I went to Lake Titicaca over the 4th of July weekend! I arranged the trip with the school, so they arrange all the details for you. I was the only one to book the tour, but luckily, at the bus station I found 5 other students from my school (my housemate Sarah, she´s originally from Uganda but lives in Chicago, 2 Dutch girls, a Swiss dude and a Belgian dude), so we joined forces!
We took an overnight bus from Cusco to Puno (a city right on the lake) and arrived at about 4 in the morning. We were picked up by a driver, and he brought us to his house for a few hours until the shops opened and we could get onto our boat. It was interesting that he just grabbed us all, bargained with my friends for a price to take them too, and then led us to his house and let us hang out there on his couches :)
At around 8am, we caught a shuttle bus to our yacht (I'm using the term "yacht" VERY loosely here ;) and made our way to the "floating islands" of Uros. They are man made islands completely made of reeds! It was cool - there are about 50 islands and about 1500 people live on them all together. They lash huge piles of reeds from the lake together, and every couple weeks or so have to pile more reeds on top as the bottom layers rot away...it gave the area a distinct and interesting (but not alltogether unplesant) aroma.
Afterward, we went to the island of Amantani in the middle of the lake. Just FYI, Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world, and at that point we were at 12,500 feet! Amantani island has about 4000 inhabitants, and we stayed with a family there. There are no cars, no running water, and only some places with solar powered electricity. The family had a realtively comfortable house, and the bathroom almost looked normal (it had a shower, and a toilet, and a sink with faucets) but no running water....so you had to go fetch a pail of water to "flush" the potty or to wash your hands. And then use freezing cold well/lake water to bathe...needless to say I skipped showerering for 3 nights (overnight bus, no running water, then another overnight bus!).
The family we stayed with had 2 little girls (Alison, 7 years, and Pamela Alejandra, 1 year 2 months) and they were SO ADORABLE! We ate lunch with them, and then set off for a hike. We hiked up to the top of Panchmama, a "mountain" on the island that gets up to 13,200 feet!! It is definitely a struggle to hike at that altitude, and it was slow going for me, but the views from the top were incredible. We had amazing panoramic views of the lake, the snow capped mountain on the Bolivian side of the lake, and watched the sunset. The whole time I felt like I was staring at the ocean, the lake was so expansive!
Afterward, we had a light dinner and then we all dressed up in traditional Amantani outfits, and went to a fiesta with the locals (pictures to come, hilarious, I promise!). We danced, listened to their music, and played with the kids for a few hours. On the way home, the stars were AMAZING! There were so few lights and we were up so high, it was beautiful!
We went to bed early (its hard to want to stay up if you have to use a flashlight to walk outside in 30 degree weather to the non-functional bathroom!) and woke up on Sunday (July 4th - I totally forgot until I ran into other Americans later in the day) to another perfectly clear and beautiful day. We had a light breakfast of bread, jam and tea, and said goodbye to the family. The 75-ish year old grandmother threw the baby on her back and led us down the treacherous path back to the harbor. She was practically running down the hill, and we were stumbling and slipping all over the place. It was obvious she knew the entire island like the back of her hand!
We got to the boat and headed off to our last island destination: Taquile island. Taquile is smaller than Amantani, with only 2000 inhabitants. They choose to be more isolated, and most people only marry other people from the island. They even have their own traditional types of clothing that are different from the other islanders of the lake.
We hiked up 1000 feet to the main part of town, wandered around the shops, then went to lunch at a restaurant on the island. We had fresh trout caught in the lake, and then wandered the long path that went around the edge of the island. It was so pretty! Just steep cliffs, sapphire water, and clear blue skies!
We had to descend almost 600 stairs to get back down to the harbor on the opposite side of the island, and when we finally got to the boat (with shaky legs!) we had a 3 hour ride back to the mainland. We got picked up by the same driver who picked us up at 4am on Saturday morning, and he took us into town and dropped us off. Some of the girls wanted to go shopping, but I hung out with the guys and celebrated the Fourth of July by having a couple 80 cent beers in the main plaza overlooking the lake. We all met back up for dinner, and ended up going ti a cafe afterwards for dessert because they had apple pie on their menu, and as the only American born citizen in the group, I insisted I get apple pie for Independence Day....it wasn´t that great (more like thick applesauce in a crust) but I think it was as good as I was going to get in the middle of nowhere in South America! :)
After the apple pie (and a terrible glass of whiskey - it was the closest thing to an American nightcap that I could find) we went to the bus station and caught our 7 hour overnight bus ride home. We got back to Cusco, and my housemate and I caught a cab back to the house and promptly passed out. I had to get up at 6am (I desperately needed a hot shower, but at least I figured out how to get hot water!) and had classes all day today!
Anyway, it was a great trip, and everything went really smoothly. Its interesting how laid back everyone here is, and how unofficial everything seems to be. Someone just stands in the bus station with a sign that says "Krystine" and I assume they are there to whisk me away to the next destination - its weird but cool!
Also, I am really lucky and am one of the ONLY people at the school that hasn´t had to go to the clinic yet for some form of parasite/stomach issue, so knock on wood! Maybe it was all the vaccines, the probiotics I bought in Ireland, or my stomach is just awesome, but I´ve been super lucky!
Well, hope you guys are great and everyone had a great 4th! Keep me in the loop, I love hearing from you guys!
Ciao,
Kristyn
PS - Here is a link to my pictures so far!
http://www.facebook.com/album.
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