puno, peru

Every time I want to type 'Puno' the autocorrect changes it to 'Punk,' so I keep telling people I'm going to visit a place called Punk.

From the bus station to my hostal by taxi, I accidentally overcharged myself. Doh! The taxi driver was from a 'secure' taxi, but he seemed kinda sketchy and he kept rushing me to get in before agreeing to a price. Being overcharged and getting to my hostal is better than the alternative.

Puno isn't very big so its easy to wander around the main streets and plazas. It's perched  on the edge of Lake Titicaca which is the world's highest navigable lake. Its incredibly massive, it' s the second biggest in South America.

They say there are two seasons in Puno: cold, and colder.

I took a day tour to uber touristy Lake Titicaca, visiting the Uros floating islands and Isla Taquile. It's odd to just walk into the houses and lives of other cultures like a living museum, but on the flip side it's interesting to see how they live.

Uros floating island

There are over 73 of the floating islands. The islands are constructed out of reeds that grow in the shallow lake. Once built, the island lasts about 25-35 years. Houses are also made of reeds, but they need to have their reeds changed after a year. The islands are 3m thick and have anchors so that they don't float to Bolivia. According to the time of year, the people move the islands to different parts of the lake.

They reeds are also used for food, fuel, medicine, and for building boats. This is me eating some of a reed!

The Uros people shifted their lives from land to lake in order to escape an enemy and preserve their way of life.

They are fishers and hunters - not so much into McDonalds.

Each island has a local leader, and children go to school on a separate island from where they live. 

We took a quick ride in one of these 'taxis.'

That's where things are changing. By letting tourism be a part of their lives, the people now sell textiles to tourists too. With income earned, the Uros buy sugar, rice, and books for their children among other items.

While the Uros speak Aymara, the inhabitants of Taquile speak Quechua.  

There are no cars or hotels here. Tourism only developed in the last 25-30 years.

On the island you can find 3000 inhabitants and 6 communities.

From 1917-1931 it was home to a military prison which once housed a former Peruvian president.

More walking up hill in at a high altitude!

We sat at a restaurant and the locals explained their clothing, cutstoms, & aspects of their culture. 

Children receive a hand or foot plough as their first gift. The joys of being a farmer! Here, the women weave, the men knit. Taquile Island is famous for its handicraft.

The people wear the same sandals for about 10 years and they don't need a new iPhone every few years.

This man is demonstrating how they use a plant to make shampoo & soap for hair or washing clothes. 

Then came the music & dance with which we all partook.

We ate lunch at the 'restaurant' after. This was the most delicious quinoa soup and it sparked my search for more of the same.

Mate de muña, which I first had on the Inca Trail.

We took a walk around the island before boating back to Puno. This included a gander at the plaza which was nearly empty, with the exception of a few people and a random scraggly chicken.

Children were selling bracelets around the island.