Lake Titicaca

On the bus to Puno
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On Dec 24, 05, we took a royal class bus from Arequipa to Juliaca.  The bus journey was really awesome with wonderful landscape on the way. We went from the desert side of the mountains to the altiplano (plateau, where there were some rains) on that trip.

We met a few interesting people on this trip.  In this bus, we met 3 Dutch girls (students).  It was good company.  We got off at Juliaca, on the way to Puno.  We were met by an English-speaking guide at Juliaca and taken to Sullistani Tombs.   Juliaca is at 12000 ft, the highest altitude we had reached until this point.  We were a little worried about how we would acclimatize to altitude, but we seemed to be doing fine so far.  Maybe it was because we slowly climbed up and not fly there directly.

On the Tombs
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The drive to the tombs from Juliaca was about an hour.  We had to climb about a 100 steep Inka steps to go up to see the cylindrical tombs, and boy, was that difficult. That's when we realized what altitude was doing to us. We had to take it easy and take a break every 10 steps or so, and drink lots of water.  Anyways, the view from up there was breathtaking. 

Now, a little history about the tombs.  The Pukaras, pre-Inkas, mummified their dead.  And for the elite, they built cylindrical tombs at Sullistani.  When the Inkas arrived, they copied the same style and continued the trend.   However the Spanish bombed everything, and there are some ruins there.  You can make out how the tombs were structured!!  It was very windy there at the ruins and can make a wintry Lake Michigan's wind feel like a spring breeze, according to some guides!

Beautiful Landscape from the Tombs
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We spent some time there, and then drove to Puno and checked into our hotel in the evening.  Since it was Christmas eve, most places were closed, but we found a place nearby to eat.  Kamesh had a splitting headache, due to the altitude.  After food, we just retired in our room as we had to get ready for another early morning in Peru - Lake Titicaca. Basically the brain was complaining about the lack of oxygen. All it took was one night and we got acclamatized to the altitude. Climbing steep steps would leave us breathless but that was about it!

By the tomb
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Dec 25, 2005:  We were picked up by a guide at about 7 AM, and taken to the Lake.  Lake Titicaca is wonderfully large, at 12000 ft.  It had started to drizzle by the time we got onto the boat.  There were about 15 of us on the boat - 3 English Teachers from USA, A Dutch couple, 2 Hungarian couples, An Israeli couple who live in the US, and a German couple.  We were to first go to the floating islands of Uros, but since it was raining pretty heavily by that time, the captain decided to take us first to the island of Tequile.  The general rule of thumb in Peru is that it rains for about 3 hours, and then the sun will be out.  The ride to Tequile was about 3 hours.   It was very stormy as we reached the Tequile island and I was pretty sure we were going to fall over.  We (somehow) managed to reach land! Was I glad or what?

Raining heavily on Lake Titicaca
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It was still raining, and we had to climb about 500 steps to go up to the Main Square of the island.  We all had our own pace, after a lof of panting, we made it!  Climbing steps or going up a cliff at such an altitude is no joke.  The people who live in these altiplanos have larger lungs, and take to the altitude well, like the Sherpas of Nepal.  Anyways, we all made it to the top and by then the rain had ceased.  And suddenly the sun was out and we needed sunglasses and hats!!  At that altitude, the atmosphere layer is too thin, and the sun rays can be harmful to the skin.  So, sunglasses, hats, sun-block lotions were all out once again.  While we were in Peru, we saw almost all 4 seasons in a single day!

From the island, a view of Lake Titicaca
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The people of Tequile islands speak no Spanish.  They speak Quechua, the language of the Inkas.  There are about 1200 inhabitants on the island, and farming is their main occupation.  I guess they are now getting used to lots of foreign visitors, but they continue to do things their own way.  Inkas have a lot in common with the Indians.  They believe in Gods of Sun, Moon, Mountains, Earth etc etc.  The people of this island believe in arranged marriages.  The parents decide where, and to whom their children will get married.  The wife follows the husband about 3 meters behind, does not walk with him.  They have their own ways of birth control - use herbs.  Each family has no more than 2 or 3 children, as they do not have enough space on the island for more children.  The most interesting part of their lifestyle is that the women sew clothes for their husband, and the husband for their wife. The wife does not wear clothes not sewn by her husband.  They believed in democracy, sort of!

The Floating Islands of Uros
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We had lunch on this island.  It is not difficult to find vegetarian food in Peru, it is better in the Peruvian restaurants.  It is not advised to have red meat at these altitudes since metabolism slows down and digestion is a problem.  So, Peruvians at such altitudes are mostly vegetarians.  And they do have a good choice of vegetarian options to eat from.  They grow about 200 different varieties of potatoes, lot of corn, quinua etc.  The Inkas mastered the art of dehydrating the potatoes and preserving them.

From the bus
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After lunch, we trekked down the mountain another 500 steps and came back to the boat.  Now, we headed to the floating islands of Uros.  The ride back was perfect - perfect weather, perfect landscape, good friends by then.  Kamesh was already learning a lot about Dutch history, solving all world problems with our fellow-tourists! 

The floating islands are really really cool.  These are man-made islands, they make them out of these reeds and they anchor the islands.  They have about 45 such islands on Lake Titicaca, and it is a creepy feeling to set foot on them.  Apparently storms, can split the islands!  There are about 4-10 families on each island.  They speak the language of Aymara, from the Inka days as well.  They were more visitor friendly!  We went to the island of Chumi.  It must be a weird feeling to sleep on the floating islands and ride the waves!!

Sulllistani Tombs
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Anyways, the kids have their own schools - and they take little boats to the school (like a bicycle!  They have these boats made of the reeds as well... We got to ride on them from one island to the other.  It was pretty neat!  The Dutch guy tried his skills at the oars.

From there, we headed back to Puno and then to our hotels.  We were pretty tired, but were now well acclimatized to the altitude.  We had some dinner and then hit the sack.  We were to head to Cusco, the next day!  The main highlight of the trip!