Boat Trips and Local Families

Reed boat Lake Titicaca
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Left Cuzco at 8am, well was meant to but a problem with the laundry in that people didn't get there washing back or it was wet or that it was incomplete meant a delay in leaving time.  Got the transfer bus to our truck, seemed like ages since we had seen Rosita, and headed out of the city and towards Puno.  This was a fairly long drive with the delays and we stopped high in the mountains for lunch.  We were very late meeting our guide for a quick tour around a small pre-Inca and Inca burial site just 30 minutes for Puno, and situated on a lagoon.  It was then into town and after a quick orientation tour headed out to dinner at Inca Bar - where I had a delious Filet Migon in Whisky Cream Sauce and then to Ekonos for a few beers.

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The following day we headed out at 8am in a convoy of pedal tutu's down to the port where we bought supplies for our families and caught two boats.  We first stopped at Uros Floating Islands.  The island is an artifical island created of reeds and a few weeks ago with the high winds the people (with the help of the Puno Fire Brigade) moved the island to a new location.  It is anchored by poles in the ground and when a family may wish to move on they can cut there part free and move somewhere else.  The people on the islands still live in the traditional manner with their cooking, crafts and ways of life, however there is solar power and many of the reeds huts have TV! We had a quick boat ride of a large reed boat. 

View from Armanti Island
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It was then a 3 hour boat ride in the hot sun in Lake Titicaca to Amantani and our base for the night.  Lake Titicaca is 284m deep and 8500kmsq and is located at 3800m making it the highest lake in the world.  When we arrived in Amantani we met our families that we would be staying with for the night and then took us to their homes.  The rooms were basic, mostly with no electricity and outside toilets.  My family had four children and we were lucky that they spoke Spanish as many only speak Quechua.  After a brief time we had lunch of soup and potatoes in the family kitchen.  This had a small fire and storage and a table and was pretty dark. Next we met at the football pitch were some of the group played football with the locals. We then treked the 200m hike to the top of the island and the temple of the father to see sunset.  Tradition has it that if you walk around the temple 3 times, anti-clockwise, you can make a wish to the gods and they will deliver it.  However, just as sun was setting the clouds appeared and it started to get cold.  Our guide explained the traditions of the local people, including their courtship rituals that involved mirror signalling and stone throwing!  He also said that there use to be police on the island but since they have gone there is no trouble.

After a dinner of more potato soup and potatoes and rice we got dressed into local clothing and went to the town hall for a dance.  The outfits were petticoats, bulky skirts, white embroided blouses and black embroided scraves worn over the head.  The dancing was also interesting with a simple dance backwards and forwards and the music was supplied by two local bands.

The following day after a pancake breakfast we headed back to the boats and to Taquile Island where the men traditional knit and the women look after the home.  We walked up to the plaza, where there was even a signposts with the distances to different cities, although apparently it was placed wrong and doesn't point in the right direction!  Again there are similar traditions on this island but the traditional dress is slightly different and the people do not pay taxes to the Peruvian government.  We then had an early lunch and later headed back to the boats for a 3 hour boat ride back to Puno, arriving early so that everyone could get Boliviano's for the following day.  There were none to be had in Puno and there were also no Soles either due to the Christmas Period. 

Went for a meal with some of the group at Inca Bar and then headed home whilst they partied at Ekekos.  Just at the end of the meal Helen & Pete came in, drunk, shouting about the money that the hotel safe had lost.  They said they wanted off the tour.  Got back to the hotel and Pete was having a go at Kirsty and Andy stepped in.  They were mouthing off for quite some time and were really rude and aggressive in their comments.  The police came but they needed to go down to the police station to make a statement, which they refused. They left it insisting they wanted off the tour in the morning.