Around the highest lake in the world
Trip Start
Jan 05, 2009
1
8
15
Trip End
Jun 30, 2009
Lake Titicaca,
Peru
Monday, February 16, 2009
We first remained on the Peruvian side of the lake and got to Puno with an easy 6 hrs. bus ride along a beautiful road across the Andes.
Once in Puno we got a very nice surprise: they were celebrating the local carnival so we had the possibility to enjoy the bautiful parade with dances and music. The surprise became less nice once we realised that the parade was going on till lat at night and passing just beneath the window of the room!
The following day unfortunately Melanie was still suffering from the Macchu Picchu "adventure" so she decided to stay in bed and send JG and Massimo on a trip to visit Taquile and Uros islands.
The boat trip was quite an experience: 3 and half hrs on a so-defined "speedboat"...we guessed the "speed" part wasn't included in the ticket (probably JG negotiated it too hard!) as the boat was cruising at 3knots and zig-zaging because apparently the direction stick wasn't working very well! In addition to that it was pouring rain so we couldn't see anything other than the mist on the windows.
Taquile island is a place where time has stopped: people live a very easy life, dress in traditional clothes and use them to define their status (single, married, etc...) and have as main activity agriculture and sheep breeding. The latter is particularly important for weddings: they last a week and apparently require at least 30 sheeps...that sounds like a big party!
After a "tete-a-tete" lunch in a very nice restaurant, called "la jolie fleur" (JG felt his French roots calling him but still managed to get the lunch for 3 USD each) we had to face reality and jump again on the renamed "slowboat" to go to Uros islands and then back to Puno.
Luckily the trip back was sunny and the lake calm so we could at least enjoy the view from the roof of the boat and take a nap inside the boat!
Uros islands are a unique place: they float and have villages on them!
The villages are built upon the islands which are in effect huge rafts of bundled totora reeds. The Uros originally created their islands to prevent attacks by their more aggressive neighbours, the Incas and Collas, and their heirs still live there. Walking on them and visiting the houses is an amazing exeperience but watch out and do not get too close to the edge otherwise you'll get your feet wet!
It was actually during this trip that JG and Massimo, while discussing with an English couple, got inspired and decided to propose to Melanie to change the program (!!!) and continue the trip in Bolivia to visit the salt desert rather than staying in Peru and continuing to Arequipa. It was great to discover that during the day Melanie had the same idea: another example of how great the team was working. The decision was taken and the day after we were crossing the border to go to Bolivia, precisely to Copacabana (only the name is similar to the better known Brazilian beach, in particular the temperature is some 20 degrees lower!).
Before leaving Peru, Massimo and Melanie encountered a small "technical" issue: the 24h laundry service of the hotel returned the laundry in perfect time (so where's the issue) but completely wet! When we asked for explanation they said "it was raining"...so we left Peru with a big bag of "clean wet" clothes and 10 soles more in our wallet as we managed to get a discount on the room for the inconvenience! Once in Copacabana we managed to use the rope that we took with us (yes we did, Melanie bought it before leaving!) and use the roof terrace of the hostel to put our clothes to dry in the chilly Bolivian air...it workd so and so and actually we finished drying the clothes a week latr in La Paz.
Anyway, from Copacabana we decided to take another boat and visit "la Isla del Sol". This time before buying the ticket we checked the distance to the island and the boat engines to avoid another trip as the one to Taquile:
1. the island was visible from the village - ok
2. the boat had two big off board engines - ok again
We thought this time it was going to be fine and bought the ticket...you never learn enough from experience: two big engines are not enough if you don't use them! Actually only one engine was used and just at minumum power (probably to save fuel or maybe for an ecological reason....) so it took us very long (again!!) to get on the island. In addition to this, once there the driver told us that the boat was going back in 45 mins (next time we'll have to remember to check how long we stay on the island!) which allowed us to only get on top of the island, see three lamas, four donkeys and go back to the boat.
Apparently to enjoy the island you are supposed to spend at least one night...well this time the team got into a bit of a failure but it didn't affect the morale and soon after we were very excited organising our next step to the Bolivian deserts!
Next coming M&M's and JG in the Bolivian desert!
