Puno, Lake Titicaca and Isla Taquile

After arriving back in Cusco from Aguas Calientes, we decided to waste no time and head to Puno the next time, however this time we thought we'd take a suggestion from the guide book and pay a little extra for a tourist bus that stops at a few sights along the way.

We boarded the bus on the morning of Sunday, 9th Nov for the full day trip. We had stops in: Andahuaylillas to see an amazingly ornate church that the locals take turns to guard with spectacular paintings and a gold & silver sculpture on the wall (can't think of the name for it); Raqchi to see the remains of what they think was an Incan temple; La Raya, the highest pass between the 2 cities; and Pukara in the altiplano to visit a museum with some acient pre-Incan sculptures; before finally reaching Puno on the banks of lake Titicaca.

The Church in Andahuaylillas

The Ruins at Raqchi

What amazed me most about the information that we got from this journey was how little is really known about the Cechua (Incan) society even though it existed only a few hundred years ago, the Spanish and particularly the Catholic church really did a superb job of completely erradicating the culture. Down to the fact that the most ornate catholic churches were placed over the ruins of the most important Cechuan temples. Since then it has been a lot of guess work to try to understand what the culture was really like.

Puno was probably the least attractive of the cities we had visited. Most of the houses were incomplete due to the tax laws. You don't have to pay tax on the building, just the land, if it's still under construction, so everyone leaves their buildings unfinished. It has a very industrial feel and is busy and dirty. We did, however find a cosy pub in the main street and settle in for a few cocktails on our first night.

The next morning we headed down to the port and grabbed ourselves a boat which stopped at the floating Uros Islands and then on to Isla Tequile where we planned to spend a night. We jumped aboard and headed off in a little wooden boat with a couple of charming local guys with their beanies with the extra long point and bobble on the end (nightcap style) and their colourful pouches around their waist to keep their cocoa leaves in, at the helm. They blesssed the voyage with their coca leaves and threw a couple over the side, then proceded to shove large handfuls of them into their mouth to chew. Lake Titicaca is the worlds highest navigable lake at 3812m and the coca leaves are supposed to help with the altitude.

I was supprised at how close the floating reed islands are to Puno. We arrived there and departed on a small island of 5 families. 1 of the guys gave a a short talk about the island which we managed to understand a little of with our limited Spanish and the assistance of another Aussie who has been living in Rio de Janeiro for a few years. Apparently these floating islands exist almost purely for the tourist dollar these days and we had to pay an entrance fee to visit. They also make several craft items to sell to the tourists.

The Floating Reed Islands of the Uros (yes, that's a solar panel for to power their tv)

It was then on to Isla Taquile. It was a slow 2 hours or so over to the island. Isla Taquile is onlyh 7 sq kms and although it is a reasonably popular tourist detination now, it remains relatively untouched. The islanders still wear traditional clothes and speak Cechua (the language of the Incas). The traditional clothes usually consisted of a red woolen top and black pleated, frilly skirt for the women with a piece of black cloth worn over the head, similar to a nuns habit, for sun protection. The men wear white with a small white & black waistcoat and a brightly coloured waistband, made for them by their wife, and either a beanie with a long peak or a leather hat (slightly Indiana Jones style.... I want one!!).

The island itself has some 500 stairs from the port up to the peak in the middle of the island. After arriving we headed straight up and were chased by a young lady who caught us about half way up, offering us a room for the night. We accepted and followed her to her home.

The whole island is cover in terracing and small stone houses. Most of the pathways are made of stone with chaotic stone fences lining them. They also have a love of stone archways which adorn the paths here and there.

Isla Taquile

We spent a beautiful night and day on the island exploring and just generally relaxing after being on the move non-stop for a week or 2 now. So beautiful! The lake was an amazing blue and in the distance you could see mountain peaks with snow on them.

Finally at about 2pm the following day we jumped back aboard the boat for Puno. Rather than spend another night in Puno, we wasted no time booking an overnight bus to Tacna on the Peruvian border with Chile. Unfortunately, as had been the case before a couple of our long bus trips, my stomach started playing up and I had the contents emptying out of both ends for the first few hours of the bus ride... it's nice to know I left my mark on the Peruvian roads....

After Arriving in Tacna, we jumped in a Collectivo headed for the Chilean border where we sat for 3 hours in the heat to get through customs. We learnt later that Chilean customs have been striking, so it may have been a go-slow or something. Then we arrived in Arica in the early afternoon. We immediately booked another overnight bus to San Pedro de Atacama, then jumped in a taxi to the city centre to explore Arica in the few hours we had. We ended up having a "rocket" of beer (we walked past and couldn't resist... see pic) and then went to the church (built by Eiffel of tower fame) and ended up sitting outside it watching some local skateboarders for most the afternoon.

The Rocket!

Finally it was on an uneventful bus to S. Pedro de Atacama.