Puno and Lake Titicaca
Trip Start
Jun 03, 2008
1
15
27
Trip End
Aug 11, 2008
Puno,
Peru
Monday, July 7, 2008
We began our tour of the lake on Tuesday morning by getting a bicycle taxi to the harbour. This involves getting into seats in the front of a bike while some guy peddles, very comfortable!! The first place we visited on the lakes were the famous floating islands. These islands have existed since Inca times and are islands built of reeds in the middle of the lake, with approx 7 or 8 families on each island of which their are 50 in total. We got to stop in one and got a demonstration of how they live their lives, its a very tough existence surviving on fish or hunting birds. We also got an opportunity to row their reed boats, very difficult, didnīt make much progress!!
We then took a 3 hour boat ride to Amantani island where we stayed for the night. We played a game of football against the islanders winning 4-3 to maintain our unbeaten record on tour!!Again the altitude at nearly 4,000 metres was a killer. On the island we stayed with a host family who cooked us lunch and dinner, which consisted of potato soup on both occassions!!The life of the islanders is very harsh with no electricity, outdoor toilets and only a stove used for cooking. After our dinner the host family took us to a local "disco" which consisted of a local band in an old shed. We all had to dress up in traditional Indian outfits as well which was hilarious. The old women of the island insisted on taking us out for several dances each which lasted about 10 minutes, a surreal experience, but great craic.
In the morning we had breakfast with the host family, we got pancakes but the rest of the family got more potato soup!!After saying good-bye to the families we boarded the boat and went to another island, Tequille. We did a walking tour of the island which is famous for its textile production. It is also strange that all the islanders wore hats which each symbolised something, a particular colour told if you were married, single or living with someone. If you wore your hat to the left it means you were having a bad day, to the right, a good day and straight back, a working day!!
After the island we took a 3 hour boat journey back to Puno. This was the end of our Puruvian part of the trip as the next day we took a bus into Bolivia. Peru was a wonderful country with loads to see and do. Again the people were very friendly, the food and beer excellent(except Guinea pig!!) and the quality of transport and roads slightly better than Ecuador. The weather was brilliant as well, very warm during the day. It has not rained yet on the trip!!
