As you may know, I've already written a shorter Lake Titicaca, blog post, but now that I have been more than once, I wanted to give a more in depth perspective. I had the pleasure of visiting Lake Titicaca twice, from two beautiful countries. Let's start with some background. Lake Titicaca is the worlds highest navigable lake. At an elevation of over 12,500 feet, it glistens in the sun and when you look across it, it seems like an ocean rather than a late. It is situated on the border between southeastern Peru and mid-western Bolivia. Not only do it's crisp waters serve as the life-force and home for many South Americans, but Lake Titicaca is the legendary birthplace of the Incas.
Lago Titicaca - Peru
Puno
Our first stop at Lake Titicaca was in the city of Puno, a shoreline hub of folklore and tradition. We stayed right on the water with a local community member in small bungalow. Walking up the small hill to the main house made the high altitude immediately apparent. I could not breath, but I wasn't so sure it was just the air that was taking my breath away. The view of the lake was amazing. I wanted to stare at it forever, but of course, that wasn't an option. I headed into the kitchen/dining building where we were taught to make Quinoa cookies. I hadn't realized it before, but the beautiful colored plants we'd passed on the drive were Quinoa, the plant of the Incas.
Inside the house, we ground the grain down to flour with two rocks, added water and salt, pinched the dough into small disks, and cooked it in a fire stove. While the final taste was not my favorite, the process was rewarding and fun! After dinner, we all went outside for a bonfire. Sticks aflame with orange and red light warmed the night and made the electricity-less night a little brighter. It was a wonderful first stop at lake Titicaca.
Uros Floating Islands
I bet you are wondering "What is a floating island?" Good question. I was thinking the same thing when we headed out on a boat from Puno into the middle of Lake Titicaca. All of a sudden, over the horizon small islands made of floating reeds came into view. To make the islands, they bind totora reeds together and anchor them down. Incredible, right!? They're islands, boats (which they use for fishing), hand crafts, and homes are all made of the same substances, and the reeds are edible. Our tour guide called the reeds the banana of Lake Titicaca, because if you peel back the outer layer, you can eat the inside. Of course I tried it, and the crunchy plant tasted a lot like cucumber.
Sitting on this island, I learned that the Uros people create seperate islands to use for the bathroom. Yes, you read the right. If they want to go to the bathroom, they need to go to a different island. This fact surprised me. They diet is based on fish and the game they shoot (birds) or capture. The communities are small, but their artistry was powerful. The closer to the shore you find an island, the more tourist-based it is likely to be. You can not just waltz up to an island and disembark your ship. You need a guide, but if you find on on the coast of the lake, you won't regret following them to the Uros Floating Islands.
Amantani Island
After our morning at the Uros Floating Islands, we climbed back into our boat and headed across the vast lake to Amantani Island. How the captain knew where to direct the boat is completely beyond me. It felt like we were motoring across endless water for quite a long time before the island came into view. Amantani is not a place for tourists. There are no cars, electricity, or English on the island. The inhabitants mostly speak Quechua, but they graciously opened their doors to us through our schools arrangements. I, an animal and nature lover, quickly gravitated to sheep the dotted the islands green hills.
While I was playing with the animals, lunch was being cooked Panchamanca style. Panchamanca is literally food cooked in the earth. The delicious variety of potatoes, the bread, and the vegetable soup I ate was cooked in a hole dug underground with hot stones. What an amazing way to delve into the culture and community! After a filling lunch, while my friends hiked Pachatata to see the sunset, I elected to sit on the shore and read a book, while absorbing the island around me.
After my friends returned (after dark), we were ushered upstairs to our sleeping quarters and followed by women of Amantani. Over our clothes, they began wrapping handmade textiles around our bodies and dressing us in traditional clothes. Then we were brought down a dark, unlit pathway to a building where we held hands and danced the night away Amantani style. Though the dancing and live music were fun, I eventually had to turn in for the night, because early the next morning, we were set to visit Taquile Island.
Taquile Island
While the boat docked at Taquile, I remembered thinking it looked a lot like the Amantani. It was a small island with mini green mountains and an amazing view of the lake.We hiked up the rocky terrain and up stairs made of laid bricks through flocks of sheep. Eventually we reached the top were we saw men sitting in a "quad" of sorts. With the help of our tour guide, we learned about the incredible textile craftsmanship of the Taquile inhabitants. There are different clothes worn to signify different statues. You can tell if a Taquile man is having a good or bad day by the direction his hat is worn! And hats also describe intimate details of a relationship status. A incredible system of nonverbal communication has been developed to demonstrate basic information about a person before they even speak - how incredible! We then learned about courting and wedding practices on the island.
After our "wedding" ceremony, we headed to a restaurant on the very top of the island where we were offered an amazing view of the lake and fresh fish on a platter. There were also Taquile women selling the hand knit crafts and clothing articles. After lunch, we walked back down the other side of the island and down to the shore. Even though it was March and the water was definitely freezing, a group of us decided it would be a great idea to jump. Myself and my 4 best friends I'd made in Peru held hands and jumped off the ledge of the boat. As we plummeted into the icy water, I felt reawakened. It's hard to describe the magic of those moments in Lake Titicaca. I knew I would return someday.
Lago Titicaca - Bolivia
That someday came sooner than I had expected. On our adventuring into La Paz, our bus stopped on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca not once, but twice.
Lago Titicaca at Sunrise
We arrived at Lake Titicaca again through Bolivia Hop!, the bus agency we used to get to La Paz. They had an optional excursion where you paid to go to the Uros floating islands. Given that my friend and I had already done that, we decided not to go. Nonetheless, we still had to wait for the rest of the bus to return because our connector wasn't leaving until after the tour. We were the only oncs who decided not to go from our bus, so we passed the time walking along the water. The town we were in was dead because it was very, very early in the morning. It was cool to see it wake up, but even cooler to see the sun rise over the lake.T The was a long boardwalk of sorts where people were out exercising, so we chose a bench and sat down. We marveled at the sight for a while before choosing to do a workout of our own, as we were inspired by the people around us. Then, when some more people started to fill the streets, we found a street vendor and bought breakfast sandwiches. They were avocado, egg, and cheese sandwiched between two slices of the thin dry bread we'd become accustomed to in Peru. Then as our group returned, we board the bus and headed to Copacabana.
Copacabana
I fell asleep on the bus and woke up to us stopped at the border of Peru and Bolivia. We disembarked, walked to a tiny immigration building, and got our passports checked. Here, some people in our group didn't realize they need a pre-purchased Bolivian Visa and they held up our group for quite a while. After they sorted out whatever was going on, we left our big bus in Peru and walked across the border to Bolivia. There, we boarded a new bus and drove a short ways to Copacabana.
It was beautiful. Even though it was on the shore of the lake, it felt very much like a vibrant beach town. There were colorful flags and umbrellas lining the horizon and we sat on a balcony at a restaurant to eat our food and absorb the sun. We saw food cards, singing, and boats galore. We ended up taking most of our food to go, so we could make it to the boat in time for our trip to Isla del Sol.
Day of Mourning
We just so happened to arrive in Copacabana on the day of mourning for Bolivians, March 23rd. A local informed us that all the singing and dancing was due to this day. On March 23rd, 1879, during the War on the Pacific, Chile won Bolivia's access to the sea. With the loss of that port, Bolivia quickly became one of the poorest nations in South America. Each year on that day, Bolivians gather at the shore of Lake Titicaca to commemorate that day and mourn the day their country had such a large part of it's economy taken from them. It seemed confusing that everyone was so jovial, but I like to think it was more of a celebration of what they had than a mourning of what they lost.
Isla Del Sol
Before continuing our journey into La Paz, we took a boat out to Isla del Sol. Not many people from our bus went, so it was nice to have a small group. The open water and sunshine was so blissful as we navigated through rocky islands out to the "birthplace of the Incas". Once on the island, our guide told us to follow the path up and around the island - the boat would meet us on the other side. So, individually, we walked at our our pace across the island. It was mostly green with few man-made structures. Given the other hikes I did in South America, this was not bad. At the other end, we saw houses and people that were drastically different from the rolling green hills at the beginning. There was a cement 'bathroom' you had to pay a few soles to use, if needed. The walk down from the top was my favorite part. There were statues of the first Incas and beautiful flowers everywhere. The journey was super worth it, especially considering we only spent S./ 10 extra to go.
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