Lake Titicaca

After a day of busing we reached Puno. The town was pretty dead that day because of a holiday, but we did an obligatory walk into town to check it out, however the view of the lake from the hotel was more of a highlight. Had a nice dinner and an early night to get ready for our Lake Titicaca excursion.

We left the hotel in the morning in fashion- an entourage of tuk tuk ish things, they were pedal bikes with two seats in front. It was a fun 10 minute race down to the pier. We stopped in a shop to buy gifts for the families we'd be staying with. Fruit, rice, pasta, etc- things they need to come to mainland for usually. We then got on our boat and enjoyed a suntan on the roof before arriving at the famous floating islands of Uros. Uros means "wet people" or "people of the lake". The islands are sooo fascinating! There is a group of 60-70 islands that holds a community of 800. For thousands of years these people have lived an incredibly simple life on these homemade islands. They go to the shallows where the reeds are growing and they cut a bunch of the tall reeds down, then they cute huge blocks from the roots and dirt (approx 10 blocks) and take them and tie them together. They leave this for 6 months so the roots fuse back together and voila they have a floating base. This is only 1 metre thick, then they throw another metre of dry reeds down (not before chewing on the bottom bit which was quite tasty). That's it- 2 metres of dirt and reeds holding up their whole lives! The ground is super squishy, and moves with the water, feels really cool. They put some extra reeds under their little reed huts to keep them dryer. They are constantly throwing new reeds down as the rain makes them rot. About every year they replace all reeds, every 6 or 7 years they spend a full year building a whole new island! It was a very cool place to check out, and we got to take a little reed boat ride to a couple of the islands. Our guide Luis told us a few interesting legends about the lakes. No one knows how long the Uros people have lived on the lake but one legend says they were there before the sun rose fully vertical in the sky. Originally the Uros people lived in reed boats but to hide from the Spanish they would anchor their boats to patches of reeds, which eventually turned into the islands they have built today. Another Uros legend says that the Inca people rose out of Lake Titicaca and conquered the surrounding area before expanding their territory into Ecuador and Bolivia.

Next we were on the boat for 3 hours before reaching Taquile Island (naturally formed). It took so long because this lake is massive- it was almost like being on the ocean at home! On Taquile Island we had a nice lunch and our guide taught us about the local culture which had some interesting differences to what we've seen so far because of their isolation. On this island the men do weaving and use their hat weaving skills as a way to show off to the girls! Haha. He also told us about how they don't need to communicate verbally too much, they use their clothing to express themselves, for instance their marital status. After lunch we took a beautifully scenic walk along a stone path trail by the water to the next pier where we got back on the boat.

After a very rocky ride we reached our final destination- Amantani Island. Here we hiked up to the community centre where we were greeted by our homestay. Lisa and I were with two other girls, Raquel and Theresa, and a shy 15 yr old girl Nelly greeted us. The families went back home to start dinner while us and another G group and a bunch of locals had a big soccer game. It was fun, but man did the altitude make it hard. After it got dark we had to end the game and we all split up and went to our homes. We met Nellys mom, Ilma, who was very friendly. Thankfully she spoke Spanish, despite the Native language there being Qechua. We made a little small talk and attempted to help in the kitchen. The kitchen was a small room with a small table, some shelves and a clay mound that acts like a woodstove. It was eye opening to participate in this lifestyle. We had a nice dinner of soup and pasta and then Ilma showed off her weaving to us over tea. That evening they dressed us up in their traditional wear for a big party! We had bright pleated skirts, a white embroidered blouse, a tightly cinched rainbow belt, and a black beautifully embroidered shawl. The four of us did our hair in double French braids to top off our authenticity as this is how all the local women wear their hair. We went to the community centre where a local band played and we were pulled into local dances which basically consisted of running in a giant circle holding hands, attempting to grape vine with your feet but it was kinda hard when your arm gets yanked and you whip fastly outward! We couldn't stop laughing and were out of breath and happily exhausted by 10 when we finished.

The next day we 'helped' with Ilma's chores. While the others hoed in the field, our group got to clean out the guinea pig pen. With our bare hands we had to remove all the straw on the ground and throw it on the field, then collect all the poop into a bag- didn't dare ask what they keep that for! We then gave them fresh food and water before doing the same for the donkey and sheep. Then it was back to the house to clean up and help peel potatoes and stuff for our lunch. We had fun joking around with Nelly and Ilma, she joked about dating Sylvestor Stalone, but we later found out the man of their family is working on mainland to make ends meet as many of the men of the village have to :( After lunch it was time to say goodbye and boat back to Puno. They were such sweet friendly people and it was such a wonderfully unique experience!

Back in Puno the town had certainly picked up- they were celebrating their town anniversary and we enjoyed watching the parade with extremely intricately costumed dance troops! That night was the last night we would have to party with our guide so we took advantage and danced up a storm at a local bar :)

-Court