May 21, 2019 Lake Titicaca

May 21 Tuesday

Puno is pretty high elevation and cold this morning.  It is on  Lake Titicaca, which is the birthplace of the sun according to Andean belief. It is well known as home to several pre-Inca civilizations.

A bowl of coca leaves is set out with the breakfast buffet, so Beth has some more coca tea.  There is also purple corn juice which we pass on this morning.

Drube meets us at the hotel to take us to the boat and we stop for two others who are running late.  When we get to the boat, we are the last to get aboard at 7:40.  We meet Abel, who is our guide for the day (along with 20 or so others).

We go first to Uros, the reed islands, which are 5-6 km from the city.  These are islands built from the reeds which grow here in the shallow 3-4' deep water.

 There are many small islands and we go to one island which is home to 5 families.

The islands are built on the reed base with deep roots, and many more reeds are cut and added to the surface.  More reeds are added every 15 days and anchored with ropes. It feels a bit spongey to walk on, especially near the edges of the island. Abel gives an introduction and here is explaining history and myths captured in this weaving.

Then a man from the community gives a demonstration of how the islands are created.

The houses are also made from reeds, as are beds and boats.  We are taken into a home, which is one large room with a family bed at one end.  The woman who lives here with her husband and daughter seems proud of her home and points to a radio over the bed. What a cute daughter! They have some electricity from solar panels - a recent thing.

 The cooking areas are outside the homes on a built-up damp peat area - obviously, fire would be disastrous here.

Large wooden posts are driven into the lakebed to provide anchors to hold the islands in place.

There are 2400-2600 people living in this community which has been here since pre-Inca times.

There is a soccer field on one island and there are 16 teams that play here - chasing errant balls must get interesting!  There is a small medical center and a school for elementary age kids.  After that, they must go to the city.  Recently, the government has provided some solar power systems and ecological toilets.   Food is based on fish and birds (including those flamingos).

Obviously, tourism has become a major source of income and we are gently encouraged to purchase items made here.

 Blankets, scarves, ponchos and other clothing items, along with other souvenir items.  We purchase a boat made from reeds which resembles the one she is holding.  They have plain canoe-type reed boats and large ones. (The toyota and the mercedes, they joke.)  We also see some motor boats and rowboats in the area.

This is a matriarchal society and the area we visit is called Waliki.

We are all taken aboard the large "Mercedes" boat and rowed to a central island where we will re-connect with the tour boat.

Lots of boat congestion!  Interestingly we pass a small Seventh Day Adventist church as well as small islands where pigs are being raised.

Back on the tour boat, we head to another natural island called Taquile, about an hour away. The guide on the boat asks where people are from and we have folks from Peru, Columbia, Brazil, Mexico, US, Spain, France, Switzerland and Australia!

Lake Titicaca is fed by about 36" of rain a year, mostly from November through March, as well as mountain snowmelt.  It never freezes as we are only 18 degrees from the equator.  The name means Great Puma, as the Puma is a symbol of Gods and Power.

We can see Taquile Island ahead, and beyond it there are snow covered peaks which are in Bolivia.
We land at Taquile and half of us will do a 40 minute walk to a restaurant on the other side of the island.  It is a steep, uphill climb in this thin air and Beth needs to stop several times to catch her breath.  Not sure whether the punctured lung from the accident makes things more difficult, but a lady from Brazil and I are content bringing up the rear of the group. The island is about 3.4 miles long by 1 mile wide, and elevation is 3950 meters (12,900 ft.) .

 Looking back.

It is a pretty, rural island with small farms and many sheep.  We see one huge hummingbird among the many flowers - about the size of a robin!

 On this island, everyone does weaving and the men especially are renowned.

We have lunch at an outdoor patio area: soup, followed by lake trout with potatoes, rice and tea.  While I would never serve potatoes and rice at the same meal, it is very common here.

The man of the house explains a bit about weaving as he starts a hat.

 Colors of hats are important as white on top means the man is single, red means married and colorful mixes mean the man is a leader.  Pompoms on the women's clothes have similar meaning. He shows a traditional pouch worn by the men.... it is for coca leaves, and it is common for men to exchange coca leaves as a greeting.  Then, two young girls perform a dance, accompanied by the man on a stringed instrument.

We continue walking to a small plaza, then downhill to where the boat has docked. There are many arches which are decorated with busts of a person wearing a hat.

An hour 20 minutes back to Puno and we arrive at our hotel about 4:15.

 Later, we walk to the main square where the Palacio de Justica and the Cathedral dominate.  As usual, the square seems a social area with families and friends meeting, sitting on benches and walking. The main street is a pedestrian walkway for a few blocks.

We had asked the receptionist at the hotel for a dinner recommendation and stop there on the way back to the hotel.  La Casona is a nice, upstairs restaurant and we have a smiling, pleasant waiter who doesn't speak English but is good at sign language :)

We begin by sharing an avocado stuffed with chicken salad - very tasty!  Greg has pork ribs cooked in orange juice with roasted sweet potato puree and vegetables.  Beth has a tasty soup with chicken, vegetables and angel hair pasta.

We have had pretty good wifi at all of the hotels, so we catch up a bit, download photos and chill before going to sleep.