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.
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.
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