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Puno & Lake Titicaca
8th Nov - 10th Nov (Day 249 - Day 251)
In order to get to Puno we had treated ourselves and booked onto a luxury bus. The bus was also special because instead of taking us straight to Puno it tooks us to some interesting sights along the way. These included an lovely small church with an beautifully painted interior and some more very interesting Inca and pre Inca archelogical sites. The bus route itself took us across the Andean Plateau with some amazing scenery, at times it felt as if we were traveling across the top of the world, with snow topped Andean mountain peaks all around us.
The bus finally reached Puno at 4.30 in the evening and we jumped in a taxi to our hostel.
On our first day in Puno we took it relatively easy wandering round the city and booking our tour of Lake Titicaca for the following day. The town itself was not particularly interesting, there is some colonial architecture but nothing compared to what we had seen previously in Cusco.
The following day we set off on our tour of lake Titicaca. The tour didn't start too well as there was not enough room for us on the tour bus and we had to jump in a taxi to get to the port....this left us a little worried about how successful the rest of the day would be. Once we reached the port we joined the masses of other tourists in finding our respective boats and waiting to set sail onto the lake.
Our first destination on the lake were the Uros Islands. These islands are famous for being completely made out of reeds. There are around 70 islands in all, each with a number of families living on them. Our boat docked on one of these islands and we had the opportunity to walk around and talk to the families living on the island (in very bad Spanish!). We also had a talk with the head of the island, he explained how the island was built, maintained and why the Uros people built the islands in the first place over 600 years ago. Walking on the islands is a bizarre experience as its pretty much like walking on a sponge as you have the constant sensation of sinking as you walk around. Each island also had a boat made out of reeds that they use to travel between the other Uros Islands, we had the opportunity to take a short journey on this boat.
Visiting the Uros Islands was interesting and it is amazing that people are able to live in such harsh conditions on Lake Titicaca. On the other hand the islands are also incredibly touristy, to the point where it almost feels like you are visiting a theme park. The problem is they Uros people have no real income and therefore rely completely on tourism to survive in the modern world.
After stopping on the Uros Islands we sailed for a further 2 hours on Lake Titicaca to the Island of Taquille. Taquille is an actual island which has a population of around 2000. The island is very interesting as it is very detached from the mainland and the people have their own customs and style of dress. Once we reached the island we had a short walk up to the small town centre and square. The walk up to the town was fantastic with amazing views over the lake. Their views are made all the more impressive by the mountains surrounding the lake and the the amazing cloud formations which hang low over the lake in the distance. Once we reached the town we stopped for lunch which was trout from lake Titicaca. The trout tasted great and was a welcome change from potatos and dry rice which has been the staple diet we had experienced so far in South America.
After an hour or two on Taquille we headed back to our boat for the journey back to the port in Puno. For the first 30 minutes or so of this journey Tina and I sat on the top of our boat taking in the amazing views across they lake, this was until the strength of the sun at 4000 meters was too much for my milky skin and we had to retreat back into the main part of the boat.
It was good to get back to hostel after a long day on the lake but we didn't have much time to relax as we had to pack our bags ready for our bus to Arequipa the next day.
- comments
Tee Chris, considering the strength of the sun why aren't you crispy fried chicken like T yet? Even I got my face burnt off out there, and I NEVER burn! :)