Today we were picked up at 7:30-they were right on time which
was surprising. Confusion because we took the elevator to the ground
floor to be picked up, but everyone else met in the lobby on the 2nd floor. So they were looking for us when we were
already waiting by the door. Anyway, it
was a quick trip to the dock where we met our guide, Pabel, who spoke good
English and seemed very knowledgeable. We took a nice boat ride to a
floating island. The islands are made from the reeds that surround the
lake by the Uros people. We met the
“President” of the island. The island had 4 families on it for a total of
10 people. The president was nice, and funny. He told us how the make
the islands and a lot of other stuff. At one point during his talk another
guy walked up holding a dead pelican, which seemed to catch everyone off-guard,
including the president. We then went
into one of the houses and put on some of their clothes for a picture.
Then they put on the hard sell for things they had knitted. We liked a
small tapestry but they wanted 200 Sols which seemed really high. Instead
we bought a pillow cover for 100 sols, which was also high, but not as bad.
Took a short ride in a reed boat, which was pushed by a
regular motor boat, to the capital island.
This was kind of a scam and they pressured us to pay for this goofy boat
ride. We did basically nothing on this island but wait to go on another ride to
Tanquile. They were basically holding us captive in hopes we’d buy some food
or trinkets. I was excited to see the
floating islands and meet the people but unfortunately, while it is still cool
and I’d recommend it, it very much is a tourist thing now. In fact, I later learned that most of the
Uros people don’t even live on the islands anymore. They just go there during the day to perform
for tourists, then return to their actual houses in Puno.
We got back on the boat for another nice ride-the weather
was chilly but completely sunny, and the lake was calm and beautiful. This trip
lasted about 1 hour 20 minutes before arriving at Tanquile. Which is a regular (non floating)
island. Very reminiscent of a Greek island. We Walked a steep path
to the top while Pabel taught us some things, he was very conscious of the effort
this was taking for us in the elevation and stopped several times while explaining
the dating process and the meaning of the local’s clothes to us. We had a
nice lunch outside before our trip back to Puno, which took about 1 hour 45
minutes on the boat.
Once back in Puno we took an Uber to Lima Street-a
pedestrian street filled with shops and restaurants. Here we got more
Sols, water and some souvenirs. Ate at a brick oven pizza place and it
was pretty good. We grabbed a taxi and got back to the hotel with no
issues.
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