Lake Titicaca
Trip Start
Feb 14, 2005
1
20
28
Trip End
Jun 14, 2005
Puno,
Peru
Monday, April 25, 2005
Copacabana is a small tourist town that is mainly visited as the stepping off point for visiting Isla del Sol, the largest island in Lake Titicaca. Isla del Sol is said to be where the Incans believed the sun and the moon were created
a) Bus crossing
. We checked into a room with a view of the lake and proceeded to relax for 3 days. There werenīt a whole lot of activities offered in town, but we were okay to just chill out. Itīs easy to do that when you are over 11,000 ft above sea level because simply walking upstairs is enough to make you winded. The food in town was quite good, weīve been surprised to find that we are enjoying the Bolivian cuisine better than that of Argentina or even Chile. That has some to do with diversity but probably also with the incredible value.We had heard a lot about Bolivian protests, people taking to the streets and blocking roads causing transport to come to a halt. We experienced this in Copacabana on the day we were considering leaving. From what we could understand, the community was protesting safety after a member of the municipality was murdered. The town had a very serene feeling that day without the influx and outflux of tourists. Shops were closed and no tours or buses were running. It was a forced day of relaxation and we managed to find 2 decks of cards and spent most of the day playing Canasta.
Next stop on our journey was Puno, Peru. Located 3 hours away by bus from Copacabana, Puno is on the southwest shore of the lake. There are some interesting islands to visit from Puno, but it also serves as a stopover to break up the bus ride to Cusco
b) Sunset on Lake Titicaca, view from hotel
. After a day and a half in Puno, we realized that there is not much to do but take the boat tour so we spent this morning visiting the floating islands of the Uros people. The islands are a short boat ride from Puno and are made up entirely of totora reeds. The water is shallow where they build their islands and they anchor them with sticks and tie them together with ropes. During the windy season, it is not unusual to wake up with your island in a new location! There are currently 30 islands, and each island consists of between 5-15 families. The history of the Uros settling here is that they chose to live on the water to stay away from the fighting that was happening amongst other tribes on land as they fought for territory. From Puno, it is not obvious to spot the islands so they would have lived mostly undisturbed. The Uros people now survive on fishing and tourism. Lake Titicaca has 5 types of fish; 3 species are native and the fish are quite small, and 2 species are non-native, trout and kingfish. The trout was brought in from Canada and the kingfish from Argentina and these are the fish that are served in all restaurants along the shores of the Lake as well as in Chile. It was a short tour but very enjoyable to see this unique way of life. We were happy to support the community by purchasing some beautiful embroidery and by taking a ride in their traditional reed boat.One last night in Puno and then we are off for Cusco and the ruins of Machu Picchu. Perhaps we should give the local delicacy a try for dinner tonight - guinea pig. Any takers?
