Lake Titikaka

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Haha, fooled you. You thought I was coming home last week after Machu Picchu. Nope! I wasn´t quite ready to come home then so I extended my trip and have just come back ashore after exploring the world´s highest navigable lake in the world and the largest in South America - Lake Titicaca. And just so you know, it´s Ti-ti-cha-cha (think the old jewish guy joke with the fly in the soup).

Here is what I have to say about Lake Titicaca. It´s a beautiful lake but please oh please, DON´T GO!!! I read an online article before I left SF about the Top 10 Worst Travel Hot Spots (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/your_say/article6717886.ece?token=null) and Lake Titicaca was on the list. Honestly, I didn´t think it would be as bad as it was but lemme tell you, it was TERRIBLE. And by terrible, I mean every step of the way you were expected to buy something. The one night we spent with a local family, the mom brought hats she had made to sell while we were eating our ¨typical¨meal of potatoes with a side of potatoes. That´s a bit of an inside joke - our family seemed to be a bit poor, we joked, as we were served quinoa soup with potatotes and a side dish of potatoes with a tomato sauce while other families also served rice, egg, salad, salt... Dinner was the same thing accept we had rice with this meal. And ¨sharing meals with a local family¨ actually meant you ate while the family did who knows what. We never saw them at the three meals we had on this particular island. When we were at the house, we were left alone in our room until mealtime or until it was time for our host mom to take us to the next excursion. We never met our host dad or anyone else in the family except for the 2 year old son.

On the way up to the sacred temple of Pachatata, the path was lined with vendors. At the ¨free¨ party they threw in our honor, the band of students told us we were supposed to pay 5 soles per person. The party in our honor looked an aweful lot like a bar naked of any decorations except some beer posters. The last island we visited, Taquile, included a 45 minute walk from the boat to the main plaza which greeted visitors with a huge hall, two stories, of more crap to buy. I´m sorry, I mean ¨handicrafts¨ to buy. We were told by our guide that the people of the Floating Islands of Uros spend their time fishing, hunting and maintaining their houses on the floating islands. A Peruaño told me the people of Uros don´t fish or hunt anymore. They make so much money off of tourists every day that most of them live in the nearby coastal city of Puno and come out early to the islands to ¨work¨. I´m not sure if this is true or not but in retrospect, the women were pretty chunky for the kind of lifestyle they were trying to sell us.

Am I glad I went? Well, depsite it all, we had a good time. I meant some great people I hope to see again. And we definitely had a good laugh at our own expense. But most importantly, when you all are planning your trip to Peru and want my advice on where to go, we´ll both know that Titicaca is OFF the list.

Ah, photo upload fail. Here is the flickr link. Enjoy! http://www.flickr.com/photos/69192286@N00/sets/72157622835918212/

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Comments

[Aunt Sue]

Tittie haha
Well, I guess the old "live and learn" applies. I love the way that you are able to find the silver lining. See you next week. Lots of love, Aunt Sue