Cusco to Puno (Lake Titicaca), 250 miles
I woke up with a feeling of accomplish after we fought through all the BS to get to Machu Picchu and finally did it. We both slept like rocks and could have slept much longer, except our 9AM checkout time got us up and packing.
It felt good to be back on the road, after 5 days in Cusco, it was about time. Soon after riding out of the city we were back in beautiful countryside. No steep mountains, but a gradual climb through beautiful meadows and views of snow capped mountains all day long. We are at the highest altitude of our entire trip now. Llamas, mossy green mountains, rivers, blue skies with white billowy clouds…that was the scenery the entire day; it was lovely. The miles and hours when by quickly, no sharp turns in the road, no steep hills, all just so peaceful.
As we approached Lake Titicaca we entered the town of Puno. I expected something like Lake Tahoe, where there are nice hotel and restaurants lining the lake side, but to my surprise it looked like quite a dump set against a beautiful lake. Still a decent sized town, so we were able to find a decently clean hotel for $12 a night. As soon as we checked in I mentioned to Mike that it sure would be nice to be able to do the tour is the floating islands today, rather than have to spend an extra night/day here. Well, just as I said that, the hotel owner mentioned they run tours and we could do one in 40 minutes. Perfect! We grabbed a quick bite to eat and set off with a few other tourists in a taxi, then a boat for the floating island. The entire tour only costs us 5 dollars each! Round trip taxi, boat, entrance to the islands and tour guide. After Machu Picchu we were doing cartwheels at that price!!!
For those of you who are not familiar with the floating island of Lake Titicaca, they are islands that are manmade out of reeds and are the homes of hundred of Uros people who have inhabited them for over 900 years. These people retreated into the lake when the Incas conquered them, and settled in the center where reeds grow plentiful. They began to weave the reads and roots into islands. Today there are not as many Uros living on these islands, but still several hundred. I have been very excited about seeing this site on our trip.
As we boated out, we began to see reeds growing out of the lake, and before we knew it, the islands with their houses and boats made of reeds. It was quite a site, almost surreal. We first stopped at one of the 47 islands where 7 families live. We were greeted by two very big woman with great smiles. Their feet were bare as they bounced across the spongy reed ground and their feet puffy and big. It was a very weird sensation getting off the boat and stepping onto the manmade reed island. It is literally floating 36 feet above the bottom of the lake. As the reeds slowly deteriorate, they have to continuously place new reeds on top, and as you walked around the island, you could feel some places that needed a little TLC as they would squish in more than others. The tour guide gave us some history and information about the people and their lives on these islands. They actually eat the reeds as well, the inside of the reeds (as Mike sampled and described it) was a sweet cottony type substance. They also grow potatos from using the old reed boats as planter beds. They had some ducks, chickens, and guinea pigs and supposedly go into town twice a month for a few supplies. Obviously they were doing quite well for themselves as the woman and children looked like they were well fed. It is amazing though, talk about island fever!
After leaving the first little island, and having waves, smiles and spins from the people as we departed, we went to another larger island which actually had a hotel on it. Well, it was a hotel, but you slept in a teepee type structure made from reeds. There were about 7 of them lined up and for $3 bucks you can sleep there for the night. Kids were jumping and rolling around everywhere as the reeds made for a mattress type surface that you can easily bounce and roll around on. You can climb little towers on the island to look over the large amount of reed huts that people inhabit; so many. What an amazing place, one of the strangest and most different places I’ve ever been. It boggles my mind that these people have lived out here for 900 years, and still today continue to do so. The tour guide made a funny comment about when these people go into town to get supplies, they have a hard time walking as they are not used to the hard surface, I guess they kind of waddle from side to side.
We felt like regular tourists on the way back from our tour of the island. Machu Picchu the day before, and the floating islands today…not bad! I would recommend anyone to see the islands and there is nothing like it and it’s quite amazing.
We are both exhausted. Great couple of days full of incredible things that we’ve seen…
Cruisin'
It felt good to be back on the road, after 5 days in Cusco, it was about time. Soon after riding out of the city we were back in beautiful countryside. No steep mountains, but a gradual climb through beautiful meadows and views of snow capped mountains all day long. We are at the highest altitude of our entire trip now. Llamas, mossy green mountains, rivers, blue skies with white billowy clouds…that was the scenery the entire day; it was lovely. The miles and hours when by quickly, no sharp turns in the road, no steep hills, all just so peaceful.
As we approached Lake Titicaca we entered the town of Puno. I expected something like Lake Tahoe, where there are nice hotel and restaurants lining the lake side, but to my surprise it looked like quite a dump set against a beautiful lake. Still a decent sized town, so we were able to find a decently clean hotel for $12 a night. As soon as we checked in I mentioned to Mike that it sure would be nice to be able to do the tour is the floating islands today, rather than have to spend an extra night/day here. Well, just as I said that, the hotel owner mentioned they run tours and we could do one in 40 minutes. Perfect! We grabbed a quick bite to eat and set off with a few other tourists in a taxi, then a boat for the floating island. The entire tour only costs us 5 dollars each! Round trip taxi, boat, entrance to the islands and tour guide. After Machu Picchu we were doing cartwheels at that price!!!
For those of you who are not familiar with the floating island of Lake Titicaca, they are islands that are manmade out of reeds and are the homes of hundred of Uros people who have inhabited them for over 900 years. These people retreated into the lake when the Incas conquered them, and settled in the center where reeds grow plentiful. They began to weave the reads and roots into islands. Today there are not as many Uros living on these islands, but still several hundred. I have been very excited about seeing this site on our trip.
As we boated out, we began to see reeds growing out of the lake, and before we knew it, the islands with their houses and boats made of reeds. It was quite a site, almost surreal. We first stopped at one of the 47 islands where 7 families live. We were greeted by two very big woman with great smiles. Their feet were bare as they bounced across the spongy reed ground and their feet puffy and big. It was a very weird sensation getting off the boat and stepping onto the manmade reed island. It is literally floating 36 feet above the bottom of the lake. As the reeds slowly deteriorate, they have to continuously place new reeds on top, and as you walked around the island, you could feel some places that needed a little TLC as they would squish in more than others. The tour guide gave us some history and information about the people and their lives on these islands. They actually eat the reeds as well, the inside of the reeds (as Mike sampled and described it) was a sweet cottony type substance. They also grow potatos from using the old reed boats as planter beds. They had some ducks, chickens, and guinea pigs and supposedly go into town twice a month for a few supplies. Obviously they were doing quite well for themselves as the woman and children looked like they were well fed. It is amazing though, talk about island fever!
After leaving the first little island, and having waves, smiles and spins from the people as we departed, we went to another larger island which actually had a hotel on it. Well, it was a hotel, but you slept in a teepee type structure made from reeds. There were about 7 of them lined up and for $3 bucks you can sleep there for the night. Kids were jumping and rolling around everywhere as the reeds made for a mattress type surface that you can easily bounce and roll around on. You can climb little towers on the island to look over the large amount of reed huts that people inhabit; so many. What an amazing place, one of the strangest and most different places I’ve ever been. It boggles my mind that these people have lived out here for 900 years, and still today continue to do so. The tour guide made a funny comment about when these people go into town to get supplies, they have a hard time walking as they are not used to the hard surface, I guess they kind of waddle from side to side.
We felt like regular tourists on the way back from our tour of the island. Machu Picchu the day before, and the floating islands today…not bad! I would recommend anyone to see the islands and there is nothing like it and it’s quite amazing.
We are both exhausted. Great couple of days full of incredible things that we’ve seen…
Amazing ride
Cruisin'
Snack time
Sippin'
Our first view of Lake Titicaca
Boating out to the reeds
Cuddle break
Greeting to Reed Island
Everything is made of reeds
Close up of what you're dealing with
Farwell dance
It's cold on the reeds
This little girl wouldn't stop following us
posted by Pedro and Maria at 11:24 AM
4 Comments:
She's too cute!
She IS so cute!! I love the picture of the little girl who followed you guys everywhere ;-)
~jaz
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