Lake Titicaca

Monday 2 May

We are now in Puno. We have two nights here. We have travelled from the Colca Valley to here, arriving last night about 6:00 p.m. Early start - again! We do a trip on Lake Titicaca.

FAST FACTS:
Largest lake in South America and highest navigable lake in the world at 3,812 m.

First off we visit the Uros floating islands; we stop off on Chumi where we are shown how they make their floating island - not surprisingly, I suppose, they have to be anchored or, as they joke, they'd end up in Bolivia! Sounds a bit precarious - like caravanning? 

We go for a sail on a traditional reed boat - all a way of paying a bit more to supplement their income; but hey, at 10 Peruvian soles (=$US3), who's complaining? And it was very relaxing!

There's a bunch of 4 medicos on board who work in the States (mainly New York; one in the UK) and we have an interesting medical conversation - apparently scurvy is a problem here because they don't eat enough citrus etc; they also suffer from arthritic conditions due to the damp.

We leave the floating islands behind and the boat takes us to Taquile 1.5 hrs away. It is a beautiful landscape: the blue of the water, the clouds, the colours of the land.

And Taquile is beautiful too, with emerald green water lapping the shoreline. I can picture 5-star resorts here in the future as it is almost a South American version of the Mediterranean - but I am fortunately reminded that the island is UNESCO-protected. Thank goodness for UNESCO!!

We walk about half an hour UP to the main plaza at 3900m where there are plenty of photo opportunities. I practise walking SLOWLY and manage the altitude fine. Hopefully I am acclimatising.

Here, the indigenous community has conserved across the centuries many of the customs of the old lake population, such as a communitarian life where everything is shared. Men walk around knitting the woollen caps they wear; women weave traditional clothes, which are among the most beautiful in Peru. The plaza is a good place to people-watch.

Lunch is at a lovely spot overlooking the snow-covered Mt Llampu - at 5519 m the highest of the peaks in the Cordillera Real in the Bolivian Andes. Lunch is quinoa and vegetable soup plus TOP had the grilled trout and I had the tortilla plus coca tea. All yummy.

There was a demonstration of weaving, making shampoo by macerating a herb with a rock - a white frothy liquid resulted. And we watch the blokes knit!!

A delightful walk back down to a different part of the island where our boat awaited. I chatted with 3 sisters from California who are going to Machu Picchu to trek for a couple of days.

All in all, a delightful day.

We decide to decline the transfer after the boat trip to return to the hotel; instead we get dropped off in the central Plaza de Armas so we can have a look around.

It is about 4 p.m. by this stage and the Cathedral in the square is very grand indeed. We stroll back to the hotel along the main drag Lima Avenue which is traffic-free and buy some alfajores from a street stall as I see a number of people eating them - they look yummy and are!

Back at the hotel there was a hot water bottle in the bed! Decided to stay in and eat bits of food we have gathered along the way - we have another early start tomorrow. We are off to Bolivia!