So this happened. We don't have much time left to go all the places we want to go and do all the things we want to do before we leave Peru. This trip to Puno has been on our "places to visit before you live 5000 miles away" list for a while.
And every visit to Peru should be documented authentically.
The natives will wear their traditional dress for a price (2 or 3 soles; 3 soles equals one dollar at the moment) and pose as props for your vacation photos. This little girl does not appear to be thrilled with her job or maybe she is acting. The alpaca however, appears to be a professional.
This is a baby vicuna. The wool from a vicuna is the softest yarn, and Emily is verifying that it is softer than baby alpaca.
Emily had two days of no school prior to Easter weekend so we took a short trip to Puno on the edge of Lake Titicaca. I think when people imagine Peru they think llamas and they should.
This was the view from our room, Puno in the background and llamas wandering around the parking lot of the hotel.
There are ample llamas for all. Look at the parade of llamas on that street.
We flew into Juliaca which may or may not have had a paved street. The taxi driver was all over the road just to avoid the spectacular sinkholes that could have swallowed the car. Our jaunt to Puno detoured to Sillustani.
We hiked the Lago Umayo peninsula to visit the ruined towers of the ancient Colla people.
They buried their nobility in these towers called chullpas.
The ginormous stones in the back had fallen to the ground. The guide says the area around Puno does not experience the effects of earthquakes, something else caused the damage. I say Paul Bunyan looking for a pine tree.
The human remains had been removed in case you were wondering if skeletons were lying around .
The hike brought us to this beautiful view of the lake,
and looking back at one of the towers.
The altiplano homesteads had several buildings enclosed behind a wall. And they all had a llama or two.
Our second day we took a boat ride (thus the glare) to the floating islands of the Uros tribe. There are about 50 islands made of reeds that grow in the shallow water of Lake Titicaca.
The Uros people isolated themselves from the Collas and the Incas by living on these islands centuries ago.
Several hundred people still live on the islands today.
This was our cute guide on the left, he spoke excellent English and ran around all day insuring everyone had a good visit.
The resident family displayed their crafts and then dressed up the tourists. The gathered felt skirts were not too flattering but could hide a multitude of flaws.
Not only were the islands made of the reeds, but the boats, the houses, the crafts, maybe everything.
The parents, the children and the grandchildren all live together on an island. Cozy don't you think?
We sailed on the reed boat across to another reed island and then back to our big boat
for our next adventure to visit the Isla Taquile.
This island inhabited for thousands of years was a journey back in time. The Quecha speaking islanders live mostly without modern conveniences.
It was a long steep climb to the top. Lake Titicaca is thought to be the world's largest high altitude lake so going higher from there meant breathing was a problem.
The town square was at the top
and the view was lovely.
Back in Puno there was the requisite colonial church on the square
as well as the government buildings.
It was a holiday and could have been a ghost town except for the police standing guard. The rain was familiar from another place and time, just not in Lima. I don't think we will be moving to Puno anytime soon but it was an adventure.
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