Puno and Lake Titicaca

The highest point of the pass

Leaving Cusco was tough...we loved it there.  We took a 9 hour bus ride to Puno over the Altiplano, which is sort of like high dessert, but it's really high, higher than Cusco.  We stopped in several places along the way, saw tons of llama and beautiful scenery.

Check out the altitude!!

An unpruned Alpaca

Puno is not a great city to visit, except for the fact that it's right on the lake.  And Lake Titicaca is beautiful.

Our first view of Lake Titicaca

 We had a great hotel with lake views.  There were llamas and cuy running around in front of the hotel.  The next morning we got up and took a boat to some of the islands on the lake.  The first stop was the floating islands of the Uros.  They build the islands from a plant...looks like a reed...and they build their houses, boats, and other structures with these reeds too.  The reeds are also used for food.  The reeds are baled together like hay, and then fresh loose reeds go on top.

Uro woman and cooking site

The houses are very compact and built with reeds too.  The dress is made by the Uros and very colorful.  It was an obvious tourist show but still we thought it was all so cool.  They make a living catering to tourists.  Some floating islands don't allow anyone to stop and they are the most unspoiled.






The girls tried on their clothes and so did Marcio.

 We loved how bright the colors were.  We went inside a home and found a TV!!!  How??  Why, solar panels, of course!!  They have the life figured out.  They turn the boats into gardens when the reeds deteriorate and build a new one.  Each one has a couple of thousand recycled plastic soda bottles inside for flotation.

Better than land fill!!  Most produce is traded for with fish and textile work.  We also took photos of the women and the wild life:  A rescued flamingo and a king fisher who attacked Luis-turns out he was just looking for fish.  The flamingo was captured because it was injured.  I asked what would happen to it when it healed.  The women said it was up to him-he could go or stay.




All of this was only the morning.  The afternoon was spent on another island.  To be continued.