Peru: Lake Titicaca Tour

We left off at the end of our first day in Puno. The next morning we got picked up for our Lake Titicaca tour. We chose a 2-day tour with an overnight stay on Amantani Island with a local family. We went to the dock to catch our boat. But before boarding, we bought gifts to take to our host family. We chose an assortment of grains and fruit, something our guide told us they don't get often and are difficult to get on the island. 

Our guide for the entire trip was Angel. He was great! Spoke Spanish, English, and Aymara, the local island language. First stop: The floating islands of Uros. The native people build them from the totora reeds which grow in the lake. Originally they only built boats, but then branched out into islands to escape the Incas.

The islands are many layers of reeds and mud and are quite bouncy in some places. They are around 2 meters thick! Each island has a "president". The one on the first island we stopped at gave us a demonstration of how they are built. We also all tried eating one of the newly-picked reeds (tastes like celery). The president also explained how they anchor the islands and also how they can divide them if necessary. They use a very large saw!

After the demo and explanation, we realized we were surrounded by the island's women. They tapped us on the heads and divided us among themselves. We were shown to their houses and then they marketed their crafts.

They have to redo the roofs and walls of the houses every year with new reeds. Please note the lightbulb and television... how do they have power on a floating island, you ask? They have solar panels! Obviously not doing too bad if they can afford those!

After we fell victim to some cute crafts, I convinced A to climb up a lookout tower with me. It was pretty rickety!

Our tour group had around 20 people total. One couple close to our age was from Chicago - and living in the South Loop, no less! Talk about a small world.

We headed out from Uros and once we were out in open water realized why it would take so long to get to Amantani, which didn't look far away. Slowest. Boat. Ever. A sailboat would have passed us. According to our guide, all the boats go the same speed. (We still don't know why).

More about Lake Titicaca... It is the highest navigable lake in the world. According to legends, the first Inca, Manco Capac, and his sister-wife were born from the lake and proceeded to Cusco to establish the Inca culture. Angel thinks it's probably true because Jacques Cousteau found sunken pre-Incan cities in the lake when he dove looking for gold the Incas supposedly threw in the lake when the Spanish took over.

Eventually we arrived at Amantani where our families were waiting to greet us.

There are 10 communities on the island with about 4,000 people total living there. They speak Quechua and some Spanish. The tours rotate through all the communities so the income from the tourists is distributed fairly.Angel matched us up to our family for the night. The mother in our family, Francisca, led us up a hill to her home. I was really worried about this part. I was still sick from the altitude and had read how far you had to hike up the island depended on where your family lived. We ended up not hiking very far up, thankfully.

Our family consisted of Francisca, her daughter Laticia (7 years old), and her mother (never got her name). Francisca served us lunch soon after we arrived at their home. While we waited we checked out our room (blue room), the courtyard and the fields outside. There was one lightbulb in the kitchen and one in the bathroom (thank goodness!). None in our room.

This is the front door.

Lunch was quinoa soup, potatoes and cheese. A and I were already familiar with quinoa (we make it at home) but not in every meal. Yes, pretty much every single meal on the islands consists of quinoa and potatoes. Don't look for fruit or other vegetables - you won't really find them.

We had mint tea afterwards. Just throw the stems in your mug, pour in hot water, let it steep a few minutes and drink! After a little rest time, it was time to gather what energy I had to climb up the mountain to regroup with our fellow travelers. The hike wore me out. I don't know how the locals do it while carrying huge loads and/or children on their backs.

We met up at the community soccer field. Angel gave us three options for the afternoon:
1. Climb up to the very top of the island to see a pre-Inca ceremonial center
2. Take a "Peruvian flat" hike around the island
3. Go to a small bar (Yes, they apparently had a bar inside a tiny general store, though we didn't see it.)

I reminded myself I had to hike the Inca Trail in a few days and started out on Option 1 with A. But I quickly gave up and turned back. Thankfully, I was not alone and other people went with me on the "Peruvian flat" option. (To help justify my tiredness, we were at 4100 meters. Pretty high!)

Here are some pics from A's trip to the top:

He was particularly impressed with the view of the Bolivian Andes across the lake.

You might be wondering, "What is Peruvian flat?" If you guessed it's not exactly the same as walking on a path with no incline, you're thinking along the right lines. If there are no steep stairs or incredibly steep inclines, Peruvians call it "flat". Which means some stairs and inclines are included in "Peruvian flat". And they're not flat at all.

Our little group ended up returning a little later than we intended due to a wrong turn. Laticia had to come looking for me. She had us wait at a small store for Francisca, who had gone to collect A. We headed home in the quickly darkening evening where we found the grandmother had started peeling potatoes for dinner. (More potatoes!) A helped her and Laticia peel them by hand.

Nights on Lake Titicaca get very cold, and Peru was starting into winter when we were there. We layered up, even inside. There's no heating!

We were served a sort of pasta soup, potatoes and rice. We tried to get the family to sit with us at the table, but they refused.

After dinner, they dressed us up in traditional clothes for their culture. A got a giant poncho while K was put into a blouse, skirt, belt and shawl. I put them on over my fleece and shirt, that's how cold it was! (It got down to below freezing.)

Then we headed to the community building where the whole group was taught how to dance to live native music. The dancing was tiring! I could only do one dance at a time, followed by a long rest. The room only had three light bulbs and one by one, they all went out.

We slept under many blankets that night. The next morning we had breakfast at 7:00. Some sort of pancakes (we suspect quinoa) then headed down to the dock to go to our next destination: Taquile Island.

(Quick side note: We really enjoyed our overnight family stay. It was eye-opening to see how the island cultures live and get to know people on a more personal level. If you ever consider doing one of these tours: Make sure you book through a travel agent who has YOU pay your host family for your accommodations. We paid our host directly while some people in our group did not. You cannot trust a travel agent to pay your host family fairly.)

Taquile was an hour away and is slightly smaller (with a population around 3,000). We landed on one side of the island and hiked up a fairly steep hill to a sort of rock "gate". From there we walked 2 kilometers along a "Peruvian flat" path to the other side of the island. We stopped in the main square for a bit where we saw locals setting up for a farmer's festival. Angel told us the small church in the square is always closed as they have no priest. One does go out by boat to Amantani once a month.

We continued around the island to reach the restaurant where we had lunch. Quinoa soup (surprise, surprise), grilled trout, papas fritas, rice and tea. 

During lunch, Angel explained some native traditions on Taquile. The men knit their own hat when they're single. If a woman is interested in a man, she pours water in his hat to see if it will leak. Interesting test! Single girls wear bright colors and pom poms on their shawls. Once married, they wear muted colors. The men also carry a knitted bag in which they store coca leaves for chewing. They don't shake hands when they meet - they exchange coca leaves. Another interesting tradition: They have a 2-year trial period before a couple gets married where they live together in a supervised manner. When they do marry, the wedding is a week long!

Then we walked down 500 steps to our boat. The building at the top of the next photo is where we ate lunch.

We napped on the three-hour boat ride back to Puno and were dropped off at our hotel. We waited for our bus tickets to be dropped off (5:00 = 6:10 in Peruvian time). Then we went out to dinner. I finally had a little appetite! A had "sweet quinoa" for dessert. It was sort of like a soupy rice pudding with pineapple chunks. We went to a convenience store to stock up on water and chocolate (also good for high altitudes) and called it a day.

Coming Up: Back to Cusco! Getting into Inka mode, an amazing guide, and one of our best meals in Peru.

Peru: Puno (With a Brief Stop in Cusco)

We left off with the decision to go overnight to Cusco instead of Arequipa due to a miner's strike. Different bus company than the other one we used, but same idea. Comfy seats which recline, food, movies, etc. The bus left at 9:30PM. The trip to Cusco took about 14 hours. Yes, we spent that entire time on a bus. No photos from the experience and you'll soon know why.

The trip was a tale of two seats. A and I were in separate rows due to the last-minute booking, but both on the lower level. I sat in the front. A in the back (4 rows away). The ride started out well. We had earplugs, were served drinks, and a movie was playing. We tried to go to sleep pretty quickly. However, what we didn't know is this particular bus route takes you over some of the highest passes in the Andes. You gain altitude extremely quickly. This caused about half the bus to get sick. Thankfully I was not the only one! Altitude sickness for me started with a headache. I took some Benadryl to encourage sleep. Then I was nauseous. Then I was sick. Repeat for hours. A didn't get sick, but in the back of the bus he experienced constant G-forces from the switchbacks. Needless to say, it was not the highlight of our vacation.

We arrived in Cusco around 11AM and got swindled on a taxi ride to the hotel we would be staying in the next week. We basically begged them to watch our larger bags until our next overnight bus to Puno. Yes, you read that correctly. One overnight bus after another. This was not the original plan; we just wanted to get to Puno before our scheduled tours. The hotel was very accommodating. More about the hotel when we officially return to Cusco.

We headed down towards the Plaza de Armas (main square) and found Urpi, a cute small restaurant where we stopped for lunch. K had the Peruvian version of pizza (in a wood oven). A had Lomo de Alpaca and pumpkin soup. The alpaca was good. 

We saw a good number of Israeli restaurants around Cusco.

Cusco is a cute city. It has a European flair (especially in the building style) but with Andean women walking around carrying their babies, wares and purchases on their backs.

We decided to take a tour of the main cathedral. An audio tour was included (in English!), but no photos were allowed. I did sneak a few off the hip, though. I'm so bad. I didn't use flash, so don't worry about the integrity of the old artifacts.

There were tons of gold-plated altars and dressed-up idols. One of the most interesting things was the "Lord of the Earthquakes". (AKA Black Jesus). The cathedral is really three connected churches which were built over time.

Next we went shopping for hats and mittens, two necessities in the Andes and the altiplano (the high flat portion at the top of the Andes). Our negotiations to even lower prices were successful. Then we wandered trying to find an internet cafe and a travel agency to set up a tour in Puno since we would have an unanticipated extra day there. We found internet and updated our families on our new travel plans. We waited on the tour as a couple agencies were charging an outrageous fee. We decided to wait until we arrived in Puno. If you know me well, you know how nervous it makes me not to have a plan!

We went to dinner at a quaint little place where all the locals were eating something called "Mother-in-law's Tongue" - a flaky pastry with caramel. A had one of those and I had an empanada. We also had sandwiches. A had Inca Kola too. It's the national soda drink of Peru. If you can imagine bubble gum soda, you know what it tastes like.

After dinner we hung out in the Plaza de Armas for a while. Then back to the bus station! Very busy and no organization. We eventually went out to where the buses lined up and then guessed which one was ours. This time we were on the upper level (due to the last-minute purchase). We actually slept for most of the ride, thankfully. We arrived in Puno at 5:30AM. We headed to the hotel we were staying in that night and asked if we could sleep in a room for a few hours. They were super nice and let us conk out.

We woke up again around 9:30AM. We went out to find the travel agency office for our tour the next day to see if they could book a tour for us that day, but they were closed. Instead we booked our Sillustani tour through another company. The street we walked the most on is a pedestrian-only street. Very cute.

Then we saw what looked to be a military marching band going down the street. We decided to follow them to Puno's Plaza de Armas (every city has one and it's called the same thing). People seemed to be waiting so we sat on the cathedral steps and watched as different branches of the military marched in the square.

Flags were raised, guns shot off, and people stood for various songs. We found out later it was part of a week-long Mother's Day celebration. Pretty intense for Mother's Day! I got sick in the middle of it. Yay altitude sickness! Let's take a minute to talk about that, shall we?

Some people are affected by going quickly from low altitudes to high altitudes (typically over 8,000 feet). Symptoms include headache, loss of appetite, nausea/vomiting, feeling weak, and dizziness. Most people experience a headache when they first go to a high altitude. Luckily for me, I had it all while in Puno. Puno is at an altitude of 12,556 feet. Just slightly higher than Chicago which is at about 500 feet and Nasca which is close to sea level. I started taking Diamox, an altitude sickness drug, the day we arrived in Puno when it became clear the altitude was affecting me. It seemed to help, but also going back to Cusco which is lower (11,200 feet) helped the most. Altitude sickness is no fun. You feel weighed down and stairs are definitely difficult. But it didn't stop us from exploring! I also drank tons of coca tea and mint tea, which are supposed to help. Yes, cocaine is made from coca leaves. But it takes a ridiculous amount of leaves to make a tiny amount of drug, so don't worry!

We took a look inside Puno's cathedral after the parades were over. Less glitzy than the one in Cusco but still big. Also had the gilded altars and dressed-up idols.

Then we took a hike up a hill (very slowly) to see the view of the city and Lake Titicaca. There is a statue at the top of the first Inca, Manco Capac.

After climbing slowly back down, we had a snack before getting picked up for our tour to Sillustani. First cup of coca tea!

Sillustani is an area which has funery towers from both pre-Inca and Inca times. The rocks are magnetic and the towers have been struck by lightning multiple times. (Eventually they installed lightning rods.) Different parts of the towers represent the four elements and the gods related to them.

This particular rock looks like a panther from the side (can you see it?). If you place a magnet in the middle of the circular swirl the needle will keep swinging around from the magnetism in the rock.

Can you tell how windy it was? Take a look at my hat in all these next photos. It was worse than Chicago! And cold!

On the way back to Puno (about a 45-minute drive) we stopped to visit a local family's house. This whole complex is one house. Each building is a different room. Bedroom, kitchen, etc.

Llama!

Our guide served us different types of potatoes, cheese, and arcilla. Arcilla is an edible clay. It's very salty. In Peru they have over 3,500 types of potato!

This is their bedroom. Can you imagine sleeping on hard adobe?

Almost every family in the altiplano and Cusco region has these symbols on the roof of their house. There are two bulls (representing duality - male & female.... they used to be llamas until the Spanish came), a ladder (representing moving up in life), a cross (showing they are Catholic), and two pots: one with oil and one with water (representing the separation of good and evil).

The altiplano is gorgeous. It's so flat you can't tell how high up you are. (And you're very high!)

When we got back to Puno we had dinner at a "fancy" restaurant where we both had soup. A had potato & asparagus and I had vegetable quinoa. Quinoa is a grain they grow all over the Andes and eat frequently. Something to note: Most natives operate on what they call "Peruvian time". Meaning you usually won't get your food served at the same time as your dinner partners, your server won't bring you the check unless you ask for it (and then it comes at least 10 minutes later), and people just generally are not in a hurry. Another amusing thing - they figure out your bill by looking at the prices on the menu - no computer systems here! Also, multiple places have said they take American Express but then it almost never works when they try to run it. Be prepared with Visa or cash.

After dinner we went to bed early to catch up on sleep before our Lake Titicaca tour the next day. This was our room for the night before the tour and the night after.

Coming Up: Floating islands, two light bulbs and the definition of "Peruvian flat".