Thursday April 17 - Punos and Lake Titicaca

The restaurant in the hotel serves breakfast beginning at 6:00 a.m.  Our bus picked us up at 6:50, went to a few more hotels for pickups and then to the harbor.  We met our guide for the day, Neo, and he led us to our boat – to get there, we had to cross over six other boats that were tied up to each other and were bobbing up and down somewhat.  We filled every seat on the boat.  The boat was older but it was what we had for the day.  It also had an upper deck that up to eight people at a time could ride.

For whatever reason, all of the boats we crossed over and all of the boats we saw that day moved at a slow but steady pace – nothing like the fast boat we had in Paracas last week.  This meant it took an hour and forty five minutes to get to the Uros floating islands.  We disembarked onto the island and then were taken out for a thirty minute boat ride in a boat made of the same reeds used to build to the floating islands – it looked awfully small but somehow all 30 of us made on the boat.  Propulsion was by Oscar using a long pole.

When we came back to the floating island we had time to look at the handicrafts for sale – several members of our group bought wall hangings, pillow coverings and other woven items.  We saw a demonstration of how the islands are made.  We got to taste the inside end of one of the reeds used to make the islands.

Then we got back onto our motorized boat and headed for the island of Taquile.  Another hour and thirty minute ride.  Pam had twisted her ankle, so Meghann, Mike and I accompanied her.  We were told to go up to the plaza, a rise of some 200 meters.  It was all a gradual rise, no stairs, so other than issues with the elevation and Pam’s ankle, we made it.  We thought this was as high as we would go.  Although there was a photographic display in the town hall and a knitting center selling things knitted by handicapped people, we did not go in – we just sat and relaxed.

After a short time, we gathered the group and headed off to the restaurant.  We continued up in elevation, and then up some more.  Finally, we turned off the main paved path (not really paved, rather covered with stones) to an even higher elevation with crude stone stairs.  Finally, we reached a restaurant at the top of the island.  It had beautiful views of Lake Titicaca and surrounding mountains.  We had quinhoa soup and then either lake trout or omelet entrees, with cold beverages (Patty had Cusqueña, as did several members of our group of 30).  And then the long trek down the hill.  In spite of her twisted/sprained ankle, Pam made it down with Mike carrying her backpack, Meghann on the uphill side and me on the downhill side.  There was a mix of the sloped trail and stone stairs.  We finally got to the boat around 3:00, and then it was a long two hour thirty minute ride back to Punos.  Patty and I spent most of the time on the upper deck, talking with a couple from Montreal – because of his work in mining, they have lived and worked all over the world.

Once back at our Punos hotel, we split into two groups of six.  One group went out later for dinner at 8:00.  Patty and I went with Pam, Kay, Jim and Marcie to a local restaurant for a pleasant dinner – four of us had individual pizzas (made on thin crusts), Jim had lasagna and Marcie had a sandwich.  And of course, much laughter as we had Cusqueñas, pisco sours and other assorted drinks. 

 After dinner, the other five went back to the hotel, while I went to a local drug store and got a couple of ace bandages for Pam.  Then a reasonable bed time of 9:30 so that we would be well rested for Friday.