Puno

  Puno, Peru
Sunday, September 2, 2007

The bus ride from Copacabana, along the lake shore to Puno is an easy one. A damn cruisy border crossing as well. The hostel we intended to stay at in Puno is closed, so we wander around the corner and find a brand new hotel. Walking in we realize it's out of our league (especially when we see the sign saying $45 for a double room). However, the guy is unashamedly desperate for some customers and offers the room for $25. I apologise as we walk out, saying we are looking just for a cheap room. What price?! We end up getting the brand spanking new room with cable TV for $15 per night. Here's the link if anyone else needs a bit of luxury for cheap while they're in Puno:
www.munaytambo.com
Puno is a great town, really bustling with local people. It has a couple of nice plazas, churches and lots of great little cafes and restaurants. We go to find one particular vegetarian restaurant for lunch that is listed in the Lonely Planet. The place appears to have shut down and on closer investigation we notice a large poster attached to the building showing two weeping men being rounded up by a policeman.

sign

It seems the local vegetarian restaurant has been up to no good! We figured they might have been mixing a little alpaca in their veg burgers....

The popular sight to see close to Puno is the Uros Islands (Islas Flotantes). This place is an unashamed tourist trap, but compelling all the same. Puno sits in large bay on Lake Titicaca, which unfortunately has lead to high pollution in the water, which is covered with a small green weed. On the lake shore sits the grounded Yavari ship famous for its history of being shipped, bit by bit, from the UK over a period of six years. Not far off shore the reeds appear and it is amongst these reeds that the floating islands can be found.

Puno, Floating Islands

There are about 40 islands of all sizes - with different sized populations of families and friends living on each island, with a total population of about 1000 people. Each island has a chief who oversees the running of the island. The traditional Uros people are now intermarried with the Aymara and this is the language they speak (a pre-Incan language). They originally built the islands to escape the violent ways of the Collas and Incan peoples on the mainland.

These islands receive a huge amount of tourist interest and the people are extremely savvy. As our boat pulls into the small bay around which the islands radiate, the locals stand on the edge of their floating islands and wave at us with big smiles on their faces.

Puno, Floating Islands

We land on a small island with about 12 inhabitants.

Puno, Floating Islands

They are well set up for the tourists, with small stalls selling local crafts. The chief uses a model to demonstrate how the islands are constructed.

Puno, Floating Islands

The base is the roots of the reeds coated together by mud, cut into chunks. These chunks perform the basic flotation of the islands. On top reeds are placed thickly in criss-cross pattern to a thickness of about 2.5m. These reeds have to be continuously replenished, depending on the season. In the current dry season they break easily and have to be topped up 3 times per month. The whole structure is then kept together by a series of stakes piercing the mud and root base. The island is anchored in two ways. In the outer area where the reeds are the water is shallow and the island is anchored by way of ropes and stakes stuck into the lake bed. However, in the central area of the islands that water is up to 25m deep and the island is moored on this side by ropes tied to heavy rocks that are thrown into he depths.

Puno, Floating Islands

10-Puno, Floating Islands

It's a beautiful sunny day when we visit and the place seems idyllic, if a little trampled by fascinated tourists. However, the guide tells us that there are quite a lot of problems for the islanders. The pollution of local waters is having an impact on the fish life. They rely on the fish as their primary source of trade for other products in the markets of Puno. The chief has a small bowl with some native fish inside to show us, the village cat doing its level best to scoop out a fish for its own purposes! Rainbow trout and king fish have been introduced to the lake, obviously causing other problems for the eco system. The locals also use shotguns to catch birds to eat and also they collect their eggs - though many of the birds are now protected, another issue for the local people. It's hard not to notice that the women are quite enormous here and we are told that they also suffer from chronic rheumatism. Whether this has to do with the lack of space for exercise and the squishy surfaces on which the women move, wasn't clear. Finally, a huge issue here is the loss of babies and small children to drowning - the water is an ever present threat.

25-Puno, Floating Islands

We walk around on the springy mass, being careful near the edges as apparently it isn't uncommon for tourists to get an unexpected dip in the chilly waters. There's a small tower on each island, allowing you to get a better perspective on the islands. The buildings are also made of reeds and are very basic - square bedroom huts and circular cooking huts. The guide insists that tourism is vital for the survival of this culture and a major source of income for these people. And, believe me, these people are experts at extracting every possible sol from you! They sell quite a few souvenirs from their small stalls. When the tourists have spent their fill, they're offered a hard to refuse (but rather expensive) ride in the islander's traditional reed boat (these boats are amazing with a woven puma head decorating the bow). They now use coke bottles and the like inside the weaving to provide better flotation for the crafts. While enjoying our short ride to the main island, the parents prompt their two little boys to strike up a few songs, and before we know it the hat is again being passed around! Astute business people.

24-Puno, Floating Islands

The main island has a small camp where tourists can stay in small woven tents - we wish we knew about this, as it is an awesome spot to stay overnight once the hordes have vanished back to Puno.

21-Puno, Floating Islands

At the front of the island is a small pool where the locals train the water birds to fish for them. Further back is another pool where they've created a fish farm, teeming with trout and king fish of all sizes. There's a school on this island for the little children and even a floating telephone kiosk!

22-Puno, Floating Islands

We're told that Jacques Cousteau spent a lot of time exploring Lake Titicaca in the 1970's and the most fascinating animal he found was a deep water frog that breathed through it's skin and enormous in size - 80cm across! He was actually searching for submerged Inca treasure...

Later the same day we do an afternoon tour to an ancient funerary site called Silustani, located on a peninsula next to Lake Umayo, about 45 minutes from Puno. The place has an interesting history, having been utilised by three different cultures (Calla, Lupaca and Inca) as a cemetery.

Inca grave ruins

There is still evidence of the three different types of tombs constructed by the different cultures - the original ones being a cavity underground, then developing into flat topped cylindrical towers and finally developing into large domed top towers of an inverted cone shape.

Inca grave ruins

Inca grave ruins

The Inkas were masters of stone building and their towers are so precisely constructed (without mortar) that it is really hard to understand how they created them without machinery. Of course, the finest towers were only for the finest citizens, the doors of the towers facing the rising sun to represent rebirth. The cavities inside the tombs were plundered many years ago and the ground is speckled with pieces of bones and broken pottery. The funerary towers (called chulpas) dot the landscape all around and the backdrop of the lake, a flat top island and some storm clouds in the distance really creates a dramatic landscape. 

Inca grave ruins

Lake Titicaca has been a fascinating location, both for its natural beauty, culture and history. Tomorrow, we leave the Altiplano and head to the famous center of Incan culture - Cuzco.

More pics in Album.......