Friday, September 11, 2015

Up at 6 AM we meet Francisco in the lobby and walk down to the hotel’s dock and board a boat with a capacity of about 25 but we are the only passengers. Jose is our captain and we leave the dock and proceed down a channel through the reeds that cover this portion of Lake Titicaca (12,600). Soon we enter a broader channel lined on each side by what appears to be hundreds of floating islands made of these very reeds. A number of islands are already hosting visitors and others have the women in their bright costumes on the edge of their particular island indicating they are ready to receive visitors. We dock and one island and jump from the boat onto the spongy reed island. This particular family of about 23 people is expecting a larger group so we are shuttled behind one building and are given an introduction to Uros Island living by a young couple Rene and Anna. They explain the history of Uros, how the islands are made and how they live on them. We are then invited into their small shack and are pressured in buying handicrafts (we buy a grossly overpriced but attractive wall hanging and a model of the old style boat.) We are invited to take a ride on a large, double hulled boat with a second story, but decline. Given the opportunity however to ride on the single-hulled, old style boat we readily accept and are paddled to another island where we meet up with Jose and Francisco. We then leave the reeds behind and head out into Lake Titicaca to Tacquile Island, famous for woven goods. The trip takes about 2 hours and we dock at the island. It is a long slog up hill to the main plaza where Kurt buys a scarf. We then walk across the island. At one alley, Francisco turns in and then up a small hill to the Restaurant Los Angeles (really just a family’s backyard with a couple of tables.) We enjoy a nice meal while the place fills up with other groups. Francisco leaves us and says he will see us at the boat. On the way down the famous 545 steps to the other dock, we buy some woven bracelets for our daughters and grandkids. When we reach the bottom and locate the boat we see that Francisco has stripped to his underwear and jumped into the lake. He greets us with a wave and tells us that he just felt it in his soul to jump in so he did. We give a lift to a local man and his son and are on our way back to the hotel. Francisco gets a phone-call that we need passport photos for our Bolivian visas tomorrow, so instead we head to the main dock. Alfredo picks us up and takes us into town where we get our pictures taken. We wander down the pedestrian walkway to a small plaza where Francisco recommends a small shop as having good prices. We buy a few scarves for the girls, run out of Soles, get some US Dollars changes and buy a few more scarves. We get our photos and head back to the main plaza where we eat a delicious dinner at Mosja, Kathy having the cream of pumpkin and potato soup and Kurt having the aji pepper chicken. We take a taxi back to the hotel.

Our boat to Uros and Taquile Islands

Anna and Rene explain how they build and maintain Uros Island

Anna shows us the weaving we buy; it interests us how their culture has shifted from fishing to tourism
(we see the same weaving in town selling for about 1/3 what we paid for from Anna)

Most tourists ride the larger, two pontoon version behind us;
we preferred the ride on the smaller, more traditional boat

Women on another island waiting for tourists

The gate on the way up to the village on Taquile Island

Lunch with Francisco at the Los Angeles "restaurant"

Francisco and Kurt in downtown Puno, a city on the shore of Lake Titicaca

The view of our hotel, the Liberador, from Puno Bay