Lake Titicaca, Uros Islands, and Taquile

Lake Titicaca 

When we arrived in Puno and saw Lake Titicaca is was almost as if the water was over the land, bubbling over, that same way that water does when there is too much in a glass. It kind of arches over it and suspends there but doesn't drip. I was a little bit tired from all of the riding, the bus trip was nine hours from Cuzco and it was very exhausting. When we reached lake Titicaca we were at an altitude of about 12,000 feet which is about 3100 m. It was tiring to be walking around and breathing I had never been up that high and it turns out I'm a little sensitive to altitude sickness.

We drove through the streets in the tour bus and all we could see around us were stray dogs and animals. No beggars, but people that were very poor. Crumbling buildings (possibly from neglect and earthquakes) and street vendors filled all our views from the windows. We even saw live sheep attached to the tops of vehicles for transportation. It was surreal and I will never forget how I felt knowing this was a way of life and there was not much anyone could do to help or change it. We were driving this tour bus and we probably had more money and prosperity then any of those people would ever see. It was disheartening to see the tattered clothing. The children looked happy though, playing on the streets with bicycles they had repaired or homemade toys. I just wished they had the opportunities that I had grown up with, so I was filled with a mixed of gratitude and sadness.

View from Uros 

Reeds in Lake Titicaca 

Arriving at our bus stop we had to find our tour guide for a trip to our hotel. In the car she explain that Puno was a dangerous place for travelers.  She instructed us not to leave our hotel for any reason.   So we stayed into our rooms that night. We had dinner there and there was a large glass window with Alpacas ready for view. My dinner companion thought it was similar to a lobster tank, "I'll have some of the white one" he joked. The menu did contain alpaca, which we tried and it was delicious. We had our favorite Peruvian beer, Cusquena and then I took a walk around the hotel gardens and looked out on the over filled lake.

House made of reeds 

The next day we boarded a boat. Lake Titicaca  is a large lake and it would take three hours to get to our destination- the Isle of Taquile. About 30 other people were on with us the boat.  Our first stop was on the floating Uros Islands. These islands are the only place in the world that are man made islands that people live on and build themselves. They are built from a mixture of a reed that grows locally and mud.  They are made of this mixture and are about 14-15 meters deep. The reed is bulbous on the bottom and it tastes like an onion. I was handed one to eat and I ate it. I got a little too adventurous with their food as they shared with me their bean and fish snacks, later I found out they soak and sun dry everything, not cooking it, and my western stomach wasn't totally up to the challenge.  Walking on the reeds was really cool because it was marshy and spongy, with the straw reeds snapping as I walked on it.  They use these reeds for everything, their boats, the island, their houses, their fishing poles. All of it.

Uros Island, Apuinti 

The story behind the reed islands is the people living on them protected themselves by being able to float away from invading tribes. This way they could just move and take their houses with them. People living here were very accommodating. They left us into their homes and there are packages to purchase where you can stay with them overnight. They live communally and each island has it's own president with about 10-15 people living on it. They mainly subside by fishing. There is a couple of islands that are used strictly for restrooms and one that is an elementary school. When children are old enough they go into Puno for school all year. It was a fascinating place to be because not many people to go there, it's a very very isolated place in the world.

Uros boat built from reeds, native women in colorful
 outfits stand and watch 

When we left we started on to Taquile. It was another hour and a half. Taquile is not man made, it is a solid island in the middle of the lake. When we arrived I noticed we had to walk up another 300 feet. The view was amazing. I was exhausted.

We climbed all the way to the top and there's a souvenir shop from other handmade goods. I bought some souvenirs, I got some hats (Peru has lots of hats).  When then went to lunch. Each family on the island takes a turn making lunch for the tourists to limit competition. There was a choice of fish, eggs, or a potato dish. I had the eggs and they were fantastic. Typical Peruvian food, it was amazingly tasty. They also had coca tea for lunch which is said to ease the altitude sickness. I did not have any because my job does drug testing and coca tea is made from coca leaves, which can show up as cocaine on a drug test if you drink too much of it. When we were done with lunch we walked down a lot of steps to the boat. I think the tour guide said 550. Then it was a three hour, uneventful tour back to Puno and our hotel. I would never take those three hours back, because I got to go to these two amazing places.




Some tips on visiting this place:  it is nice to bring the children gifts. The best gifts to bring are notebooks, pencils, pens, and books. They have rules against giving candy and money, check with your guide for more details if visiting.  They are very grateful for these things. Also, buying things from them is nice, this is how they sustain themselves. 

Houses on the Isle of Taquile

They make amazing handcrafted gifts that you will not find anywhere else in the world. They have beautiful textiles.



Some youtube videos of my trip to Peru: http://youtu.be/QUjgVm7ZPKM