Puno

  Puno, Peru
Saturday, April 21, 2007

After the heady heights of Macchu Picchu and the kind of surreal touristyness  (is that a real word ?) of Cusco, we headed towards the highest commercially navigable lake on the planet... Lake Titicaca (no jokes about the name of the lake please!)

First of all... the town of Puno.
This place was a refreshing change from most of the Peruvian towns weīve visited. It was, how youīd say, more REAL. The people of the town were really kitted out in the traditional dress, not just for the tourists pictures. Puno will always be in the memory as the town in which virtually all the buildings are only half completed, as if the builders just gave up half way through. The cost of things was also much cheaper here than in Cusco or Lima (not that that was expensive in terms of home anyway), and this allowed us to indulge ourselves a little bit... we even went out on the lake in a peddle boat which was in the shape of a giant swan (how adventurous is that !!!!)

The Lake...

11 Approaching one of the Uros Islands

Titicaca is fed by more than 25 rivers, and the lake has 41 islands, some of which are densely populated. The western part of the lake belongs to the Peruvians and the eastern side is belongs to the Bolivian blokes.

The whole reason for us coming to Puno (apart from the fact that it is a convenient stop off on the way to Bolivia) was to visit the people who live on the Uros Islands, a group of about 43 artificial islands made of floating reeds. These islands have become a major tourist attraction for Peru, with boatloads of tourists visting the islands every day, and so we jumped on one of those boats.

To put it simply... itīs surreal!! These people are literally living on reeds... itīs basically like living on a giant sponge, where the top layer has to be constantly replenished so as the island wonīt sink. Everything is made out of those reeds, from their houses to the chicken coup. They live off the lake, fishing and catching the birdies that are around.

14 Come on guys... buy the flamin trinket will ye!

We paid a visit to the "main" island of the Uros, where some 14 families live. We arrived from another Uros island in a normal boat whereas most of the other tourists had decided to go by "Uros Taxi"(a big boat made from the totora reeds). So, when we disembarked there was no tourists on the "main island", which meant that we were able to get ourselves decent photos.... not infected with tourists.


Tell ye this much people.... at home in Ireland we are soooo lucky in the way we live. The kids on the island didnīt even have tissues to wipe their snotty (and i mean snotty) noses. I donīt want to hear anyone complain about living in Ireland ever again!!!!

Next up .... Bolivia!!