Puno and Lake Titicaca and Uros Islands

• Posted by: Geo Kearley
• Comments: 1

We’re back in Puno after an overnight home stay with local families on an island in Lake Titicaca (this is the first time I’ve spelt the name correctly).

We took a dodgy old boat with a finicky diesel motor and no reverse (the captain cut the engine every time we approached shore, let us drift in, then poled us into position at the dock with a long stick). There were no gears – it was a running start every time we left dock – invariably followed by the motor cutting out because the captain forgot to prime it. It was pretty funny. We were all joking that we hoped the captain knew where he was going, and wasn’t going to turn around and ask us the name of the island we wanted to go to, and directions to get there.

We visited two solid land islands that were terraced from shore to the top – apparently by the indigenous people who inhabited the islands before the Incas, but our knowledgeable guide Henry was adamant about giving the earlier people credit. Apparently the Incas were only in Peru for 100 years, and they get credit for every advancement made here. The people on the islands we visited were either simple farmers, fishermen or craftsmen. Everywhere we went these miniature people in their traditional dress of enormous skirts, elaborately embroidered belts and vests and shawls, and intricately knitted hats glided past us as we puffed our way through the high altitude.

On the first island we visited, the men did the knitting, and they pride themselves on very tightly knit hats. Our guide informed us that there used to be an annual competition on this island where the men tried to impress the women they were courting by filling their tightly knit hats with water at the lake, and running to the top of the hill on the island in an attempt to see if any of them would arrive with a hat that still held water. This was the mark of a skilled knitter, and therefore good husband material. They had some of their knitting for sale, and it was absolutely beautiful, but very expensive ($40.00 U.S. per hat)and most members of our travel group are waiting until we get to Cusco to buy anything, as that will be in the last few days of our trip, so we won’t have to carry it far!

The second island we visited was where we were paired off and placed with local families for a home stay. The women came down to the water front in their traditional dress and met us, then led us to their homes. We were placed with a very quiet, very obliging woman named Ines who had an adorable four year old daughter named Juli who entertained us for 1 & 1/2 days. As we don’t speak Spanish, and our host family didn’t speak any English, conversation was limited to sign language, miming and laughing. Our room for the night was a very comfortable little bedroom in an adobe block two story building. I’m pretty sure the family guinea pig pen was housed in the lower floor – guinea pigs are a source of food here. We’ve seen them served in restaurants, and they are deep fried whole – teeth, fur, everything, and they look like they’re screaming at you on the plate. No thank you. The tiny kitchen was in an adobe out building, as was the family sleeping quarters.

Shortly after we arrived, we were escorted to the local soccer field (actually a cement basketball court) by our little guide Juli. She was very confident, walking on top of precarious – looking stone walls the whole way, and fending off annoying groups of boys who were following us playing the pan flute (very badly, and very loudly). Our travel group then engaged in a game of 5 on 5 soccer with the locals, which we sort of won 3-2 after much cheating on both sides, and indiscriminate subbing that occasionally resulted in a 6 or 7 on 5 or 6 formation. It was great fun, and our leader Simon said it was the first time his group has ever won against the locals. Soccer at 4100 meters above sea level is nothing to sneeze at. We may have won, but the locals weren’t coughing up a lung the way we were at the end of the game.

After the soccer game we hiked up to the highest point on the island (4195 m) to an ancient holy temple to honor patcha mama – earth mother, and watch the sun set over the spectacular peaks on the Bolivian side of the lake (the same mountain peaks from the movie Alive, for anyone who’s seen the movie).

We hiked down to our host houses, and were served very impressive suppers of soup and a mixture of pasta, beans and potatoes, which we were embarrassed we couldn’t finish. Unfortunately we were too tired to go to the little fiesta that locals held at the community hall, but everyone who did go said it was great entertainment, dancing with the locals around the bonfire. Most people didn’t stay too long as they were all very tired, but Kim & Holly danced until 1:00 AM – they had more stamina than I did that day.

Today we woke up on the islands to the sounds of rooster crowing, donkeys mating, and sheep bleating. We were fed a substantial breakfast by our hosts before departing for the floating reed fishing villages of Uros.

The uros island have existed for 700 years, and were first created by the local people to flee the Inca and Spanish conquistadors. They are made from a 2 meter thick carper of reed roots and reeds, and are anchored to the bottom of the lake with long wooden poles. When the lake levels change between wet and dry seasons they pull up the poles and move the island to keep it from rooting to the bottom of the lake. All of their houses, phone booths, post office, schools, boats, furniture are made from reeds. It’s amazing – we got to visit the inside of one house, and there were two very large, comfortable reed beds covered in wool blankets, a TV on a shelf in the corner, and a terracotta cooking set up outside. Solar panels power anything electric. It’s amazing that this place is a UNESCO world heritage site in Peru – if it were in North America it would have been shut down by local safety inspector for its bizzare combination of fire, water and electricity years ago. We did get to ride in one of the reed boats that was manned by the Peruvian version of a Venitian gondolier. It was really neat.

On our way back to the mainland, we stopped in to visit an old war ship (It’s name starts with a “Y” – damned if I can remember it now – I have it written down somewhere…)whose very animated captain gave us the history and grand tour of the boat. It was fascinating. This boat was bought by Peru from England near the end of the 18th century for the purposes of defending Peru’s claim to Lake Titicaca and its source of fresh water. The whole thing was assembled in England, then disassembled and shipped to Peru, where it took 7 years for slaves and donkeys to lug all the parts across the Andes to be reassembled on Lake Titicaca. It was meant to be a war ship, but the guns never arrived from the coast, so it never saw war. Most of the original parts were still there and working, and what isn’t is being refurbished by the passionate captain and his crew. One interesting note – it was originally meant to be a coal powered boat, but as there’s no coal here, the hold had to be increased in size to hold the lama dung they used to power the boat instead.

Now we’re back in Puno for the night, and tomorrow we depart for Cusco. We hope the driver knows where he’s going, as it’s a six hour bus ride. Thanks to everyone who’s been writing us – Mrs. Cooper, Kelly, our parents…it’s great to hear from home when we’re on the road.

Noel & George

Post Information

Date posted :	Jul 22, 2004
Last modified :	Dec 24, 2007
Categories :	Peru, South America
Tags :	Bolivia, Cusco, England, Lake Titicaca, Peru, Puno, Uros