the city, bypassing mass, and on to the Coca museum. This was pretty interesting since we were able to watch a video of the local dances and costumes and try on the costumes as well. All of this plus an information and history section with coca candy to eat for only 5 soles, which would be around $2. Can't enter a museum in the states for that. We visited the local markets which weren't really anything to rave about, and finally made our way through shops to a nice pizza joint. Funny how I always end up eating pizza in foreign countries. I had alpaca sausage, onions, and olives on mine. It was good for us all to sit down and relax in a comfortable setting. We left and walked down the walkway were we were constantly talked to by vendor. One actually convinced us to walk right down the alley to a local bar for a free drink.
You are all probably thinking, "WHAT? I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DID THAT, WHAT IF .....HAD HAPPENED". It was a really cool small bar dedicated to blacklights and Jimmie Hendrix, which was unusual. Kamikaziya was the name I think, which is Welcome in Ayamara. We all enjoyed sever games of tilted Jenga over Pisco and sprite, which I think could be my drink of Peru. We left and made our way back toward the main plaza only to realize we could not get there due to a fire parade going on. We redirected and found another street with taxis that took us to the bus terminal. The bus terminals here are almost like a motel from outside appearance, and a smaller mall on the inside. We were glad to reach the bus for rest, however the first hours reached a temp of over 80 degrees inside. Someone finally went to the front and tried to get into the drivers compartment. He quickly recieved the same reaction one would if they tried to get into the cockpit of an airplane, which was funny to watch. I thought the driver was going to pull him in for questioning as his body quickly dissapeared.
No worries though, he made it out alive. HAHA. The driver did finally turn the temp down to a more comfortable 70. We made it back to Cusco around 4 am and took a taxi back to our homes knowing we all had to wake up in a few hours for class. Overall a most memorable trip, that anyone should take. Puno was a more modern city than Cusco, but not as pretty. The lake was enormous and caught your attention from all sides. The land was so bare and you could see influences of ancient empires everywhere.
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nana
non-member comment
great pictures
loved the pictures. you look good wrapped in shawl/blanket keep up the good work