Tales of Another World

Last week was out of control with classes. I did not enjoy myself, I must say. Seven hours a day is much too much, and add homework on top of that ! I went to the office on Thursday and told them I was bequeathing two hours each day to a friend of mine. The office insisted that this was not possible, though no such policy existed in writing. I told them that seven hours a day is not manageable, and they have worked out that rather than four hours of group and three of individual I will have four hours of individual and one additional hour of individual in the city. Much better I think! By the end of the week I was exhausted, and thought I would sleep like a baby on the bus ride to Puno near lake Titicaca.
Before heading to the terminal terestre (the local bus station) a group of us went for Japanese food here in Cusco. It was delicious and after we paid we were ready…except me. I had left my ticket in the restaurant, and luckily the server chased us down the road to give my ticket back! We made it to the bus station and checked in, boarding our luxury bus at 9:30pm. The bus had fold-down foot rests and leaned back almost all the way…super-posh. Unfortunately, I can´t sleep on buses. The ride to Puno felt short in comparison to the 15 hour bus ride from Manu. We arrived at the Puno station at 4 am. We had been told our guide wouldn´t be there for a couple hours after we arrived, but we found him as soon as we got off the bus. We sat for a quick breakfast before heading to his office. At the office we had an hour and a half before we needed to leave for the peir to get a boat. We were all so tired that we slept and rested for the full hour and a half…most of us sleeping no more than 30 minutes.
When we arrived at the peir there were several boats. We boarded one that was very posh and we were excited to ride it. We got comfortable, and in true Peru style a piper came to play us some tunes and collect some tips while we waited. We were then told to get off the boat and get onto another one. One not half as nice as the first and completely overcrowded. A girl from our group, Chantal, told the director we wouldn´t get on that boat because it was too full and there wasn´t space. They argued back and forth for a few minutes before we all got off and they put us back on the first boat…with everone from the overcrowded boat. We met our guide, Neo, and took off to the Uros islands. It took about 25 minutes to get there by boat, and once we got there it was like another world. There were several small islands all made from reeds. Many people live on these islands and survive off of the reeds and fish they can collect. We were given a presentation by the local chief of the island we were on about how the islands are constructed. We went for a boat ride in a reed boat and were permitted to sample some of the reeds that the locals use for everything. It didn´t taste like much to be honest, but our guide told us that it is used for everything and even is a source of iodine! We spent over an hour on the island and were able to view some of the handicrafts made by the locals before getting back on the boat.
The next part of our journey consisted of three hours on a boat across Lake Titicaca, the world´s highest navigable lake. We rested, took in the beautiful views, and tried to stay warm. I saw a site I have never seen before that took my breath away while riding on the boat. There was a double rainbow in the sky, but no rain clouds were nearby, and the rainbows did not arch down to the ground, but rather created a circle around the sun. It was amazing! We reached Amantani around 4pm where we were greeted by the families who would host us for the evening. I stayed with Chantal and our host contact was Jenny. We went to her home and had a late lunch of quinoa soup, several varieties of potatoes and fried local cheese. The food was very good, and gave us lots of energy for our high altitude hike up the highest points of the small island (supposedly the highest point in the lake). It was a stiff walk up the hill to the top of Pacha Mama (a local diety that everyone knows and reveres in Peru). We were given loads of information by our wonderful guide about the local traditions and people, including the fact that there was evidence of human habitation on this island from 400bc, and that at that time people were very afraid to come to the island because it was supposedly filled with shamans and wizards. After our steep hike we rested for about 30 minutes at our host homes before eating a light dinner and getting ready for a ¨special surprise.¨ Our host families dressed us up in local attire and we all went to the local meeting center for a dance. We danced with our host families and with each other, doing all types of traditional dances. Chantal and I bought a Cusceña for our host contact and enjoyed the festivities. We were so exhausted, though, that we only danced until 9pm before needing to go back to our home to go to sleep. Our accommodations were super-fancy for the island, and it felt so glamorous to be where we were with a million stars overhead.
Our sleep was great that night, and we felt snug and secure under our heavy llama blankets. We rose early to breakfast and leave the island by 8am. We headed to the small island of Tequile about an hour away. We hiked up the near the top of the island and had a lunch while listening to our guide recount interesting facts about the local culture. For example we were told that the society here is so male-oriented that the women even walk behind the men about 10 paces, but an interesting fact that would appear contradictory was that the women did not knit on this island, only the men did. This island, though interesting, was probably the least enticing of the three areas we visited. We climbed down the hill and boarded our bus to return to Puno. After about 2 of the 3 hours we had left on the boat the water started getting a bit choppy. The boat heaved and clunked through the waves, all the passengers having to come into the small and cramped interior cabin. We were told that we didn´t have to put our life jackets on yet, but we were a bit nervous as the boat bumped into the troughs of the waves, occasionally causing the motor to cut out. We made it safely back to Puno where we had 4 hours to kill until our second overnight bus took off.
A few of us found a super-cool bar in Puno where we spent the entire rest of our evening. It was a rock pub where they had games, pillows to sit on, and great music. The rest of our group joined us for dinner, then we all went off to the bus station together. We boarded our bus at 9:10 pm and were on our way back to Cusco. When we arrived back at the Cusco station we had a bit of a hard time getting a cab as they were all charging way too much. We finally got back to school around 4am, and I couldn´t possibly go to bed being as dirty as I was. I took a quick shower and made it to bed by 4:30 am…in time for just a few z´s before my morning classes. That´s all for now, and I can´t wait to show you all the rest of the wonderful pictures I am taking of the area.