Lago Titicaca

The last few days have been among the most peaceful and inspiring in my life.  We've been traveling in and around Lake Titicaca, the giant freshwater lake that stretches across the border between Bolivia and Peru.  It's the highest navigable lake in the world, at 12,507 feet, and it has a beautiful panoramic view of the Andes mountains, although once you reach the center, you can just barely see them.

On Wednesday, we took two three-hour bus rides to cross from La Paz, Bolivia to Puno, Peru.  The Bolivian bus took us to the border, where we walked about 200 yards into Peru and went through customs before boarding a Peruvian bus.  Kind of an odd arrangement, but it was okay.

When we got to Puno, we planned to go to the Coca Museum, the Mirador, and a few other attractions.  However, we spent most of our day 1) getting lost and 2) trying to rescue Kyle's debit card from the depths of an ATM that ate it.  We did eventually recover the debit card and find ourselves, but we didn't have time for the mirador.  Luckily, the Coca Museum was open late, so we went there for an hour before dinner.  I learned a lot about coca.  For one thing, it's extremely nutritious.  If you eat it, it's higher in vitamins and minerals than vegetables like broccoli and spinach.  For another, it is extremely ancient.  Many pre-Inca artifacts have been found that show the practice of chewing coca leaves as far back as 8000 years ago.  There are pouches used for carrying the leaves, statues that show faces chewing coca, and even a 3000-year-old mummy with coca in its mouth (not located at the museum, unfortunately).  The Andean people believed that the use of coca was reserved especially for them, and that it would make the Spanish invaders sick.  They never got to test this theory much, though, because the Spaniards were more interested in destroying the leaves than chewing them.

After leaving the Coca Museum, we went to Balcones de Puno, a restaurant recommended in Kyle's guidebook, for dinner and a show.  I think that is the fanciest restaurant I have ever been in.  I ordered Alpaca steak stuffed with cheese and spinach covered in some sort of sauce called "terciopelo" (velvet).  It also came with mashed yucca and it was absolutely perfect.  Alpaca tastes a lot like beef, but more tender.  Yucca tastes a little bit like potato.  Our dinner came with entertainment in the form of a traditional Peruvian band complete with flutes and drums, and four traditional dancers who showed us dances as diverse as one about a shepherd and his sheep, and another about coquettish lovers.  It was a great introduction to Peru.

The next day, we left fairly early in the morning for our Lake Titicaca adventure.  We boarded a boat with 20 other passengers from all over the world, including Joe, from England, Tiina, from Finland, Yoshi and his tiny daughter from Japan, and Nicola, a Spanish teacher from France.  I loved the feeling of being on the boat with the wind in my hair and the bright, high-altitude sun (I put on sunscreen every hour, but Kyle foolishly decided he couldn't get any more burnt than he already was... false).  Our first stop was Uros, one of the famous floating islands.  Many hundreds of years ago, the people of the floating islands lived on the mainland.  However, threats from the neighboring tribes drove them into the lake itself, where they built themselves islands out of totora, a giant reed plant that grows in the lake.  They dig up big chucks of turf and lash them together with ropes, and then cover them with heaps and heaps of reeds.  They add more reeds each day to keep the islands intact.  They also use these amazingly versatile reeds to build houses, boats baskets, and even to eat!  We got to try some - it tastes like boring celery.  We took a ride on a reed boat and saw black ibises, native birds that the people of Uros use for their curative properties.  They believe that drinking the blood of an ibis can cure epilepsy.

After about an hour on Uros, we got back on the boat for another hour-and-a-half ride to Amantani, a natural island in the middle of the lake.  Upon our arrival, we were greeted by our "host moms" and walked across the island to the home where we would sleep.  Our "mom," Margarita, fed us a delicious traditional lunch of quinoa soup, fried cheese and vegetables. One interesting vegetable addition: okka, a tuber that tasted like a soft, slightly sweet potato.  After lunch, we walked to the community center to meet our tour group and go on a hike.

We started up the hill, passing rows and rows of uprooted potato fields (the harvest had just passed) and villagers going about their daily business, leading sheep around and carrying bags of vegetables up and down the island paths.  There are no roads on Amantani, making it the perfect refuge after the chaos of La Paz.  As we got higher, the view of Titicaca got better and better.  Eventually the path split in two directions, and half of us decided to climb Pachamama, (Earth Mother) the higher mountain while the other half headed up Pachatata (Earth Father).  I'm sure the other people had an equally wonderful time, but I think we made the right choice.

Sunset atop Pachamama was a spiritual experience.  The peace was absolute.  Neither pictures nor words can describe the feeling of pristine, panoramic beauty surrounding you.

After sunset, we walked down to Margarita's house for a light dinner of a million carbs (potatoes with rice, anyone?).  It was nice to get a chance to chat with her.  She said that she's been hosting travelers ever since her children grew up and left home, and that it's always a nice treat to have people come.  That made me feel a bit better about invading her house - apparently each host village on the island only gets tourists about 3-4 times/month because they rotate.  Thus, when there ARE tourists, it's party time!  Margarita brought out a large bundle of clothes to dress us up for the celebration.  The men got nice, easy-to-wear ponchos, while Tiina and I were fitted into a petticoat, two skirts, a blouse, a sash and a shawl.  I didn't have to worry about the chilly Lake Titicaca evening air!

The fiesta was a good time.  Kyle got the party started by dancing, and all the rest soon followed suit.  The music was a lot like Balcones de Puno's band, so dancing was a bit challenging - you couldn't do the standard gringo shuffle.  There was a lot of holding hands and dancing in a circle done by tourists and Amantanians alike.  I think the highlight of the night was watching Yoshi's little tiny daughter dance with everyone.  There wasn't much light in the room, but boy did her smile light everything up.

After the party, we were in for one more treat - because of the extreme altitude and near-perfect darkness, the stars on Amantani are like nowhere else in the world.

In the morning, our island adventure was almost done.  We breakfasted on pancakes (!) and gave Margarita her hostess gift of a bag of fruit and a "lucky" gold U.S. dollar.  I sincerely hope it does bring her luck; she was a wonderful host mom and made our stay very special.  Thanks, Margarita!

The very last stop on our tour was Taquile, an UNESCO world heritage site.  Taquile is well-known for its beauty, as well as for its interesting hats.  You see, on this island, a man's status is broadcast through his pointy, tasseled, knitted-alpaca hat.  As you get older and more respected, you get to add more colors to your hat, until finally you're an elder and you get the most decorative hat of all.  Pretty neat, huh?  However, Taquile's world heritage status means it's the most "touristy" of all the islands on Titicaca - some of the residents will sit around all day trying to get you to pay them to pose for a picture, which is a bit depressing, if you ask me.

We spent about two hours on Taquile, long enough to take a couple of short hikes to see the sapphire lake views.  It was also long enough to get a special Titicaca treat - trucha (trout)!  I've never been much of a fish person, but apparently that's because I've never had truly fresh fish before.  Now that I've tasted trucha frita, I'm a convert for life.  :-)