Having arrived in Puno late the night before, and having no plans, we decided to wander into town and see what it’s all about. We were pleasantly surprised to find a pedestrian only road only 2 blocks from our hotel. The pedestrian road was wide and clean, paved with white stone tiles and lined with restaurants, shops, and tour agencies. The road in front of our hotel was partially torn up because they were extending the pedestrian road. After half a dozen blocks, the road opened to the Plaza des Armas, complete with a colonial church. Nearly everywhere we’ve been has had a similar Plaza des Armas, each are unique in their own way.
Puno is the largest city on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca. There are a number of sights to see around Puno and the lake. It may not seem like it now, but guided tours are not really our thing, we’d normally rather wander about at our own pace (double decker bus tours are an exception). Unfortunately we’ve found that the sights we want to see are fairly spread out, and not convenient to visit outside of a tour. Our lack of a complete command of the Spanish language also makes guided tours more attractive around here. We have discussed on several occasions that we are now confident we want to learn more Spanish. So much of what we have seen would have been independently accessible if we didn’t stare blankly when someone responds to our question in quick Spanish. It’s a different experience than spending a week in a Mexican beach town when you only need to speak Spanish to order a taco. Being in many small towns where people simply don’t speak English has been eye-opening. With that said, we have enjoyed the tours we have been on and are grateful for all that we have seen.
We found the tour company’s office that we were looking for, All Ways Travel, and sat down to discuss some of the things we wanted to see. We booked a tour that afternoon to see Sillustani, a collection of funerary tours about 20 miles north of town. We also booked a half day tour for the next morning to Uros Islands.
As we’ve mentioned, Peruvians do not appear to put much value in punctuality. The only exception seems to be when they’re picking you up for a tour.
After our minivan had picked the rest of the guests up at their respective hotels, we headed up the hill and away from the city. We stopped to take a few photos. Every time our tour guide offered to take our photograph, he insisted on taking half a dozen. We’re not sure if he is a photo buff of simply firing aimlessly in hopes that one turns out. It was quite entertaining; he would exhaust every feasible angle, scaling rocks, moving other tourists. He really went the distance. And it definitely resulted in more pictures with both of us in them than we’ve previously been able to manage.
Once we arrived at Sillustani, we embarked on a roughly 30 minute walk up the hill to the towers. At one point a young girl walked down the path with a baby alpaca. It’s pretty common that locals bring their absurdly cute livestock out for photo-ops, for tips of course. This time, Kate caved. However, she did mention that barnyard animals “weren’t necessarily her thing” and promptly requested some hand sanitizer from my day pack.
I’m not sure if this woman was trying to herd her alpacas down the hill toward us, or up the hill away from us, but it was quite a sight.
These towers were burial cites created by the Colla people, who were later conquered by the Incas. The funerary towers varied greatly in size and construction. They vary,partially based on when they were made, but largely based on the importance of the person buried in it.
At the top of the hill were the most impressive towers, as well as a great view of Lago Umayo.
As we were walking up the hill, I figured that this tower had been damaged by either grave robbers, or an earthquake. It was later explained to us that the majority of the damage is due to lightning striking the towers. A number of lightning rods were pointed out to us.
After we left the funerary towers, we learned that we were stopping at a local family’s home. I am not typically a fan of the cultural dog-and-pony show. It often time seems so rehearsed and awkward. This was a little different. the husband of the house welcomed us in their front yard with half a dozen llamas (or alpacas, I can’t tell the difference). Once in their home, they showed us the some of the food locals typically eat, carrots, potatoes, cheese. The cheese was particularly good. They, of course, had handicrafts for sale, which is normally not particularly interesting. The difference was that this family raised the alpaca, spun the yarn, and weaved the textiles, all at their modest home.
The experience visiting this family ended up being really great. It felt truly hospitable and we learned a lot. There are so many types of potatoes in Peru, it would be impossible to know if we’ve tasted the same kind twice. We returned to town, grabbed a quick bite to eat and hit the hay.
The next morning we were picked up, again very punctually, at our hotel and circled the city picking up the rest of the people that would join us on this tour.
We made our way down to the port and boarded the boat that would take us to Uros Island. The port was a constant log jam and I couldn’t imagine trying to navigate it without a tour guide. There are a few types of boats, but most of them are painfully slow boats. To ensure travel on a “speedboat” you had to be very pointed in the questions you ask. For this reason, it’s easier to work with a tour company. The port offers a daily schedule of departures for various islands around the lake. In our research, we learned that most travelers preferred to hop islands independently, but that it hinged on getting reliable confirmation that you were on a fast boat. Without a strong command of the language, there is no telling. And, even then, your left with half a chance. We’ve learned that, like many tourist cities worldwide, the people selling services will tell you what they think you want to hear. This is especially true in Peru, and widely accepted. If you ask the Captain of this ship “ is this a fast boat?”, he will surely say “yes”. If you ask him how long it will take to get there, he will tell you only a few minutes. This could mean 30 minutes or 3 hours. Be that what it may, once you pay the Captain and board the ship, if it takes 3 hours, there is nothing you can do about it. With all this in mind, we worked with a tour company.
The Uros Islands are a collection of about 50-60 man made islands on Lake Titicaca. The Uros people originally moved from the shores of the lake to reed boats in order to escape the warring Inca peoples. At first, one family lived each boat, after some time, they began to build man-made islands out of reeds. These reed islands are each inhabited by a handful of families.
Once on one of the Islands, our tour guide gave us a presentation about Lake Titicaca and the Uros people. Our guide was pretty animated, and entertaining.
This presentation included a demonstration of how the islands are made, as well as a model of the island. I found it interesting that the foundation for the floating Island is a 6 foot thick section of reed roots, which only float to the surface of the lake during heavy wet seasons. The islands receive a new layer of reeds on top every week, but still only last about 15 years before they need to be replaced. There are a handful of modern floating buildings, a medical clinic, a primary school, and Seventh Day Adventist Church. The children attend grade school within the community, but travel to Puno to attend high school. Many of the children who attend school on the mainland never return to life on the islands. This may be one of the last generations of Uros people living traditionally on their islands.
The reed boats have become nearly obsolete, replaced with small wooden boats with outboards. Nearly every island has a large, decorated, reed boat catamaran, who’s primary purpose is to take tourists from one island to another. We were offered a ride in said boat and boarded. I felt bad for the women rowing the boat, a very awkward man from New Zealand who didn’t speak a lick of Spanish felt the same way and offered to help with the rowing. They wouldn’t let him. He also couldn’t explain that New Zealand was not Australia and was growing increasingly irritated that the ladies were saying that he was from Australia. Both situations were very comical. and equally uncomfortable. Let’s also call special attention to the fact that during this boat trip, one rower’s cell phone began to ring; she retrieved it from the folds of her traditional skirt and proceeded to have a quick conversation with a friend. The other lady didn’t stop rowing, and we turned in a slow circle for a minute.
The women were rowing up wind and not making any progress, eventually the President from their island pulled up in a powered boat and pushed them the rest of the way to the next island.
The next island resembled a floating airport terminal; restaurants, gift shops, and restrooms seemed to be the only things to see on this island. After a few minutes we boarded our boat and returned to Puno. It was mid day when we returned to Puno, we grabbed our bags and hailed a taxi, off to our next adventure.
Special disclaimer: Kate insists you all know that wearing her adventure hat with the string secured beneath her chin is not the preferred way to wear it. However, the afternoon wind often requires this tactic.She knows how silly it looks.
