The alarms went off around 5:30 a.m. or so, we got ready, stuffed our day packs, ate breakfast, which was a buffet in the dining area, we headed down as a group and found a table to sit at. I ate fruit, bread juice and these French toast triangles filled with jelly. they were pretty good and I wanted to eat more but I didn't. Our driver showed up around 6:30 a.m. to pick us up but before he got there, we had time to use the restroom and chill in the lobby for a few minutes. The van arrived, we hopped in and on the way to the port, we stopped by another hotel to pick up two people, from Florida, joining us on the boat tour. We got to the port, grabbed our stuff, tipped the driver and followed our tour guide, Percy, to the boat we were suppose to get on. It was a chilly morning.
We found some open seats across the aisle from each other and waited for the rest of the passengers to get on. While we waited, there was an entertainer playing music with his pan flute and ukulele. He was pretty good. We gave him a small tip as it got closer for the boat to leave. Once all the passengers loaded up on the tour boat, Percy, gave us some info of what we were going to do, see, and the people we were going to meet. We took a few minutes to fill out our names and other information out on the manifest.
We started to leave the harbor and Percy told us about the smelly green algae that covered the top of the water as we left. He confirmed that this part of Lake Titicaca was polluted unfortunately.
The first place we were going to stop was the reed islands of Uros. These people live on anchored islands floating on Lake Titicaca. We got closer to the islands through the open channels on the lake. We saw many people with scythes cutting down the reeds and throwing them in piles on their boats. We passed the Uros sign and into an open area of water where you could see all of these little islands with houses and huts on them.
We motored towards one of the islands and got off the boat. Walking around on top of it felt almost like waking on a soft trampoline. We walked and sat down on the provided benches. We listened to Percy as he gave us the history of this place. The chief, who was in charge of his grouping of islands, demonstrated how they built the island and put houses on it as Percy talked. It sounded like a lot of maintenance just to live out on these islands day after day. It was also pretty amazing that this group of people were able to live out here because it was cold...everyone was bundled up including ourselves. We ended up talking to a French kid, who was on vacation with his dad, who was wearing a Seahawks hat, he said he was a huge fan of the Seahawks. We told him we were from the Seattle area and were huge fans as well.
After the demonstration and info, we broke up into groups to talk to some of the families on this particular island. We were paired up with Elizabeth, she showed us her house, we asked questions and she showed us her tapestries she weaves. Amy ended up purchasing one of her tapestries. Then we got to ride on a reed boat that looked kinda like a Viking boat. It had two pumas in the front and up and upper and lower deck. We sat on top of the upper deck with a few other people from our tour group. The children climbed up to the upper deck and sang, Row, Row, Row Your Boat in four different languages. We gave them a few Sols each just because they did a good job and were entertaining.
The chief of the village rowed us out to the middle of the community and then came to to the main reed island where we could use the restroom, purchase food and goods if we wanted to. We took a picture of the Lake Titikaka sign. We got back on the boat and we had an hour and half minute ride to the other island, Taquile.
We relaxed a bit in our seats watching the water fly by as we skimmed across the lake. About halfway through our trip to Taquile, we went up to the top of the boat, with our life jackets, to experience the lake. It was chilly but it was beautiful. The lake and surrounding areas kinda reminded me of Lake Tahoe but without all the trees. Lake Titicaca was much larger and at a higher elevation. In fact, this is the world's most highest navigable lake. We sat up there for a good half hour or so taking photos, enjoying the ambiance and soaking in the entire experience. We returned back inside the boat for the remainder of the trip. I closed my eyes a few times to pass the time because the altitude made me sleepy. Most of the people on the boat had their eyes closed as well.
We approached the island of Taquile and watched our boat crew pull the boat to the cement slab so we could safely get off the boat. We washed our hands in the little portable hand washing station and then the chief of the island gave us tickets, which I think acted like a stamp in our passport, since we didn't get one. There were other tour groups there as well and we recognized some of them from the bus tour from the day before.
We followed Percy up the short hill and just about died walk that short of a distance with the altitude we were at. I took a few pictures because the island and the lake were very pretty. We stopped as a large group up by the gathering area where we learned about the culture of the people who lived on this island. We were greeted by most of the elders with fist pumps and sat on some benches to watch the festivities.
We first learned about how they make their textiles. Their village focuses on the importance of the designs and colors of their Andean Chullo hats. Each hat has different meanings such as if you're single, married or retired. Everyone, including men, women and children knitted. The knitted belts made out of their wives' hair, which is another indicator or the men who were married. We then got a demonstration of a traditional dance. Before we danced, I had too much water and had to use the restroom and had to pay a few Sols to use it but I was short a few coins so some guy from our tour gave me a couple Sols. I thanked him.
I went back to the bench and they were getting ready to dance. They showed us how they danced first and then we all got up and danced with them. I only did it for a few minutes because I was winded after a few times around. This altitude is no joke! We sat down and watched the rest of the dance. Meanwhile, Amy asked Percy where we were going to walk to next. He said lunch and instructed her the direction where we were going to head. She added that the altitude was getting to her and she needed a head start to the restaurant. Rhonda, Mom and I, walked through the stands of their knitted goods just to look. We had no intention of buying anything since we were almost out of Sols.
We started the 1.2 mile (2 km) walk down the highly manicured, rock-paved trail. The scenery was beautiful along the way. I stopped and took many pictures as we walked. We got to an arch and then walked down the hill. You could see several buildings and we asked Percy which one we were going to and he pointed to the one right in the middle. We could already tell we were going to have a great view of the lake while we ate our lunch.
We were some of the first people inside after washing our hands at the hand washing station outside. We chose the seats that gave the great view of the lake. We chatted with the people around us for a while and we were served quinoa fry bread and it was delicious. It was so good I probably shouldn't have had so many but I did. Next, we were given soup made from quinoa and veggies and then our main course came out about fifteen minutes later and consisted of river trout, veggies, potatoes and rice--all served on a fish-shaped plate. I ate all of the trout, a tiny bit of the rice, two of the potatoes since I had to limit my carb intake. Mom didn't even want to try any of it even when I offered her the rest of my rice and potatoes. She said she was good and continued sipping her water.
We chatted with the family who were sitting across the table from us. It was a guy, his fiance, two sons (14 and 23) his older son's girlfriend and his father. He said he's traveled all over the place, lived in Europe and is now living back in his home country and taking his family on a vacation. We told him where we were from, how Covid ruined this trip the first time, some of our past travels and was so happy to finally come to Peru. We told him this country was beautiful and there was a lot to see. He said we've only seen a fraction of it. We said that we needed to come back another time.
We finished up our food, paid for our drinks, and used the restroom one more time. Percy told us that we had about fifteen minutes to go walk down to the beach if we wanted to. Of course we did! A few of us walked down and it was really hard to keep sand from getting in your shoes. Amy met us halfway down because the altitude was kicking her butt.
We took several pictures before Percy said we should be heading back to the boat on the opposite side of the hill. We walked up the hill and down the path to where the tour boat was anchored to the cement dock. We all boarded, got comfortable and pushed off for the return hour and a half trip back to the Puno harbor. The cloudy weather started coming in and the wind was stronger than it was making the water very choppy on the way back. Within a few minutes most of the people on the tour boat had their eyes closed, including me.
I opened up my eyes a few times to see where we were. I asked Mom if she still wanted to go up to the top when we got near the reed islands and she said yes. I shut my eyes again until we got closer. When we got to that point, I woke up, we grabbed two available life jackets and we climbed to the top of the boat. There were six other people up there enjoying the views and the chilly breeze. We sat up there for a while taking pictures of the area and people gathering reeds for their little islands.
We made a stop at the reed islands to let two people off. I returned to my seat because I was getting cold and my legs were falling asleep from sitting up there uncomfortably. I wish this boat had seats or a bench up there like the other tour boats we've seen, it would have made it more comfortable. I basically stared out the window for the remaining time on the boat. Mom came down just before we entered the harbor.
We docked and Percy thanked us for taking his tour of Lake Titicaca. He said we would have to walk the boardwalk to the end of the road because the access road was closed this afternoon for some reason. We thanked him, disembarked with all of our belongings and walked to our van at the end of the street.
Our driver took us back to the Xima Hotel, which took about fifteen minutes to get there. He dumped us off in front, we gave him a tip and we went back to our rooms.
We were all tired. Mom went to their room for a little while to talk about our travels for tomorrow, I took a quick shower and spent the rest of the night writing in my journal, uploading pictures to Facebook, Instagramming, charging my stuff, repacking my suitcase and trying to figure out how to watch the Thursday Night Football game on my phone. That night was the NY Giants and the Washington Football Team. It was so hard to watch it because it was on so late and I was tired. I did manage to tough it out and Washington prevailed 30-29 in a very dramatic ending to the game. I went to bed around 11ish after using the bathroom one more time. We had a semi-early day to get up for the next morning. We will be starting our first leg back towards home by traveling from Puno/Juliaca back to Lima on an airplane.
Next Adventure: Peru: Traveling from Puno to Lima and Visiting Mira Flores (Day 11)
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