Puno and Lake Titicaca

After going back to Cusco for a day after Machu Picchu we continued on to Puno and Lake Titicaca. To get there we took a tour bus that made a few stops along the way. Some of the stops included the San Pedro Church or the "Sistine Chapel of the Americas", Raqchi (an ancient storehouse of food for armies and the elite), and La Raya (the highest altitude point on our route: 14,000 feet). Here's a picture of the snow capped mountains at La Raya.

When we arrived in Puno it was already dark so we headed right to our hotel. Despite the dark, the city was anything but asleep while the residents celebrated Puno Week. The next four days would be filled with numerous parades, food festivals, an Inca ceremony reenactment and concerts to celebrate the 343th anniversary of the city, Puno. Having heard that the "real" festivities didn't start until the weekend we decided to head out to the Islands Uros and Taquile on Lake Titicaca first.

We embarked for our four hour journey to Taquile and although the boat dragged along, there was plenty of stunning scenery to keep us entertained.

Within an hour we arrived at Uros where we would take a short break and explore the floating island. Although the island was mostly a tourist site and it's debatable whether people still live on the island or just commuted every day it was still interesting to experience. The islands came about when the Uros population wanted to get away from the sometimes aggressive Incas. They used tons of the ever abundant totora reeds that grow in Lake Titicaca to create the floating islands. Walking around on the island felt like walking around on a water bed. Weird! Here's a model of how they build the islands...

They first tie huge blocks of soil that are dense with roots together, then pile layers of reed in alternating directions until the island becomes compact enough to walk upon. The island is finished off with houses, furniture, boats and decorations all made of reeds as well.

We continued on to the beautiful island of Taquile. The few hours we had were not even close to being enough to explore the whole island. Below is a picture of where we ate the best trout fillet of my life for lunch. The view combined with the slight breeze simply took my breath away.

In fact, the whole thing reminded me a bit of being on the mediterranean sea. Like my host dad always says, there are three completely unique "worlds" in Peru: Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca, and Iquitos. After seeing all three (my blog on Iquitos will come soon) I'd have to agree.

Before we knew it was time to go back to Puno. When we arrived, the celebration was in full swing. The first event we went to was the reenactment of an ancient Inca ceremony. The ceremony was the real deal: Inca king and queen spoke only in quechua, they had thousands of dancers and servants, there was a ceremonial entrance on an intricate boat made of reeds, and the traditional alpaca sacrifice. I didn't realize how seriously they took the ceremony until they actually killed the alpaca. Poor little guy.

Unlike the other dancers who had elaborate feathers adorning their outfits, these dancers seemed to be donning balls of yarn! Perhaps they just didn't have enough time to finish the costumes, but it seemed deliberate. This was just the beginning of colorful costumes. 

Wherever we walked there seemed to be another parade going on. This particular parade was a competition between a few high schools. I wonder what kind of budget they have for these costumes...

All the guys wore boots like this with dozens of bells.

Then some monkeys showed up! What a fun parade!

Needless to say, it was a very eventful week in Puno! And I can check two "worlds" of Peru off my list! Next, is Arequipa and then the final "world"- Iquitos!

Hasta luego,

Katie