Left the hotel in Puno on tuk-tuk’s (like the one’s in Asia but pedal powered) down to the harbour for a boat ride out to the reed islands. The tuk-tuk drivers earned their money as we talked them into have races and our driver came in 2nd, we were in 1st place for a brief period but the other driver had a sudden burst of energy. Mind you I thought we were going to roll it on several occasions. I was thinking the reed island would be one big island with a few huts on it and just a tourist attraction but there are 45 islands with about 2000 people living permanently on them. Most of the have solar panels and even have small black and white tv’s. Everyone was blown away buy them, much more than what any of us expected. Everything made from the reeds has to be replaced every 3 months – huts, boats the whole box and dice. The floor of the island is added to every couple of weeks and the island is vacated once it touches the bottom of the lake, then the reeds above water level are cut up for compost. Tourists can only go to the islands for 3 months of the year so they have to sell their souvenirs etc to last them the remaining 9 months. They have guinea pigs, ducks and chickens and grow some veggies. The reeds can be eaten and taste a bit like celery. The island we visited even had a lake in it (not sure what it’s purpose was though). The people are amazing and they dressed us up in their costumes….very attractive….not.
Then it was a 3 hour boat ride to Amantani Island for our homestay. Matt, Catherine and I stayed in the one house, can’t remember our ‘mother’s’ name but the kids were Cynthia (11) and Yuri (14). We got fed lunch of soup and fried cheese with some strange veggies. Most of us were suffering from upset stomachs and weren’t able to stomach too much as it was. We all felt guilty for not eating all of it as they have so little. We only saw the our room, the dining area and the kitchen. Not sure what the rest of the place looked like but the rooms we saw were very basic. The dining area had a small round table with one wooden chair and we sat against the wall on bricks with rugs on top. The was shelving with boxes which held the cutlery and crockery and the kitchen had a table in it but they seemed to sit on the floor to prepare most things. There was no running water in the house and dishes were washed in a bucket.
Matt and I went for a walk up the hill which nearly killed me and then decided to have a rest. We hadn’t been back 10 mins when Cynthia got us up to go to the soccer game. The gringos were challenging the locals to a game of soccer at 4000 metres. So up the hill we trudged but we kept going up and up…..there’s a reason I didn’t do the Inca Trail. They guys actually managed to beat the locals 2 games to 1. Then it was back down the hill for dinner, more soup and something with rice. The rice was so salty I gagged trying to keep it down and didn’t bother eating anymore. Then we were dressed up again in the local costume and taken up that bloody hill again for a fiesta. There wasn’t any feeding but there was dancing although they seem to do the same dance to every song but we were all knackered and the event died about 10pm.
The next morning we had pancakes for breakfast….woohoo and then got taken down to the port and jumped on the boat again for Taqhile Island. The walk was beautiful with views to Amantani Island and into Bolivia. Lake Titicaca borders both Peru and Bolivia and we could see snow covered mountains in the distance.
Had lunch on the island and then back on the boat to Puno. Besides a brief shower at Machu Picchu in the afternoon, the first real rain we have seen has been in Puno during the evenings. we’ve been really lucky with the weather.
The next day we crossed the boarder into Bolivia and headed for La Paz. It’s an incredible sight coming into La Paz and one I wouldn’t want to drive. They’re all bloody mad, it’s a case of the biggest vehicle wins and you just barge your way through. We even stopped on the motorway and all piled out to take photos of the view. Were we allowed to….who knows…but we did.
There doesn’t seem to be any supermarkets and everything is bought from little stalls on the street and in the markets….it’s quite strange really. We managed to find the tourist markets and the witches markets. The witches markets were a little less grandiose than expected but still very bizarre and we waited a couple of hours before having lunch after being there.
Went for a group dinner to a fabulous bar and had one the best steaks ever.
Stay tuned for the next update.
Lindy x