Please excuse the dramatics but the worse possible thing that could happen to a traveller has happened... my USB has crashed. Completely and utterly crashed and died meaning I have lost all my travel pictures. I´m keeping my fingers crossed that someone in the U.S. will be able to recisitate it but we will see. Luckily, until then Ms Michelle Malecha has lent me her expertly photographed Puno pictures (thank you Mish!) so I can update my blog. So enjoy the little documentation that I have from our time at the world´s highest navigable lake and the nearby city of Puno.
Day one in Puno was spent acclimating ourselves to the altitude. Who would have thought that 3,800 meters above sea level would be so different from the 3,200 meters that I live at in Huancayo but oh my gosh, it is a huge difference. I felt so out of shape. Luckily, the inhabitants of Puno are thoroughly supplied in coca leaves, you know those oh so yummy dried leaves that are also the origin of cocaine (or co-ca-een if your a Peruvian trying to say ¨cocaine¨ in English). Anyway, chew on a few of those suckers or put it in your tea and suddenly oxygen is rushed to your sore muscles and blood stream. Brilliant. Altitude sickness cured.
There really isn´t too much to do in Puno but Amy, Michelle, Rachel and I did manage to find a lovely restaurant called something like Balcones de Puno. Loved it! I tried alpaca meat for the first time (yum!) and also enjoyed a live music and dance show. Oh how I wish I had the videos to show you now. We were all cracking up at the dances which included, among other things, a simulated rape (!?!) and several not so simulated beatings. Unbelievable! ...and I promise you this was a fancy, upscale restaurant. I am not so sure that kind of stuff would fly in the U.S. but hey, while in Rome, right? Anyway, you should have seen our faces watching those dances. It was priceless.
Anyway, the real reason we were in Puno was to visit Lake Titicaca and it´s islands. So bright and early the next morning we took off for our tour. First stop were the floating islands (Islas Flotantes) where the inhabitants continually re-build their man-made islands with reeds and speak Aymara.
Day one in Puno was spent acclimating ourselves to the altitude. Who would have thought that 3,800 meters above sea level would be so different from the 3,200 meters that I live at in Huancayo but oh my gosh, it is a huge difference. I felt so out of shape. Luckily, the inhabitants of Puno are thoroughly supplied in coca leaves, you know those oh so yummy dried leaves that are also the origin of cocaine (or co-ca-een if your a Peruvian trying to say ¨cocaine¨ in English). Anyway, chew on a few of those suckers or put it in your tea and suddenly oxygen is rushed to your sore muscles and blood stream. Brilliant. Altitude sickness cured.
There really isn´t too much to do in Puno but Amy, Michelle, Rachel and I did manage to find a lovely restaurant called something like Balcones de Puno. Loved it! I tried alpaca meat for the first time (yum!) and also enjoyed a live music and dance show. Oh how I wish I had the videos to show you now. We were all cracking up at the dances which included, among other things, a simulated rape (!?!) and several not so simulated beatings. Unbelievable! ...and I promise you this was a fancy, upscale restaurant. I am not so sure that kind of stuff would fly in the U.S. but hey, while in Rome, right? Anyway, you should have seen our faces watching those dances. It was priceless.
Anyway, the real reason we were in Puno was to visit Lake Titicaca and it´s islands. So bright and early the next morning we took off for our tour. First stop were the floating islands (Islas Flotantes) where the inhabitants continually re-build their man-made islands with reeds and speak Aymara.
Floating island with huts and clothes line.
Home on the floating island with a bundle of reeds (totora) to the left. These reeds not only are used to construct the islands and the inhabitants´ homes but are also used as the inhabitants´ only fruit/vegetable source. Besides eating the reeds the island people also dine on a multitude of fish and eggs.
Lady leaving her home.
Little girl on the floating island.
Next stop after the floating islands was Isla Taquile, a small island with a population of 2,000. The people on Taquile speak Quechua and have a very strong group identity, rarely marrying outside the island.
Before we were able to explore the island, we were served lunch while some locals performed a dance. Luckily for us, Michelle was choosen to participate.
A passage nearby the island´s town square. Apparently the mayor had just been impeached so everyone had taken to the streets to celebrate.
A friendly little girl counting the dots on Michelle´s tatoo.
Women in the town square.
Walking down off of Isla Taquile to head back to Puno for the night.Next stop Cusco...
