So, Last weekend I went with Vicki (Family House Friend) to Puno and Lake Titicaca.
Friday Night:
Vicki and I departed on a 10:30 pm night bus from Cusco to Puno... it was a "1st class" bus with reclining seats and a movie (bad Spanish action flick, but a good way to pass the time). The bus was packed! Right before we took off the driver came around with a video camera to record an image of all the passengers...ok, that was a bit freaky...! I must admit I have never had so many terror dreams in my life! I believe that there were times when the bus was careening downhill and around sharp curves at speeds of up to 120mph---but maybe I was dreaming... I guess they assumed that driving like maniacs was permissible when all the passengers were presumably asleep...
We finally arrived at the Puno bus stop at 5am (after very little sleep and a long day ahead of us), grabbed a quick cafe and heading into the main plaza to find a travel agency to book an over night tour on the island. But...that was a bit of a problem seeing all tour companies opened at 8:30am and all the tours started at 7:45am ---LUCKLY we meet a wonderful police officer who spoke excellent English and personally escorted us to the ONLY open agency! What luck! The agency had exactly what we wanted --70 soles ($30) later we were ready to take off for our tour.
At 7:45 we jumped aboard our rather creaky, old, tour boat along with 10 other people from various locations and set of on our 2 day adventure.
A half an hour later we were at our first stop...it was the amazing and fascinating Floating Island Community called UROS. I must say I have never quite seen anything like it. You walked on layers and layers of floating reeds...the entire island sways up and down as people pass. The locals were lovely and after a quick tutorial on the history of the island we took a 30 minute boat ride on one of their homemade boats across the bay to another floating community...the pictures below say more then I can express....
After my first try of Inca Cola we were on our way to our next "3 hour tour" to Amantani Island where we were set to stay with a family in their home....
Late in the afternoon...we arrived at AmantaniIsland...
When we docked we were all shuffled off to our designated families to have a late lunch. Here was our host for our stay -- honestly I tried to get her name a million times...but I believe we lost something during the translation...so I am amiss as to our family’s appropriate title, rude I know...
Here is our family’s home...
This was our room...probably the best in the house...it was furnished with two straw lined beds, one table, two chairs and a single candle...please note our door was approximately 4 ft tall...ALL the doors were 4 ft. tall...not good on the old noggin late at night!
After our lunch of quinoa soup and potatoes...
We were off on our next adventure...a hike to the top of the mountain...straight up...and I am talking an incline that made me walk on my tippy toes...good prep for the Inca Trail I hear. I was a bit busy breathing to take pictures on the way up...but on the top the view was spectacular!
When we returned it was pitch black! Thank god I had a flash light. I am not quite sure how they do it...they must be able to see in the dark because one missed step and you are tumbling down the cliff and into the water!
After dinner we were donned in traditional attire for an impromptu dance prepared by all our hosts...
A couple of turns on the dance floor and one cervesa and I was ready to drop!
After a pretty chilly night bundled in layers of clothes and blankets we woke to a light breakfast and headed to the boat to take off to Tequila Island.
We arrived at Tequila an hour later and made our way up to the main square to have lunch and get the low down on the cultural differences on the Island.
On the way up I had a quick exchange with this little peach...my goodness she was cute...all alone heading home...she had to have been about 4...
To save time I won’t go into the details about life on Tequila Island...save it to say...I don’t think any of us would last a day. No electricity, no heat, no phones, no stores...however... the community does combine all the money they make off the tourists so all families are equal...I don’t mind that so much...
After lunch we walked across the Island to another dock where we caught our boat on and head on back to Puno.
We arrived back in Puno at 3:45pm and ran to the bus station to try to catch an early bus...this I believe was our only error on the entire trip. In our haste to catch a bus we failed to ensure our comfort and approximate arrival time in Cusco. The "local" bus we got on cost 20 Soles less but made our "1st class" ride seem like heaven... no heat, no working bathroom, broken TV’s and NO recline...not to mention...a visit by the drug swat team mid way through the ride...vendors butchering a pig in the aisle for "snack time"...various stops for no recognizable reason...locals changing their cell phone ring tone at 11pm at night...and a final arrival of 9 hours later...I honestly think paying the 20 soles more might have been a better choice.
Overall it was an amazing trip!
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