Island Adventurers

So, Saturday morning Alexander, our roommate Aqilah, and myself awoke early to meet Pablo so that we could visit the amazing condors before leaving for the rainforest. Pablo,surprisingly, arrives somewhat on time but informs us that snow has blocked most of the passes out of Cusco. So, he has booked us a trip to Puno for that night! Well, we didn't really have the option of saying no, and we were intrigued about Puno (as it has been closed for some time now), so we decided to do it.

So, at about 9:00 pm a woman in a van comes to pick us up, she takes us to the bus station, purchases our tickets, shows us how to pay the tax, and leaves in the care of the bus attendants. However, once on the bus, we realized that the woman had given us the wrong tickets for this departure...she had put our tax stamps on our RETURN tickets....sooooo, after essentially being called incompetent fools by the woman checking the bus tickets, we finally straightened out the ticket situation, retrieved our now torn and marked return tickets, found our correct seats, and settled in for the 7-8 hour long ride to Puno.

The bus was amazingly comfortable. You could lean the very fluffy seats ALL the way back if you wanted (which didn't exactly work out if the person behind you wasn't lying back also, but anyway). Also, there were fold out foot rests! So the ride was pretty nice. All I really remember about it is that we stopped at some point along the way and it was snowing heavily outside. So, anyway, we arrive at the Puno bus station at about 5 a.m. Supposedly, someone was going to retrieve us. However, two freezing, rainy cold hours later, still no person. So we had some hot chocolate, hung out, walked around, froze a little, and tried calling every local number we knew. Another hour later found us hopelessly sitting in some cold, plastic chairs, still waiting, when a man walked up to us and asked "Alex Munjal?" YES! we all three emphatically screamed and practically ran to his car. He took us to some hostel/hotel in the middle of the city, where we were instructed "to wait." Welll....okay.

Finally, about an hour or so later, the owners? of the hotel told us we had breakfast waiting for us. So we went along, ate some bread, toast, and hot tea while listening to the other hotel attendants party it up in the next room (yes, they were intoxicated at 7:30 in the morning). We returned to the main waiting room where we were told we would return at 4 p.m. that day and that we could leave our things safely with the hotel attendants. So Aqilah takes her bag to the counter, and we head off shortly later with another person who may or may not be our guide. But like everyone else, he knows our names and seems to know where we should be.

Another little bit later, we've picked up a whole van load full of tourists and are being dropped off at Lake Titicaca. We all meander our way down to a boat, settle in, and are informed of the plans. So, here's what we're told: we will return TOMORROW at 4 (not today) and we're going to visit 3 islands: two today and one tomorrow. This sounds pretty exciting, despite the freezing rain and cold. So we embark on our trip. The boat was remarkably comfortable, and the slight churning of the waves created a most relaxing atmosphere as they rocked the boat ever so gently. So, after an hour or so nap, we arrived at the islands known as Uros. These islands are renowned as the "floating islands" of the lake. They are made from shallow water reeds which the Uros people layer to create literal floating islands. The base of the island is formed out of the tangled roots and soil of the reeds, while the top layers are made from dried reeds that are layered in a cross-hatch sort of pattern, to create a solid base. The Uros people utilize these reeds not only for island-building, but also for house-building, and even for eating (though they aren't the tastiest things). Anyway, we visited one of these islands, where we met several locals and visited their houses and shopped their wares. Afterward, we got on one of their pretty amazing and colorful boats (also made of reeds) and sailed to another floating island, where we could visit a market and meet with more locals.

A little bit later we returned to our original boat and set sail in the ever-darkening sky to the island that we would be staying at that night. Braving the fierce cold and freezing dribble of rain, Alex and I climbed to the top of the boat, where we had an amazing view of the beautiful lake, the surrounding mountains, and the snowy peaks of Bolivia in the distance. When we could stand the cold no longer, we returned to our warm seats inside the boat and drifted off to sleep until we arrived at the island Amantani. Once there, we climbed up a narrow trail up the face of a cliff and met with our Quechua families, whom we would be staying the night with. Alex, Aqilah, and I were assigned to a woman named Gladys, who was younger, wore a bright smile, and had endless energy. She dashed up the incredibly steep, slippery, wet trail that led through farms, houses, and the town, to her family home. There we were taken to a surprisingly large room that housed four beds, each with about 6 layers of sheets, blankets, and quilts (thankfully). We immediately passed out from the exhaustion that had been slowly overcoming us throughout the duration of the trip. We had a cold hour or so nap, when Gladys came to wake us up. She led us to their beautiful, rustic kitchen. There was a clay, wood-fired stove with cast iron pots bubbling on top. She was using a Eucalyptus type wood to keep the fire going, so the whole kitchen had this wonderful smoky sage-Eucalyptus smell. Not to mention, the fire was keeping us warm. Anyway, her sister came to join us, and they explained that their parents had went to Puno for a couple of days to buy supplies, so it would just be them with us for tonight. So we had our lunch, which consisted of quinoa and vegetable soup, fried egg with vegetables, rice, and muna tea. Muna is a local herb found throughout the Andes that is similar to mint and is said to be good for stomach problems. Anyway, we had freshly picked muna for our tea, which added to the amazingess of our nice, toasty lunch. After lunch we washed dishes, with Aqilah scrubbing them in freshly boiled water, me rinsing them in cold water, and Alex drying and putting them away.

We were supposed to meet our tourist group at 4:00 pm, but we slightly overslept. After waking up we literally RAN up the side of the mountain, to the top, where our group was still going about its tour of the farms and Incan ruins of the island. We made it all the way to the temple of the father Earth (the mother Earth temple was closed), which overlooked the rest of the island, where we could see the other communities nestled away near the coast lines. At dusk we meandered our way back down, using Alex's medical pen-light as guidance, and returned to our beds. We didn't really fall asleep, but rather huddled for warmth until we couldn't take it any longer. So we stumbled down to the kitchen, where the fire for dinner was already going, and asked if we could help in any way. The sisters shared a glance that pretty much relayed their lack of faith in our abilities, but regardless, they gave us a clay bowl full of small, purple potatoes, a very large knife, and asked us to peel. It took us an incredibly long time, and I'm pretty sure we ended up with more peel than potato, but they thanked us and sent us on our way. A little bit later we had dinner, which consisted of more quinoa soup and rice with mixed vegetables.

We were going to explore the town after this, but it was so incredibly dark, even with Alex's pen-light, that we made it all of 10 feet before retreating back to our lighted dorm (thanks to solar power!). There we, of course, returned to our blankets and drifted off to sleep. During this time the power went out (due the overwhelming amount of rain and incredible lack of sun), and Gladys rushed us a candle, explaining the solar power situation and apologizing for the rain. At about 8:30, she returned, with typical clothes, which she instructed us to put on (or rather, she put mine on for me: two layers of heavy wool skirts, a heavy wool shirt, and a very stiff, thick woven belt that wrapped around me several times and probably could have served as a bullet proof vest). Alex wore a poncho and a chullo (a cap of sorts). Then we headed off to the town hall, where other tourists were dressed up and dancing to traditional music with locals. We danced a round of dancing, Alex had a Cusquena, then we decided we absolutely had to retire for a real full night of rest. While brushing our teeth and preparing for bed, Alex and I were entranced by the amazingly brilliant night sky. There were no lights on Amantani so you could see the stars as big as if they were lamps hanging from nearby villagers' roofs. The light trail of the Milky Way flowed through them, lighting up the black even more. It was one of the most beautiful nights I have ever experienced.

Bright and early at 6:30 the next morning, Gladys woke us up, fed us pancakes with jam, and sent us on our way. We met our tourist group at the shore, thanked our families in Quechua, and headed back to the boat to visit the final island: Taquile. Thankfully the sun was out today and everything...I mean EVERYTHING was crystal blue. The lake, the sky, the mountains--it was amazing. We could see the snowy peaks of Bolivia shining in the distance, the few clouds stood out stark white against the sky, and the sun shimmered on the perfectly clear water. This was our view for the two hours as we rode to Taquile.

Upon arriving we hiked another steep trail, winding around the face of a cliff, until we arrived at a central plaza where the view was even better and clearer than before. We explored this plaza, took pictures, learned about the traditional dress and laws of the people of Taquile, and then headed off to lunch. Lunch was a not-so-wonderful but extremely expensive fried egg with rice. Afterward, we hiked down over 500 steps, straight down the mountain, to the harbor that our boat was waiting in. By this time it was incredibly windy and the waves tossed the boat around as we made our way back to Puno. Even though the boat was thrust back and forth and side to side, it was actually incredibly relaxing. If you closed your eyes it was like sitting in a rocking chair (which, granted, was rocking pretty hard). Anyway, we slept pretty well until we arrived to Puno. Once there we followed our group and boarded a bus, where we were taken back to our hotels. Luckily, Alex remember the name of our "hotel" once the guide said it, and we safely made it back. Afterwards, we wandered around the main tourist strip of Puno, looking for things to eat and things to do until our bus left at 9 p.m. We ate some interesting Mediterranean food (I had bruschetta with figs and red wine sauce), had some hot chocolate, had some ice cream, walked around the plaza, visited several tiendas, and finally made our way to the bus station. From there we had an uneventful, but comfortable, ride back to Cusco.

At about 4 am we arrived in Cusco--super excited about a hot shower (or the closest thing you can get to a hot shower here) and our beds. But, alas, nothing in Peru is so easy. So, we arrive at the apartment and find that it has been bolted from the inside. So, we proceed to knock, bang, yell, and tap for an hour or so--successfully waking up the entire neighborhood, who all came out to ask if we were okay. However, we did not succeed in waking up the person inside. So, at 5:30 in the morning, defeated, cold, and tired, we left the apartment and wandered around Cusco looking for a cheap hostel to sleep in. We finally found one, up some rickety stairs from an artisan market. Two beds crammed incredibly close together with some shady looking sheets, peeling walls, and a very musty smell. It was, however, two beds with lots of blankets. So Aqilah, Alex, and I promptly slipped under our sheets and passed out for 4 hours. Twenty dollars and four hours later, though, we were back in our apartment, showered, and cozied up under our own warm, comfortable (ish) beds.

All in all it was quite an interesting trip that was well, well worth it.