Getting High in Peru: Islas Uros and Isla Taquile on Lake Titicaca.

Getting High in the Andes

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Sept 20, 21 & 22

Two-night trip to Puno and Lago (Lake) Titicaca

            We left for our trip to Puno and Lake Titicaca Late Friday afternoon so we did not see much as darkness descended as we left Arequipa. Profe Bierling had advised us to take cold-weather gear along since we would be boating and hiking at 12,500 feet. However, Saturday am, my birthday, it was sunny and a few of us wore t-shirts for most of the day.

            We left the hotel around 8 am for the boat to travel on Lago Titicaca. It took at least two hours to arrive at Islas Uros, the man made islands floated on reeds. I had my GPS and noted that the fastest our boat went was 9.5 m/p/h. I remember reading about these islands decades ago in National Geographic, but I never dreamed about coming here since for the past 40 years my life was devoted to archaeological work in the Middle East. 

 I noticed the rock art above Puno

 Upper deck view

 A boat similar to ours

 Two of our guys doing pushups. Why? I have no idea.

First off, once we disembarked from the boat onto the reed surface of the island, we were presented with a talk on the island construction and all of us ate pieces of the totora reed, the hearts of, which add fiber to the diet. The reeds are used to construct the homes and boats, and we were treated to a reed boat ride. The roots of the totora reeds are buoyant. They tie clumps of it together and then pile the reed tops in a crossway fashion on top. The islands are anchored, so we tied the boat to the island and stepped on the soft and springy reeds. These particular islands are geared for and survive solely from tourist dollars and are fairly new. But, originally, the small Uro tribe fled to the lake and constructed the islands to escape the more aggressive on-shore tribes. The families live, fish, and use the tourist dollars to buy other staples. The children, who you will see in the pictures, are boated to school. These islands have solar panels to provide light in the evening. Some of the pictures will show some of us inside the small homes. It is possible to overnight here, which Profe Bierling and I may do at some point in the future since we have additional questions about life on the islands. It was interesting to watch the little children go right to the water’s edge to play. When we rode in a reed boat, some students were not careful enough and initially stepped into the water. Since the reeds do rot, newly cut reeds are constantly piled on top, but in some places I noticed water seeping up—more reeds here please. 

 One person was eating off of two reeds.

 Note the solar panel

 Inside one of the huts with the children

 Profe

 Riding on a reed raft around the floating island

 Here's the island from our reed boat

From here we boated to another island, one that has a firm foundation, Isla Taquile. It is small, only 7-sq-km, and after getting off the boat, we hiked up to the top (13,000 feet in elevation) to the village. If you have traveled to or lived on the Greek islands as I have, life on this island is similar. In fact, I told some students about the comparison recognizing that the cultures are different. Remember too, that this day was sunny and warm, even at 13,000 feet. It would be easy for me to relax on this island. The floating island overnight, okay, but here you actually have enough room to hike around and explore.   

Lindsey, one of our students took this nice shot of me on the job

 Mudbrick hut under construction

 One of the numerous portals while climbing up or down

 Group shots

 That hat did not fit on my head

 Back to the boat and back to Puno

            It was another 2-hour boat ride back to Puno. We arrived back in Puno at sunset. In fact, the boat was heading almost due west into the sunset when the students were asked to leave the rooftop of the boat and come back inside. So, one student at least, since she showed me her results, had to shoot the sunset from inside. The lake, by the way, is at 12,500 feet.

            We then had one hour before supper (7 pm), so we drove to the main plaza, another Plaza de Armas, where I and others shot the cathedral. The restaurant was right there so several of us used the bano (WC) facilities, which was appreciated since the boat’s bano was not the greatest. Once I used the bano, I invited the girls to use the men’s since it was empty and they had a long line (remember, 19 girls and only 3 guys), but no one took me up on it. Profe did and then the girls lined up at the men’s as well.

            We walked around the area; I bought a bottle of Peruvian wine for my birthday celebration that evening back in the hotel where I noticed it was actually from Argentina, Malbec Merlot, which I buy at home at Aldi’s. 

The next post from Puno and Lago Titicaca  will be about my surprise birthday celebration in Puno. 

Paz, Neal Bierling