D117: Titicaca lake & islands

Road to Puno view

After such great days in the Sacred Valley, we are back to Cusco for 2 nights and 1 day, before to head for the Titicaca lake and the Puno town, getting us just on the other side of the Bolivian border. The bus ride is quite long (7h), but we can enjoy the high Andes scenery, of those dry but colorful mountains, with limited vegetation and life... we are going on roads between 3,500 and 4,000m, we can clearly feel the high altitude!

Puno city center, with the Cathedral

Not much to see in Puno, standing at 3,800m high, though the center is pretty nice, with a center dominated by a big cathedral in a Baroque style. 

The key attraction is however the lake, so  the next morning we embarking for a boat tour on this massively huge lake, with many islands and few specific tribes living on them (or on the lake!), with special habits we will discover. 

City & port view, lousy-still water and unused boat-toys in the front, with Puno in the background

Puno city view from the boat: quite big for the altitude

TITICACA LAKE: 

1st feeling: this lake is huge. And I know what I am talking about, as I have been living along the biggest European lake for 7 years! As soon as we leave the Puno bay, the lake horizon is endless, clearly looking more as a sea. 

A Titicaca lake view... no end, it looks like a sea!

Biggest lake in South America by volumes of water (it is large and deep!), it is often called the highest navigable lake in the world, with a surface elevation of 3,812 m... Beside its size, it is also famous for its fishes, as well as the "water frogs" living 60m deep, that Cousteau discovered there in the 60s or 70s, not sure. 

TAQUILE ISLAND

After a good hour on the lake, we reach the large island of Taquile, where the Taquileans have set-up here when Spanish conquered the area. The view around are great, with the unmissable white-snowy peaks of the Bolivian Andes rising up in the background. 

We have a show from the local community, which is quite interesting. The Taquileans have developed a culture still alive, which can be seen in the traditional clothes everyone wears and their specific patterns. Textiles produced here are among the highest quality handicrafts not only in Peru but in the world. Knitting is exclusively performed by men, starting at age eight, while women exclusively make yarn and weave.

Yes, you read well... MEN ARE THE ONES TO KNIT! It is actually a key skill for a young man to learn about, as it will be necessary to knit his belly-belt, to ask his girlfriend's hand to her father, who will accept pending the quality and aesthetics of the belt... wow!

A rocky bay on Taquille island

Lake view from an inland hill

Some men show us their knitting performances 

Local & traditional dance show - look at the men's belts!

Island & lake view

Beach on Taquille

Beach & mountains view: at 3,800m high, the far-away peaks still look much higher!

Boats on a Taquille bay

PACHAMAMA LUNCH

After the show, we can enjoy an isolated beach for a while, before to move to another side island where we will have a traditional lunch, done during celebration to Pachamama. 

Have I talked yet about Pachamama? No, I don't think... the word means "mother Earth" and is a goddess revered by the indigenous people of the Andes. Many monuments and festivities are decicated to Pachamama, and you can hear about it very often once you start visiting the region. 

This lunch is cooked in the Earth, with a specific set-up of rocks & herbs, where potatoes, meats and fishes are cooked under it. Interesting, and quite tasty on top of an amazing view! 

Prayer to Pachamama before opening the earth pile

Opening... still burning inside so very steamy!

Inside the pile: hot rocks with the vegetables, potatoes and chicken & fish

Lunch outside, @3,800m, with a view on Titicaca & the Andes

FLOATING ISLANDS & THE UROS

Last stop of the day, the floating islands, where the community of The Uros live directly on floating reeds, kind of ballots of hay attached together to make a floatable-platform... Wow, some people are really living like this? This is just very surprising! The platform is quite stable and soft, though a bit humid and have to be renewed every 3-4 months. 

Their original purpose was defensive, and they could be moved if a threat arose... when the Spanish invaded the region, they would not chase them until the center of the lake. 

They show us another set of textiles and handicrafts done here, then we have a tour of their special "gondola" (forgot the word for this one!). 

(Pictures from my friend Andrew, my camera went out of battery!)

A floating island view on Titicaca lake 

The "center" of this floating island

Women selling their handicrafts... on the reeds, with the reeds house behind 

The traditional boat, made of reeds... but also empty PVC bottles now, lighter and easier ;)

An Uros woman

View on the back of the floating island

Inside a "house"... that is tough to see

PUNO NIGHT

The last night in Peru delivers another good party, surprisingly, in this small town of Puno, on a Sunday night. Well, it's never a bad time to have fun while in vacations, right? ;-)

Pisco sours & others at a Puno lively bar