Lake Titicaca

For years I have heard about Lake Titicaca in Geography class and read about in National Geographics. I knew it as the highest lake in the world with a terribly funny name ( I mean really how horrible!). But sitting in those classes, I never imagined that I would actually visit the lake. However this weekend during an adventure that involved, reed boats, a sleeper bus with "camas", a tiny motor boats, and quite a few interesting characters and sights I did just that.

The adventure began with a nine hour tour bus ride to Puno. The tour was interesting and the guide nice, although his habit of explaining everything in English and in Spanish became a bit tedious as my Spanish is now good enough that I could fully understand both explanations. We stopped in the small town of Andahuaylillas to view "the sistine chapel of the Andes". It was a beautifully gaudy baroque style church in which the Catholic faith of the Spanish and the traditional belief of the Quechuan speaking locals blended together in a truly traditional syncretic fashion. At the front of the church was positioned Cristo de los Temblores, a statue of an Andean dark skinned Christ that the locals had an easier time accepting because of his dark skin and supposed power over earthquakes. For lunch we ate at a traditional buffet which featured lomo saltado, a beef dish, quinoa soup, and a group of traditional musicians playing covers of famous American pop songs such as "Hey Jude" on pan pipes. We stopped at another town to view some more Incan ruins, which I am afraid to say were a bit lackluster, perhaps all my sight seeing has "ruined" me. There was a festival of sorts in the small town, though I must say it didn't seem very festive to me. The landscape of this area-the altiplano is quite barren and gloomy and doesn't quite lend itself to parties. Gone are the farms, bubbling brooks, and scattered eucalyptus trees that surround Cusco. Replacing these are rolling hills covered entirely by yellow straw. In this almost alien landscape, no trees can grow and the only vegetation to be seen is the small tufts of grass that cling to the hills like barnacles. With the constant wind and dry cold, I can imagine it is quite a difficult place to live and I can't blame the townspeople for being less than festive. Really what kind of party has only trash and fruit peels for decoration and wind for music? The next two towns, Juliaca and Puno, were quite ugly little squatter towns. With no vegetation surrounding them to soften the harsh lines of the concrete houses and tight streets, the towns seem to have grown like malignant weeds out of the yellow earth. The houses are made out of concrete, but are never quite finished due to a tax on completed buildings, so poles of rehbarb stick out of the tops of roofs like spindly cornices. After our long ride, I was quite thankful to reach our hotel. It was very nice and I enjoyed the television and hot high pressured shower-my first in Peru.

The next morning we woke up quite early to eat breakfast and watch the sun rise over the lake's blue waters-truly lovely. Then we boarded a tiny slow-moving motor boat for a tour of the lake's islands. Our first stop was at the Uros Islands, an otherworldly group of islands created entirely out of yellow reeds and mud. The islands were incredible, everything on them made of reeds, homes, boats, gardens, even a mini guinea pig island. The tour book described them as being like something from a fairy tale and I quite agree. Though in true Disney fashion they did seem a bit over commercialized, the local women singing "Row row row your boat" as we left. We then continued by boat to the beautiful Tequile Island. It was a beautiful island of red earth and green trees that rose majestically out of the clear blue water surrounding it, looking quite like an island in the mediterranean. In the distance, I could see the white scraggly peaks of the Andes in Bolivia-amazing. The people of the island were equally impressive. With matador-like costumes and a completely communal way of living they seemed like characters out of a history book. Unfortunately I have no pictures to document them as these people believe cameras steal souls. After lunch of very fresh fish and a walk across the island we boarded the ship to leave. Unfortunately during our stay the wind had picked up creating white topped waves across the lake. Our poor little boat was tossed to and fro by the powerful waves, and for a bit our tour director was doubtful that we would be able to make it back to port. But, after a quite rough ride, we were thankfully able to make it back. Back in Puno, we three waited for our bus home, wasting time and trying to stay warm by hopping from restaurant to cafe to internet bar. Finally, around 9:30 after a brief stay in the bus terminal (quite a cultural experience) we boarded our bus. The bus was nice, with seats that laid back almost completely, and despite the biting cold I was able to sleep for most of the 6 hour journey home. We made it back to Cusco around 4 this morning, quite tired but also very thankful for our interesting, eventful, and most importantly safe trip to Lake Titicaca.