Monday, February 21, 2011
Island Hopping!
I feel like I just crammed a weeks worth of experience into 2 days! Such a great weekend! At 9:30pm on Friday night a car came to pick up me and a couple other people in the house to take us to the bus station. We met up with the other 6 people from Maximo that were taking the trip, hopped on the bus and settled in for a six and half hour overnight bus ride to Puno. We arrived at about 4:30am and were greeted by rain and cold (note the mittens and hat I have on in later pictures). We were shuttled to hotel where we had about 3 more hours to sleep and grab breakfast (typical Peruvian breakfast of coffee and bread) before hopping on a bus for a short ride to the dock.
At the dock, our group of 9 and about 15-20 others climbed aboard a slow moving boat with a bilingual (actually, he spoke some French too) guide and starting heading to the islands. It was still pouring down rain when we started out and the guide suggested we alter the itinerary a bit, but lucky for us it clear up and we were able to make our first stop, as originally planned, to the floating reed islands of the Uru people.
Greeted by the Uru people as the boat comes in.
Adorableness!
This is what the islands are made of. We stepped off the the boat and onto a "ground" made of reeds that must constantly be replenished.
Reed house
Tiny homemade representations of island life. House on the left is the family house. The middle structure is where they cook when it's raining, the house on the right is the "suegra's" (mother-in-law's) house. And the little thing in the front is where they normally cook.
Uru people selling their hand made goods to our group
These guys were just hanging out on the island.
Large reed boat coming in to take people for a ride.
Another set of reed islands across from where we docked.
Reed houses
Adorableness!
Smaller reed boat coming in to take us on a ride.
On our little reed boat, ready for a loop around the islands.
The woman who took us on our reed boat ride.
Reed boat ride photo op!
Adorableness!
Saying goodbye to the reed islands!
Next we were off to Amatani, where we met our home-stay families. Most of us were greeted by the mother of the house. (In a conversation with the mother in our house, I found out that most of the men spend about 6 months out of the year working in factories in Lima because they just can't make enough money on the island. Farming and selling their handmade goods to tourists are their only means of income). We (myself and AussieChef - from my class) had about a 20-30 minute uphill hike in which we huffed and puffed the whole way, while the mother nearly sprinted up with an 8 month old baby strapped to her back.
Map of the island
When we arrived at the house (which I, sadly, did not have time to take pictures of) she made us lunch, DELICIOUS quinoa soup with all kinds of fresh, local, veggies and herbs that I couldn't identify, along with some cabbage salad, rice, and trout. (Yes, I ate the trout and actually rather enjoyed it). After lunch her husband (who will head to Lima in March) walked us up to the community center where some of the group played a little "futbol" with people who were there with a different tour group, and a few locals.
Adorableness!
Once we were all there, we started the trek up to the highest point on Amatani island to watch the sunset. Sadly, it was VERY cloudy, so the sunset wasn't actually visible, but the trip up and the hang out time at the top made for some great photo op time.
The next morning we had breakfast and then jumped back on the boat to head to Taquile island. It had poured all night and was still coming down pretty hard when we got on the boat. To say the water was choppy would be a huge understatement. The boat rocked in every direction for the entire hour it took us to get to the other island. I've never been sea sick before and managed to hold it together, but others weren't so lucky. By the time the boat docked we were all grateful to be on solid ground. We hiked to top where we had lunch, more trout, not as good as the stuff in the home-stay, and then climbed the over 500 treacherous steps back down to the boat.
The Dentist (here with Maximo on a volunteer trip working in a clinic) strikes a pose in one of the many stone arches on the way to the top.
If I remember correctly, the land right behind me is actually Bolivia.
We made our way back down and met our families who fed us dinner and then helped us get into traditional clothing for to head to a fiesta.
SalsaGirl and the Officer's Wife in traditional clothing
AussieChef
The Dentist and The CrazyBrit
The band
AussieChef tears up the dance floor with our host dad.
Adorableness! This is actually the 6 year old from the house I stayed at. She was SUPER cute and fascinated by my hat, my nose-ring, and my flashlight. Seriously wanted to bring her home with me.
Locals. The woman who is standing next to the woman who is sitting is the mom from the house I stayed in.
Me and the adorableness from my house.
The next morning we had breakfast and then jumped back on the boat to head to Taquile island. It had poured all night and was still coming down pretty hard when we got on the boat. To say the water was choppy would be a huge understatement. The boat rocked in every direction for the entire hour it took us to get to the other island. I've never been sea sick before and managed to hold it together, but others weren't so lucky. By the time the boat docked we were all grateful to be on solid ground. We hiked to top where we had lunch, more trout, not as good as the stuff in the home-stay, and then climbed the over 500 treacherous steps back down to the boat.
At the top of Tequile getting ready to climb down.
The trip finished up with a 3 hour boat ride back to Puno. Luckily the water had calmed and I actually spent most of the trip sleeping and reading on the roof of the boat. We killed time eating and having a few drinks (I tried Peruvian wine! - not bad - fruitier than anticipated) before getting on the overnight bus back to Cusco.
Today I slept in, had breakfast, watched "Love and Other Drugs" took a LOOOONG piping hot shower and blogged. Now it's off to watch other people teach.
Labels: Amantani, Lake Titicaca, Peru, reed islands, Taquile, Uru
3 Comments:
Now aren't you glad your favorite cousin introduced you to quinoa before you left? : )
But seriously, I'm jealous of the reed islands and hiking and whatnot.
Fascinating. I had never heard of the Uru people or their lifestyle. That must have been quite an experience!
Of course I'm glad my favorite cousin introduced me to quinoa!
Jay - it was quite fascinating. I really wish we could have spent more time on the reed island to get a better idea what their life is really like. They did tell us that they have schools and churches on the islands, and that as early as age four the kids are climbing in the boats by themselves and heading off to school.
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