Puno and Pictures from Peru

At long last, the final installment on my winter trip to Peru:

After flying, biking, and hiking, we added bus and boat to our modes of transportation in Peru. The bus was a tourist coach from Cusco to Puno that made stops along the way at the Sistine Chapel of South America (beautiful paintings on the ceiling, but while I haven't seen the actual Sistine Chapel, I'm pretty sure the Peruvian one pales in comparison), a small museum, a high mountain pass, and some Inca ruins.

Puno is a small city on the shore of Lake Titicaca, the starting point for many tours of the lake. We did a two-day tour, visiting the man-made floating Uros Islands, Amantani Island, where we spent the night, and Tequile Island.

The Uros originally created their floating islands to keep a safe distance from the Incas; currently some of the people still live, work, and attend school on the islands, but many of them live in Puno and just go out to the islands each day to play host to tourists - and to rip them off.

Our visit to the Uros started out well. The president of one of the islands explained some of their traditions and showed us a model of how the islands are constructed. We poked our heads into some of the huts, took a few photos, and then, at our guide's instruction, climbed into this boat:


Our whole group (about 25 people) took off with an Uros gondolier and a boy who sang songs in several languages ("Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" in English) and then passed his hat around for donations. That wasn't SO bad, but then, in the middle of the lake, the gondolier stopped and told us we had to pay him 5 soles each (about $2) before he'd take us to the next island, where our big boat was waiting for us. Obviously $2 is not a lot of money, but we protested on principle, pointing out that we'd payed for an all-inclusive tour and that no one had told us that we'd have to pay extra for this boat ride. He repeatedly insisted that it was not included and told us he needed the money for maintenance of the boat - but that wasn't very convincing as it was made out the the same reeds as the islands themselves - reeds which grow naturally all around the area. Finally a few people paid; most of us refused, but he gave up and took us back to our boat and our guide. More arguing ensued and most of us ended up paying (though NO ONE in our group - English or Spanish speakers - had heard what our guide claimed he told us about the extra fee). Later, back in Puno, we complained to the people we'd booked our tour with, but I doubt it did much good. It's just so frustrating to know that they probably do the same thing day after day, souring an otherwise lovely tour of Lake Titicaca.

Next up was Amantani Island, where we spent the night with a local host family. Our rooms were basic; there was no electricity and we had to bucket-flush the toilet, but the food was good and the beds were comfortable enough and we really enjoyed the stay. The afternoon we arrived, we hiked to Pachatata, one of the island's high points. The views were stunning and while the high altitude (Lake Titicac is at 12,500 feet) made the walk a bit challenging, we really enjoyed it. It was so good, in fact, that Kirsten, Eric and I got up at 5:00 the next morning to walk up to Pachamama, the island's other high point, before breakfast.

After breakfast, we boarded the boat again and headed for Tequile Island, where we walked around a bit and ate a really tasty fish lunch. From there it was back on the boat to Puno.

We flew back to Lima the next morning. Kirsten and I had our return flight to Atlanta late that same night, but we managed to see more of the city in the meantime, including the Lima Zoo. Highlights there were the condors and - after literally hours of searching and finally encountering a friendly zookeeper who took us behind the cages after they were technically closed for the day - a couple of beautiful pumas.

And now, Peru in pictures:

Peru