August 5, 2007: Lake Titicaca Islands and Towns
We had to be at the conference at 8:15 so that it would end in time for participants to catch their buses home. Thus, we had breakfast at the hotel at 7. In addition to the buffet offerings, there was an omelette menu which included huevos rancheros. In the States, “huevos rancheros” (ranch style eggs) means a Mexican tortilla topped with scrambled eggs, salsa, and cheese. Kitty ordered it but instead got a plate of two fried eggs on a bed of grilled onions. She ate it anyway.
At Hotel Ferrocarril, we had two hours to watch groups of teachers present some of the most colorful, creative, multisensory, artistic activities I’d seen in a long time. I felt humbled watching them. Yet the teachers thanked Kitty, Jodi, me, and the other speakers profusely, assuring us they had learned as much from us as we did from them.
After the final certificates and goodbyes, we (me, Kitty, Jodi, and Marcela) caught a taxi to the port of Puno. There was a pedestrian-only pier lined with trees and outdoor cafes on the right. On the left was an inlet with several duck-shaped paddleboats.
Los Uros
As we neared the edge of the pier, women came up to us selling pencils, pens, and candy to give to the children on the islands. We didn’t want to give them candy, so we each bought a bag of pens or pencils.
We were then offered two choices for getting to the Uros islands: share a boat with many people and have only one hour on the islands at a cost of 10 soles each, or hire a taxi boat that would show us the islands privately and at our leisure for 25 soles each. We chose the taxi boat.
We paid the taxi boat driver and climbed in the boat. THEN we were told it would cost 3 soles per person for each island we wanted to visit. There were 35 islands, but we’d probably only see the 3 most important ones. We felt we had been duped. Why hadn’t we been told about this extra fee when we chose the driver? At that point, though, there didn’t seem to be much we could do about it. Marcela managed to bargain and get 3 islands for 6 soles each.
As the boat got further away from the harbor, it started stalling. We thought we’d have to turn around, but the driver expertly got it running smoothly again. We sailed past the Hotel Libertador and marshy areas so thick with algae the birds could walk on it. Then we saw a “Welcome to Los Uros” sign and reed boats. I’ve never been to Southeast Asia, but I imagined that’s what it looks like.
We got out of the boat with the help of two locals and stepped on the soft reed-covered ground. We later learned that the reeds covered roots which were directly on the water. That’s why the ground didn’t feel quite firm beneath our feet. The extra effort to walk on it was excruciating for my colleagues—any extra activity at high altitude can trigger shortness of breath and other symptoms of altitude sickness. I had been taking Sorojchi pills for a few days, and those were helping me function fairly well.
We sat down on a low semi-circle made of tightly bound reeds while our captain gave us some information about the islands. He then lowered a weighted rope into a hole in the middle of the island to show us how deep the water was beneath us. While he talked, a couple of young girls sat with us. They were wearing brightly colored wool jackets and skirts. Their hair was in two braids tied a the end with huge bell-shaped balls of yarn.
A woman had a boy about 18 months old. He kept holding an embroidered cloth out to us like he was trying to sell it. While I was shopping, the mother approached Marcela and asked if she would like to be the godmother of his first haircut. Marcela thought it was a scam for money and declined. The mother insisted, so Marcela did it. The boy cried a little bit, but soon it was over. Then we were all taking turns cutting a matted section of his hair and thus becoming little Anthony’s godmothers. After the procedure was done, a little girl gave each of us gifts made of reeds.
After we had done more shopping from the three vendors on the island, we paid another 10 soles each to be taken on a reed boat to another floating island. 5 soles of that was for the boat, and the other 5 soles was for the chance to see a wedding ceremony.
The reed boat stopped at a bigger island with a bilingual Aymara-Spanish school for the 30 K-6 graders in the area. Inside the one-room school were signs from Poland, Japan, England and the U.S.. A man, the first graduate of the school and resident of the island, told us that France donated a computer, but the school didn’t have any electricity. Marcela suggested they install a system of solar-powered electricity.
We shopped once more, then our captain picked us up to take us to the wedding in the big boat. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any place for the big boat to dock. We also couldn’t make out the bride and groom. We did see women and men in their finest clothes dancing to a band fronted by a woman in a beautiful maroon-and-gold bolero jacket and skirt. We also saw some young people sitting in a reed watchtower shaped like a flamingo.
Chucuito
The ride back to Puno seemed shorter than the trip out. The water was slightly choppier, but not as bad as we had been warned. When we arrived at the port, we hailed a taxi to another place recommended by Vicki, the town of Chucuito. The taxi driver generously agreed to drive us 20 km to the town, wait for us to have lunch there, and drive us back to Puno for only 25 soles.
On the road to Chucuito we saw mud brick houses on the hillside. Further along the same road we saw the Taypikala Hotel and Spa, a gorgeous structure of red rock with indigenous-style carvings. Our driver took us to Plaza de las Armas of Chucuito, another square of topiaries, restaurants, and an old cathedral.
It was nearly 3:00 and we were starving. We went to the nicest looking restaurant on the square, Calabozo de Chucuito. We went to the roof to have huge plates of grilled trout (with and without garlic sauce) and a side order of queso frito (fried cheese). The trout was butterflied and covered three different kinds of potatoes: yellow potatoes, purple potatoes that looked like fingers or thumbs, and diced freeze-dried potatoes. There was also rice and vegetables. The trout plates were only 8 soles each, compared to 25-30 for our dishes at Coca Kintu.
After lunch, our taxi driver took us to another square with a church. We didn’t go in the church, but we were able to walk around the cemetery with its variety of above-ground graves and crypts. Our driver then pointed out a temple across the street. We were tired and didn’t want to go in, but then he showed us a picture of the field of stones inside and we realized there was something worth seeing in there. Kitty and Marcela paid 2 soles and Jodi and I paid 5 to see what turned out to be a field of phallic symbols enclosed in 4 stone walls. Some just looked like skinny mushrooms, but one was detailed enough that I didn’t put the picture on my Web site for fear of having the site shut down or blocked.
We got back in the car. It was now dusk. As our driver was taking us back to Puno, the police stopped him. They checked his registration, then made him get out of the car. It seems the road is a popular route for Bolivian car thieves to enter into Peru with their contraband, get their car registered, then return to Bolivia. Our driver had not done this, but he was fined 5 soles for “being out of his jurisdiction”.
The taxi driver took us to the pedestrian street. We gave him 40 soles for his time and trouble. We did one more round of shopping, then took a taxi back to the hotel to try to fit all of our purchases into our suitcases.
Tags: boat, Islands, Lake Titicaca, Peru, taxi, Travel
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