Lake Titicaca!

After our whirlwind 2 days in Colca Canyon we took a bus from the main town in the canyon, Chivay, to Puno. The journey took about 6 hours and was one of the most terrifying bus rides we took. For over an hour the fog was so thick while we were driving up out of the canyon the bus driver could not see more than a foot in front of him. I had been asleep and woke up to this terrifying sight and tried to force myself back to sleep so that I could not see! Other than frighteningly high mountain passes, thick fog, and crazy Peruvian drivers the journey went off without a hitch. The scenery was beautiful; we saw lots of huge towering green mountains and beautiful crystal clear lakes. Peru is a country that has to be seen to be believed, words and pictures cannot fully capture or demonstrate its beauty! Of all the places and countries I’ve been in the world (which at 20, almost 21, is quite a few) I think Peru is at the top of my list! I absolutely loved it, from its huge urban center of Lima, to the highlands of the Andes, it is a beautiful country filled with very warm friendly people and it is bursting with culture and history! I want to go back very badly! I have 3 weeks after my exams end in July and I’m hoping I will be able to spend them traveling more around Peru! Ok. Back to our journey!
We arrive in Puno at around 7:30 and check into a nice hotel right by the main plaza. Tired, cranky and hungry we wandered out of the hotel to have a mediocre, borderline bad meal, but we were just happy to have food in our bellies and ready for a good nights sleep in a REAL bed before our big day out on Lake Titicaca. We woke up at 6:00am to eat a hurried breakfast and board a bus to take us to the dock.



We boarded a nice little boat and started off on our lake adventure! We first went to the Uros floating islands! Families live on islands made out of reeds, everything on the island is made from the same reeds, their homes, beds, and they even eat the reeds. Everyone on the island was very friendly, we were invited into the home of one of the women and she showed us their beds and explained a little bit about daily life on the islands. Everyone on the islands wears traditional dress of some of the most vibrant colors I have ever seen. The women make beautiful embroidered tapestries and other colorful textiles and handicrafts to help earn money for their families and the community. We took a traditional reed boat from one island to the next and two adorable little girls got on our boat and sang us songs, in the video below they are singing a song in Aymara. There are many floating islands, floating schools, and a floating clinic, which make up the network of the Uros floating islands.




The next island we visited was the island of Taquile, which was a 2.5 hour boat ride away form Uros. Taquile is a beautiful Island on the Peruvian side of the lake. The people still dress, work and live in their traditional manner. They cultivate crops in terraces on the sides of the island; they also raise sheep for wool to knit their hats and traditional dress. While there are animals on the island they eat a mainly vegetarian diet. The men and woman wear beautiful brightly colored textiles. Men wear 3 different kinds of hats and each hat has a meaning. There is one hat for unmarried me and children, one for married men, and one for the officials. The men also carry a pouch around their waist filled with Coca leaves, and when men greet each other instead of shaking hands they exchange some coca leaves from their pouches.



Taquile was very beautiful. It was quite a trip to be on a little island in the middle of such a beautiful majestic lake. The vistas from the top of the island were mind blowing. Lake Titicaca is the highest elevation navigable lake in the world. It spans two countries, Peru and Bolivia. The Peruvian side makes up about 60% of the lake and the Bolivian side is about 40%. Because of the lake high elevation and reflections, the sun is very intense in this area and skin cancer is a huge problem for the communities that live on the lake.

The pictures don’t even really do this area justice. Lake Titicaca is so beautiful, I think you have to see it to believe it. We had a great time on our last day in Peru touring the lake, little did we know the chaos that would ensue after we left Puno…almost missing our connection in Lima, earthquake in mid-flight to Chile, 12 hours stuck in the Iquique airport, crazy last flight into Santiago before the airport shut down for days.

It has been quite the adventure for my dad and me but we made it! Today I move into my home stay and start university on the 15th, and while I’m sad to part ways with my dad I know we will see each other very soon for more adventures in Chile. I know that if we survived 5 weeks of traveling all the way from the Amazon to the Andes we can do anything we set our minds too!

Thats all Folks,
Sophie Curtis