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Other entries in Lake Titicaca

Perfect Puno and Lake Titicaca

Lots of people hate this place!  They find it a boring little town with nothing to offer, but we have a very different take on it!  And what about visiting a place called lake Titicaca!!! HA!

 We have been absolutely surprised by this little place called Puno. Described as a "jumping off point" for Lake Titicaca, it has been much better than that for us. Before leaving Cusco,  another traveler said that she arrived in Puno at 5pm one night and was happy to be leaving at 9am the next day!  I went online and tried to find any accommodation in this place we were now not looking forward to going to and couldn't really find anything....but we booked a room at the Don Julio hostel/hotel .  When we arrived, we found a charming little town with a really busy main street with restaurants street vendors and groups of people just wandering around playing tubas, drums, and panpipes! Who doesn't like a town where bursting into music anytime is the norm? This place is great!  It is REALLY small, but everything is here.  That night our bed at Don  Julio was gorgeous  - so soft with cushy pillows and the shower and bathroom were clean and amazing too!  And all for just $20/night!

Our first night here we bumped into the same 3 Canadians from Vancouver that we met a couple days ago while hiking the Inca trail. We talked about hockey, again, and said an early goodbye as they were heading home early the next morning.  We continued a very short walk to the main square called Plaza de Armas - every main square it seems, is called Plaza de Armas so no big surprise here, and we just took in the local sites and sounds. 

Andre has a cold which we thought would disappate once we left the dampness and cold of Machu Picchu, but it's hanging in there and at these high altitudes (Puno is at 3800 metres) it isn't really getting much better when it comes to breathing. That, and on our second night we decided to visit a bar, only for a nightcap, and ended up talking the evening away with 2 great chickees from Ireland - man, how we love those Irish peeps. But the girls and everyone else smoked the whole night away in this tiny little bar and we both woke up completely congested! What we put ourselves through for a fun night out!!   It'll be great to be home in Vancouver where no one smokes! Drinking is dangerous enough to our health, we don't need people smoking like chimneas right beside us!

On our 3rd day we were supposed to visit the Uros Islands, also known as the Floating Reed Islands, but we woke up with huge hangovers. We hope the monstrosity of these deadly headaches were due to the altitude (and 1 litre beers) and not because we were out of practice........but we called at 6am (pick up was for 630am), and cancelled our trip for that day.  Later we went to the office and asked if it was possible to change our trip for tomorrow.  We were expecting to have to pay for the trip again, after all, it was our fault that we didn't go today, but they said no problem and changed it in a second for no extra cost!  We used All-Ways Travel company and the whole trip cost us $10 each (pick-up from the hotel, boat ride to the floating islands and then onto Taquile Island and then another 3 hours boat ride back again and transfer back to our hotel with an English guide).     AND our hangover day turned out not to be a waste at all - we were lucky enough to be taking in the first day of the Candelamas festival where thousands of people from about 100 neighboring villages arrived in Puno to strut their stuff for the start of a crazy 3 week festival!!!!  There was dancing, bands and fireworks all day long -  AWESOME!

The 4th day we finally had our trip to The Uros Islands (floating Islands) and they were everything we thought they would be.  As we made our first step onto the floating island made only of layers of reeds collected from the lake, we instantly noticed the squishy-ness of the place.  Looking around and avoiding the rotten spots where our feet could easily fall through, we made our way to a seating area (made of bundles of reeds) where our guide told us about the local fish in the lake (as well as the introduced Canadian trout), the way the island is built and how it can take 8 months to build one island!  The company rotates which of the 32 islands in the lake it will visit on its trip so that each family gets a grab at the tourist market.  It was also surprising to us that they actual use fire on the reed island to cook their meals.  I wouldn't know what an alternative heat source would be, but the fact that they light fires on a dry reed island just seems a little dangerous, no?  It was a very cool experience!  Then we took a reed boat to another island and awaited our motorboat pickup.

Our next stop was Taquile Island which is an actual island, not a reed island.  Our boat took about 2 hours to arrive and we were excited to visit this place where the villagers have strange traditions.  The women spin the wool and the men do the knitting!  Everywhere we went, there were men just sitting and talking AND knitting!  Not smoking, just knitting!!  They primarily knit hats, well more like toques really.  If a man wears a red toque with a white top, he's single.  An all red one means he's married and a crazy colored small toque with ear flaps means that you're a man of importance on the island.  Since they don't have policemen, these are the guys in charge.  As we made our way up from the dock, it took about 30 minutes to reach the main square.  It was crazy quiet, with the local villagers just keeping to themselves and their knitting.  There's a community center and a local co-op where you can buy their wares and they split the profits.  Even little boys as young as 6 were knitting and wearing their 'I'm single' touques!!  It was really cool!  The little girls and single women wear blanket/shawls that are adorned with extremely colorful tassels.....when they get married, the colorful tassels are replaced with dark colors - is this for real???  Is the change in color symbolic for their life energy being drained out of them?  :)  CRAZY!

We spent about 2 hours on the island and then it was time to make the 3 hour boat trip back.  The day was perfect, with great weather and amazing surroundings and we met another 2 Canadians on our trip that we had dinner with that night and talked with until midnight.

Now we're getting ready to move onto Bolivia.  After 5 days here in Puno, we don't want to leave.  Internet is 30cents/hour, the food is great, oh, but I guess tonight we HAVE to have it - we have to eat a VERY Peruvian dish - The Guinea Pig!!  It's only a 3 hour bus ride to Copacabana, Bolivia so if it doesn't settle right, it won't be such a long day, I guess!