Puno and Lake Titicaca

After mom and I went to the sacred valley we took another tour from Cusco to Puno, which is on Lake Titicaca. The tour took us to some more ruins with a couple stops where we could buy things. Kathleen bought quite a bit of things, but I also bought some stuff too. If you are getting anything from me on my trip, you are getting it from Peru. There are too many of you and I just don't have any space in my bag. But with all of the stops at artesenias and stores it felt more like a tv program with a couple commercials thrown in for good measure.

When I got to the lake I was really impressed by the size; I underestimated how big it was. To get from Peru to Bolivia on the other side takes about eight hours. It is much faster to go by bus, which takes six hours to go from Puno, Peru to La Paz, Bolivia.

On the lake there are floating islands that are man made out of reeds. The people that live there make a living selling things to the tourists. Everything on the tour out to the lake cost money. We took a boat ride in one of the boats made of reeds from one island to another. Five soles. Too climb a tour on the island to see a better view, two soles. There was a cute little girl that sang a different song in Quechua, Spanish, English, french, and German (we also had to tip her).

From the floating island we went to another island (this one was a real island) called Taquile. Super commie. The island was more of a community in that everyone worked for the group. There was no bartering on any of the products because all of the money went to the community and not an individual. The group that governed the island was made up of men and they served a year in rotation. Mom had a hard time at this island because we had to climb up to get to the center of the island. It left me a little breathless, but Kathleen was really eating wind. It was a mix of the climb and the altitude. Right now we are almost as high as the highest point in Utah. 11409 feet in elevation. I feel it whenever I try to overexert myself, it just feels like I can't take a big enough breath.

The next day was Easter and I thought that it was going to be a big deal here, but there was only a military procession. I am not sure why, but I stopped asking questions a long time ago, Kathleen is still suprised about this sort of stuff though. Everyday she is learning about how things work out here in the sudamerica. By the time that she goes home she will have almost everything figured out. I am also not saying that I have everything figured out, because every day I learn something new too. Like today for example; I am making mom stay here for an extra day so I can get a visa to Bolivia thinking that I would need 24 hours. Nope, all I need to do is bring everything that I have had since Saturday to the Border and I will be able to pass right on through the border. I just get my visa there.

So today we are going to go on another tour and then tomorrow we will be heading to Arequipa. I have already been there but I am excited to go back because I liked the city so much. I am going to see some of the same things again, but I will also get to see Colca Canyon which I was not able to see the first time that I was there. I think that I may take Kathleen to the mercado so she can really get a feel of how things are here in Peru. I think that if she hasn't already come to terms with the culture shock it is going to be an interesting experience. I think that I am going to enjoy her view of it.