The highest navigable lake in the world, at some 3400 m above sea level. I did not quite know what to expect, but having met so many people who simply thought it was the absolute highlight of their trip to Peru, I decided to skip the Colca Canyon in Arequipa, and head straight for Puno. I did not stay there for long, my goal being the Isle del Sol on the Bolivian side of the lake. At Puno, I headed out to visit the floating islands of Uros, a must do if one is there. An amazing settlement, that seems to have grown from tourisme over the last years. A pity though, it is just too touristic to be authentic. But learning about the way these people build their islands of reeds, and live off what the lake provides is facsinating. One old lady was sitting with her craftwork, and had a number of young coots running around her, that obviously where kept as hens, for eating. She then showed me a chick that was only a day old, and an egg where the bird was just hatching. Where is their mother? I asked. She smiled and pointed to herself, and hid the egg back under her blouse. Later on, I kept thinking about the logistics of it all. Did she sleep with the eggs? Did she have someone else to help her take turns?
Crossed over to Bolivia to Copacabanna, and from there to Isle del Sol. Met up with 3 amazing girls who also where travelling alone. What are the odds? We hit it off straight away. We arrived on the Island in the afternoon, the plan being to spend the night there and walk across the island the next day. After a gruelling walk up a pile of Inka steps to the village, carrying all our backpacks, we chose a hostel whose manager assured us that there was hot water. As it turned out, that day was the day of the island fiesta, and we were told that all the water was to be used for that. Also, because the whole island was attending, there would be no restaurants open.
So we promptly made for the fiesta. There was a huge competition of local dancing, which had been going on for hours, and the costumes were amazing. We climbed a bit futher, and enjoyed the stunning views over the lake. A storm was approching, and the lightning bolts could be seen for miles. We just made it to the only restaurant open that evening, before the heavens opened above us, and it simply poured down.
The next day, I am afraid I got hit by my first real food poisning, I had an awfull cold, and the altitude brought me to my knees every 10 steps. So after a short walk outside the village, I spent the rest of a lovely afternoon in bed. But all in all, I highly recommend the trip, the lake and the islands are stunningly beautiful.
So we promptly made for the fiesta. There was a huge competition of local dancing, which had been going on for hours, and the costumes were amazing. We climbed a bit futher, and enjoyed the stunning views over the lake. A storm was approching, and the lightning bolts could be seen for miles. We just made it to the only restaurant open that evening, before the heavens opened above us, and it simply poured down.
The next day, I am afraid I got hit by my first real food poisning, I had an awfull cold, and the altitude brought me to my knees every 10 steps. So after a short walk outside the village, I spent the rest of a lovely afternoon in bed. But all in all, I highly recommend the trip, the lake and the islands are stunningly beautiful.
A lot of steps.
No comments:
Post a Comment