mandy: We left Arequipa feeling pretty secure that the six hour bus ride and three day hike to see some big birds wasn`t worth it, and as it turns out we were right as we had officially seen those very same bids in paracas (The dry national park near Pisco) without knowing it and I had taken many many photos of them. so all was well and we headed for Puno, which is the town on the peruvian side of the lake. this time we managed to time it correctly, so as to squeeze in a trip between two sets of transportation strikes in Puno, and not to get stuck. Puno is a small city that i found very charming and peaceful. I was not sure why the lonely planet gave it such a bad review. On arrival at the bus station we were met by an extremely enthusiastic lady from a hospedaje (guest house) and decided to give it a try. turned out to be brilliant... cold but the people were extremely helpfull and friendly. she booked everything for us, and so we had the afternoon off to go and get some lunch, walk through the food market, which was amazing as all the people still wear traditional dress, and pick up some fresh bread rolls and the most buttery, delicious avos ive tasted. I spent that night at the hostel suffering from a bit of altitude sickness and because it was cold we made our own little party at the hostel.
The next day we were off to the lake, and first stop...the floating islands. these are islands literally made of reeds piled at different angles on top of the root base of reeds in the lake. they are held in place by great, long poles of wood and so they can be moved at any time to another location on the lake...insane, but extreamly beautiful. There are three main concerns on the lake islands, they are eating, making babies ad fiestas ( parties)! subsidery concerns are the dayly replacemet of reeds, schooling and making things to sell to tourists. sounds like a tough life!! In fact it is law in peru that men can have many wives as the want, and in this area it is common for a man to have between one and five wives! young boys of about 15 leave for the cities to earn money, with the intention of returning in two years, but generally don`t return... because of this, in puno, the ladies outnumber the gents one to five, so many wives kinda makes sense.
... four hours later, as the boat only travels at 8 klm per hour, we reached the island where we were to stay for the night and were introduced to our family. the idea is that the locals have people to stay in there house on a rotation system, and in this way they can bring in some money to school their children. they also make hats and scarves and things from alpaca wool. After sheering, spinning and dying the wool it takes up to one week to make one hat!
This night, wayne and the rest of the tour went on a hike up the mountain in the center of the island. i was still suffering fom the altitude and so i decided to watch the sun set from the edge of the water... it was incredible... i dont think it is pssible to desribe, so you`ll have to see the pics. After sun set i helped the mother of our family with the fire for cooking the supper, which was...soup that was made of lake titicaca and therefore tasted a lot like lake with veggies floating in it, one of the literally four hundred varieties of potato that unfortunately look like worms and taste like sand and lake and then some veggie stuff with rice that im sure was exactly the same as the soup except with less water. mmmmmmmmm yuck! but so as not to offend, we ate. the meal was finished off with the best part though, munia mate. this is literally a branch of a mint type herb in boiled lake titcaca. was quite pleasant.
On returning from the hike, Wayne was trying to ask, in spanish, where the light was for the outside toilet. Instead of saying that he could not see, he mistakenly told one of the children of the house īnot to watch himī, and sent him running, and so Wayne did what he had to do in the dark, using sound as his means of aiming... It was to far gone to explain by the time we had finished laughing about it, but i think the poor kid will have a complex about this for a very long time.
That night the family we were staying with dressed us up in traditional clothing to make us feel more at home at a fiesta (party) they were having. For the ladies that meant a bright orange three quater skirt layered with a black one with trimming, a white shirt with embroidery all down the front, an ellaborately embroidered belt that is bound extreamly tightly in order to hold up the skirts and a black shawl with yet more embroidery and pom poms, worn over the head. To top it all off, a brightly coloured piece of cloth that is commonly used to carry babies, bread, lambs and anything else that will fit in it, but luckily it was just for show tonight. For the men a long beautiful poncho and a very, very silly looking hat. After they had dressd us up we were presented with a quart of beer each (which we had to pay for the next day... he he he) and were led up to the town hall. The party was a success and I`m glad to say that we were not the only two dressed to kill. I spent the evenig talking to an american artist, and her crazy english lit teaching husband, who kept stealling my beer. I also learned the traditional jiggle... sway, sway, step step step, sway sway.... not much variety and so it was easy to feel like i fitted in. I have to add that at 4000 feet above sea level it is understandable that they just jiggle and i found myself completly out of breath after about two minutes of it. At one point I pleaded to wayne to come and take my place and he refused saying that he had just escaped the torment. The music was great fun though, a crazy big band meets flute and tone deaf singer kind of sound... fun.
The next day we were woken and pleasantly surprised to get fritters and munia mate for breakfast. This time we didnt have to resort to hidding half of it in a empty chip packet as we had the day before, and were even able to share our spoils with a friend whos family were less generous with their helpings.
We then headed for another island on the lake, and it was here that we learned some of the strange meanings of the traditional clothing. On this island the men wear hats that look like old fashioned hats for sleeping in, triangular with a floppy tip. The single men wear a red hat with a white tip. If they are over seventeen, and therefore avaliable for mariage, they were them on their crowns, if younger, they wear them more forward over their foreheads. The married men wear a red one and the important people, children and tourists all wear very colourful ones. the funny part is that if the point on the hat is being worn sideways it means the person is unhappy (for any reason), if it is worn to the back it means happy and aproachable. Wayne gleafully noticed an unhappily married man, and we all had a good giggle. There are many strange customs on this island but the other worth mentioning is their courting procedure in which eligable boys find small rocks and throw them at a sellected eligible girl. If she literally does not run away then they are set to be married. They then live together for five years in which time it is compulsory that they have children or else the union is considered null and void. After five years the fathers get together, get very drunk, and then discuss wether or not the union is valid. Aparently it is always declared to be so , if there are children. once they are married the wife must walk two meters behind her husband, everywhere he goes!
The inhabitants of this island are known to be unfreindly and the town was a little dull, but the veiw and weird stories were worth the trek( 45 mins up a wining cliff path.... down 580 steps!)
On arival back in puno, we discovered that there were more transportation stikes looming for the following day and so had to make rapid plans to get back to Cusco. We left on the fist bus possible and endured one of the weirdest trips including ladies all sorts of thing at every stop and two poets shouting and raving about something or another. Effectively turning a five hour journey into a very entertaining 8 and a half hour one. The fact that wayne managed to sleep through all this and his massive hangover, from the night before !***, amused me to no end. The Ipod is a saving grace on these trips.