Lake Titicaca 1

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008
Day 114 on The Big Trip. “What’s in a Lake?”
[More pictures pending Chachani climb]

LAKE TITICACA has lots going on. It has Isles Flotantes; it has altitude; it has reeds; it has Isle Amantani; it has Isle Taquile; it has Puno as a base. After arriving in Puno the day prior with a flat tire escape approach to fleeing the city of Cusco, it’s nice to be on the way to islands finally.

FRESH FRUITS are what we purchased at the market yesterday. One pineapple and four bananas are the gifts we have chosen to get for the family that we don’t yet know but whose house we plan to sleep at on one of the islands on Lake Titicaca.

SNACKS are good for the boat ride to the Isles Flotantes (the floating islands) on Lake Titicaca: our first stop! Uros is the name given these islands made out of reeds. It feels like you are walking on the moon or walking on pick-up-trampoline-sticks when you are walking on these floating islands devised by a meter-deep root and dirt layer covered by one to two meters of reeds. Pretty cool! The houses are made out of reeds. The boats they use are made out of reeds. The people are made out of reeds. One of the last three sentences has not been verified. The

DOWNSIDE of these floating islands is immediately obvious: the communities are hardly able to live their lives!
PAPARAZZI are everywhere and it’s the off-season! Tourists are in the reed boats, the double-decker reed boats, and the “mirador” reed platforms with ladder-entry that are on every single one of the 50 communities that comprise these floating islands. It’s way too touristy; we’re damaging their communities.

PART out of desire, part out of sense of guilt and compassion for the people whose time we’re taking to just witness them, Alisa and I each purchase a little something from each of the women on the communities we visit in Uros, the floating islands! Then, because we’re the only two tourists on the boat that took us to Uros and is going to take us to Amantani for the night, we decide to leave for the 2 ½ hour trip that the rest of the people (all locals of Amantani) have been patiently waiting for! Quick! Time for a vlog entry from the roof of our boat while the Isles Flotantes are still in sight!


JOURNALS pop out of our backpack, the daypack that we brought for this overnight islands trip. Luckily we trust the hostel Los Pinos to keep the rest of our belongings. On the front of the boat I write, think, and relax in the now-blue waters and faraway mainland around Lake Titicaca.

ADVICE for travelers. Always pee before getting on a boat or a bus or anything that is going to be at least 30 minutes in duration. Maybe even twice! I only did once before the first boat. Oops! Come on, bladder! Chugalug!

DOCKS are something I like and I’m not sure why. I like plateaus, gigantic masses of contiguous rocks, volcanoes, clear waters, and docks. Anyway, this dock was circular with a gap just large enough for a boat with a motor in the OFF setting to be pushed and navigated by two men – one fore, one aft – with large sticks. It was impressive and relaxing to see how calmly they could do this. Meanwhile, one “misstep” would easily change the 1 ½ cm gap between boat and rock-dock to 0 cm!

OUR FAMILY that we’re staying with turns out to be: Surprise! The captain’s family! We settle in, greet the li’le ones, have an interesting lunch, and go out for a walk - or a hike. Up, up, up, winding on meter-wide smooth-rock path to Pacha Tata and Pacha Mama, which are the two sacrificial grounds on the two highest points of the island, which are at high altitudes to begin with. We end up taking a lot of pictures because it’s just so gorgeous everywhere. There are agricultural terraces in one area, communities in another, rocks over there, and shining afternoon lake all around!

I CLIMB a little on dirty and unsturdy rocks. Then we head back down to the beach, racing the sunset. On our way down we pass lots of gringos. We see that there are lots of indigenous people setting up tiny personal markets where they unfold their large cloths that usually are seen wrapping up their goodies on their bent backs while walking. The locals with sales to make line the path up to Pacha Tata. Luckily, we left early enough that we missed the forced encumbered walk and headlamp return to town!

POST-SUNSET on the Amantani beach we get back to the house to find kids just outside of our second-story, low-roofed, small-bed-filled apartment with a view, playing “Yack-ayes”. JACKS, that is. Alisa grabs her journal (she didn’t journal on the boat like I did) and props up beside them. We soon decide to introduce a headlamp to these shy rascals!

SHY for about 2 minutes! Soon these buggers were singing (first upon our request, then upon sheer energy that seemed to beam from every cell in their bodies) and dancing! They danced until our bellies hunger-ached too much to be happy about it anymore! Then came dinner: small but good portions, easily complemented by our snacks.


BEDTIME at Isle Amantani meant put the headlamps away and time to enjoy sleeping in this place without electricity, fully clothed with two jackets and a warm hat on! Oh yeah. The bed I slept in was meant for a Lollipop Kid.

STAY TUNED to find out if this landescaper shrunk in the night or fell off the bed…!

REALLY, what I love about the Lake Titicaca portion of our trip thus far are the following: bouncing on the floating islands, connecting with the native children and hearing their secret language of Quechua in songs, being able to let down my guard and just relax near nice waters while getting used to the altitude.

THIS EXPERIENCE is one that others might enjoy as well; I just wish tourism didn’t have such a negative affect as is very tangible in many of the communities on the islands and in many touristy towns. For example, having the creativity of a community zapped such that there are 500 vendors for taffy and 200 for adventure tours, but rarely something out-of-the-ordinary, different, or new and useful (SEE Baños, Ecuador). For another example, seeing certain people dedicated to tourism is OK by me since there is a profit to be had and meanwhile their culture can remain intact. However, when an entire population and culture is vacuum-dedicated to tourism it appears to me that they lose a drive more central to their culture’s desires and aims (SEE Uros, Peru). There are other ways in which communities and individuals are negatively affected by tourism as can be evidenced by negatively accented gringo remarks, looks, interactions, et cetera. There are reasons for these things and I wish they could be curbed. Please comment with insights hereto! Gracias! – Tus Escapador de la Tierra, N8