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Donna & Neils Travels
Puno is where everyone comes to see the floating reed island of Uros that sit on Lake Titikaca. The town itself doesn't have a good write up in most tour guides but we enjoyed it there and thought it was nice. Not a lot to see in the town but it seemed lively and the 'street sellers' were really jolly. When I say street sellers I don't mean market traders, these are locals who sell you their wares mostly at night when you are walking round the resturant/bar areas, They comprise of old women and kids selling anything from finger puppets to alpacha jumpers. You should get the feeling that they are harrassing you but they do it with such a sense of humour you can't help but not be offended. One old women in particular asked if I wanted to buy something from her and I said, 'maybe tomorrow' which was my usual reply in such circumstances, but quick as flash she started laughing and said 'today is special price, tomorrow really expensive', which doesn't sound funny now but was really funny at the time, so I bought some socks from her just for her cheek.
The floating reed islands were brilliant, really worth seeing, even though you could say they were very touristy. It was about 20 minute boat ride across Lake Titikaca before they came into view. Lots of reed houses sitting on small reed islands with the locals roaming about them with their colourful costumes contrasting beautifully against the green background. You get to visit about 3 of these islands and its customary to buy handicrafts from them (this is where it started to get a bit touristy). We even got a ride in one of the reed boats, which was nice but again made you feel like a tourist but at the end of the day, thats what we were. The indigenous people who live on them apparently don't go to the mainland and live off the lake and what money they do earn from selling handicrafts they buy rice and basic foodstuff to supplement their diets. We reckon though, as soon as the tourists they were straight onto the mainland and into the nearest pub having a good old laugh about the stupid Gringo's. But maybe thats a bit cynical of me. Seriously though, it was a great day out and the tour guide gave some interesting background info on the lake and the people of the islands.
Also, around Puno we went to see some Inca and pre Inca graves, which sounds pretty boring but was quite impressive. On the way back we went to visit an indigenous family in some remote village to see how they worked the land, how they were self sufficient from the land and animals, and how they lived. This was really interesting, as I said about the Bolivians at the beginning of this postcard, its sometimes mindblowing how modern technology hasn't captured every country in the world and the majority of the local communities in these countries cope very well without it, selfishness or vanity doesn't seem to be in their vocabulary. Although, they do seem to appreciate a tip at the end!! I'm not saying its right or wrong for people to live like this but interesting when you hear some peoples gripes and moans back home. I mean, if the coffee maker does break one day, you can always use a kettle!!
Had a good night out with Lee and Delia, even though it wasn't planned, these things never are though. Started out innocently enough with 'just a quick drink before we go back to the hostal'. Well, after a lot of shorts, which were tumblers half filled with spirits, we realised it was getting late and we were skint, so we did the sensible thing and it was off to the bank to get more money. When Lee and I got back with the reddies, (having been putting the world to rights on our way back to the bar) I then looked over my shoulder and there was Lee with a balloon sculpture on his head. Now I've had some surreal moments in my time but I think this has become number one for a while. In the morning Lee couldn't remember wearing the balloon, never mind where he got it, so it remains one of those mysteries never to be solved.
So all in all had a good time in Puno, bit of culture, bit of history and a good piss up, what more could you ask for!!
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