PUNO, LAKE TITICACA & FLOATING ISLANDS

January 7 - 9, 2010

Off at 6:30 a.m. for a 10 hour bus trip to Puno. The bus was comfortable so we could concentrate on the unbelievable scenery through the Peruvian Andes ranging from scrub brush to barren land and mountains that just 10 years ago were covered in snow. Today, you can still see small remains of the mountain top glaciers. There are a lot of villages along the way. At these high altitudes, no plowing is allowed. The farms are mostly animals...cows, sheep, alpaca. The locals use animal dung for fire wood in areas where there are no trees at all. Most homes are built adobe style.

As we recommended by everyone, we drank lots of Coca tea to help with the altitude...and it tastes pretty good. It is hard to realize how high up you are as you drive along the highway. We thought Albertans live on a plain but it is nothing compared to this part of our tour.

We had 5 stops: Andahuaylillas, Raqchi, Sicuani, La Raya, Pukara and finally Puno.

Andahuaylillas,is a small town with an historical church that is being restored. The town is poor and it appears they depend on the tour buses for a small Indian Market set up in the town square, just across from the church. A colonial town that is clean and well maintained in spite of economic hardship.

Our next stop was Raqchi, an archeological complex with a great temple dedicated to the god Wiracocha in the Inca era. This was an Inca pilgrimage centre. On the grounds was the largest granary along the Inca Trail. Just before we arrived, there is a large Inca Gate that monitored the Inca Trail.

You can also see the ruins of Inca granaries as you drive through the Sacred Valley. They are built into the sides of mountains in such a way that the prevailing winds provide perfect refrigeration.

Stopped at Sicuani for lunch. A typical Peruvian buffet lunch which we enjoyed. We believe it was a hostel as the showers and washrooms were in outside buildings. Very interesting as the washrooms were clean and modern.

La Raya is the highest point on our trip at 4 335 m (about 13,000 feet above sea level.) This height is only about 3 or 4,000 feet lower than the peak of Mount Everest. Again, a stopping point for the tour buses and a fair sized roadside Indian Market.

Our next stop was Pukara, a town where the ceramic traditions are preserved. This name refers to Peru´s first southerly civilization dating back to 1600 BCE. There is a small museum, called Lityc, here which has some carvings and ceramics on display. Most of the artifacts are brought in by local people who have found most, but not all, pieces of an urn or similar item. On looking at the ceramics, we found a small bowl that absolutely reminded us of the Haida Indian designs (Queen Charlotte Islands, B.C.)...more cousins! As usual, there was no printed material for us to take - even in Spanish much less English.

Finally, we arrived in Puno, at an altitude of 3 810 m (about 12,000 ft) to be met by a charming guide named Felix who was very excited to take us on the next adventure - a full day on Lake Titicaca.

But first a good nights sleep at the Eco Inn. A delightful inn with 3 pet Alpacas (mama, papa and baby) looking into the dining room every morning for breakfast and every evening for dinner. They also had a fireplace with a supply of wood for cooler evenings.

Picked up at 6:45 a.m. for our trip to Lake Titicaca which is the highest navigable lake in the world with water temperatures hovering around 8 or 10C. (40-50F for you Yankees.) The lake is actually owned 60% by Peru and 40% by Bolivia.

We no sooner got on the boat, than Barb had a touch of 24 hour flu. She managed to get off the boat to visit the Floating Island of Los Uros, occupied by the Uros Indians. They considered themselves Lords of the Lake as they are convinced they have black blood because they do not feel the cold of the lake in the winter.

It is a settlement of several islands made of mud and reeds. Each island had a family or group of families occupying the top and ensuring it is maintained.

They showed us how an island is manufactured. Building an island is really very ingeneous. They do wonderful arts and crafts from gourds and reeds as well as beautiful weavings. They have a co-op which sells their arts and crafts.

After a lecture and demonstration of reed boat building, we wanted to support these people in some way. Barb made a cash contribution to the community bank which takes care of inhabitants health needs, etc. You can imagine the illnesses as there is no clean water of any kind close at hand. They suffer from arthritis and have an average life span of about 60 years.

A young woman came up to Lynne and wanted to show Lynne her home. It was interesting...a small reed room with the mattress built up on a frame of reeds with pegs on the wall to hold personal clothing and belongings. This young woman had a crafts table. Lynne saw a lovely large gourd bowl but unfortunately, did not bring enough soles with her. Then she found a cute red owl and bought it with no haggling. This turned out to be the bargain of the trip.

They showed us a "fish farm" which consisted of a hole in the island floor with a net...probably about 6 feet square.

As Barb soldiered on, Felix was ever attentive and concerned about how she was feeling. It was much appreciated.

After leaving Uros Island, we took a 3 hour boat ride to Taquile Island. This is a very important site on the lake for its archaeological remains, the sacred and ceremonial sites, the festive activities and the daily life of the inhabitants who are dedicated to faming, textile production and fishing. There are about 400 families living on the island following the traditions of the XIV century that respect the principles of an Incan way of life. The inhabitants are strictly vegetarian (but do eat fish) and a life expectancy of 90 years is not uncommon. The cows we saw keep the island's grass short and the sheep are strictly for wool. The parents arrange marriages for their children at about 15 years of age. The main occupation of the men is knitting and for the women, weaving. While living a simple life, they do not appear to lack as we saw many decent motor boats....but no T.V.

Lunch was included on this tour, after we walked up a very steep hill. To aid in our breathing as we tromped up the hill, Felix gave us a local herb which he told us to keep sniffing. This herb only grows at high levels and never at sea level.

Due to Barb´s condition, Felix made arrangements for us to lunch at a restaurant at the half way point. Lynne got to eat a fabulous fish meal with quinoa soup while Barb was provided home hospitality so she could lie down. It was very gracious of the owners even if the pillow was as hard as cement. It was made of unwashed sheep wool. Our boat captain also got to enjoy Barb´s fish meal as Felix bribed him to stay moored until we came back down. The other people on the tour walked to the top, had lunch and then began a 2 1-2 hour walk to a mooring location on another side of the island. We walked back down the hill, onto the boat and took off to meet everyone.

We laughed, as the restaurant, which also catered to back backers, had outside plumbing with a flush toilet. The boat´s plumbing consisted of a toilet, a bucket of clean water and a jug..do you get the picture?

We then all settled down for the 3 hour ride back to Puno. Ever vigilent, Felix stayed with us up to the hotel door.

We had interesting discussions with Felix. The Indians are very proud of their Inca traditions and language but the parents are worried that their children will lose their Quechua language as the schools are only in Spanish as is T.V. In the countryside, few residents have TV, only radio, so they keep the language going.

Our guide was very surprised by us....two ladies with two small bags who arrived on time, never kept anyone waiting and were unfailingly polite. Sounds Canadian to us!

There is so much archeological treasure in Peru and very little money to bring it up to international tourism standards. We were very impressed with the engineering know-how of the pre-conquest inhabitants. We longed for printed material, which was hardly ever available, and English material which really is the international language of travelers. This is a consistent problem throughout Central and South America.

Our last morning, we were picked up early and taken to the airport located in another town about one hour away. This was a large commercial-industrial location with a huge trade in second hand computers, equipment, electronics, appliances etc. The place was dreadful....dirty, only the main road was paved and badly at that, the side roads were nothing but mud puddles with very little police monitoring. Even the mayor of this town lives in Puno.

Actually, Puno was a charming town which tourism has helped make quite prosperous considering the costs there are low, earnings are too, but with a decent education or trade it looks like the locals can live reasonably well. Typical water and power is about 90 soles a month. Ten (10) soles equals $3.47 US which just happened to be our airport exit tax back to Lima.