Living the High Life

We arrived in Puno from Ilo Saturday night without any major incidents. I did wake up on the bus in a panic- feeling very warm, dizzy, and a bit nauseated. All I had to do was take an altitude pill and all was well.

Puno is 3,820 meters (more than 12,000 feet) above sea level and is home to the famous Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world which belongs to both Peru and Bolivia. Before arriving, we read all about the incredible floating islands and the people who inhabit them. We also read about the corruption that exists in many of the tour companies and although we really wanted to tour the islands, we were nervous about participating in the exploitation. In the end, we booked with our hostel and went on a tour with some new friends we met from England and Canada.

After a long night of not sleeping well myself (waking up gasping for breath), and Matthew not sleeping at all (saying the altitude is intense is putting it mildly), we committed to a day full of long boat rides and island hopping.

Our first stop was one of the more than 40 floating Uros Islands. We passed many islands with women brightly dressed and waving at us before arriving at our destination. The women helped us off the boat, and we greeted them in their language. We were invited to have a seat in a semi-circle on bundles of reeds and watched an incredible show, which is the only word I can think to describe what we witnessed.

Our tour guide talked about the buoyant totora reeds, which the islanders use for practically everything. The bottoms are edible and contain lots of calcium, the tops are cut and dried before being used to cover blocks of the reed roots that float and make the island. The people also use the reeds for their houses (see photo), lookout tower, benches…everything it seems. The women put on a skit about bartering in the local market, showing how they trade reeds and fish for quinoa and potatoes. Our guide also explained the islanders´ clothing (the woman in the photo has on 15 layers of skirts!), and asked all of the islanders to introduce themselves. Then we tourists introduced ourselves and our nationalities, to which the islanders responded with three hand claps and repeated our country’s name.

After all the introductions, we were individually invited to visit the houses. A little girl came over and led us by the hand to her house. We climbed in, and she told us 3 people sleep there. After shaking each of our hands and asking our names again, she followed her seemingly well-rehearsed script and invited us to try on some typical clothing. We politely declined and she led us out to where a woman (her mother?) was selling some handcrafts. The girl went through the items individually explaining what each was and the symbolism. The only thing we did buy was a drawing of “mama dancing” supposedly done by a little girl that she sold for 2 soles.

Later, we were led to the edge of the island to guess how deep the lake was (winner gets a free necklace). Then the women sang us three songs, one of which was “row, row, row your boat.” We were invited to take a ride to the next island on an authentic and amazing reed boat. Although many of our fellow tourists went, we declined because Matthew wasn´t feeling too premium.

The tour guide wanted to give the reed boat travellers a head start to the next island, we waited a bit before boarding the motorboat. I thought the islanders would continue engaging us and trying to get us to buy more of their crafts, but once the reed boat left (with a lovely “Hasta la vista, baby!” from the islanders), the people started tidying things up.

They took apart the model island they had used to demonstrate how the islands are constructed, and straightened the blankets on the reed bench where we had sat. As soon as the next boat full of tourists approached, though, the women went to the edge to wave the boat in, helped the people off the boat, and directed them to the same semi-circle. The tourists arrived with giant cameras in hand, and I felt as though we were leaving the zoo, or some strange show that was stuck on “replay” as long as there were tourists willing to participate.

We´ve heard various stories about the validity of what we witnessed- that not all of the people actually live on the floating islands, that they sleep on land at night; that they only continue living on and maintaining the islands to benefit from the tourist industry (that they´d “modernize” and move to land if it wasn´t for tourists); and other things. It´s amazing that the islands still exist, but the way we tourists can see them seems so insensitive and exploitative.

We spent the rest of the day either on a bumpy boat or climbing around on a second island, Isla Taquile. It´s a natural (non-floating) island, and despite the spectacular views, not worth the 2.5 hour boat ride and 2.5 hour ride back to land just to hike up and down and spend a lot of money on lunch. We did pose for the famous arch, but were pretty happy to board the boat again to head back to Puno. Matthew has been suffering pretty intensely from the altitude and went to bed when we got back to the hostel.

We decided to take it easy today and are checking out some things around Puno that we couldn´t see before because everything is always closed Sundays. Tomorrow, if things go as “planned,” we are heading to Cusco via Inka Express, a bus company that boasts of panoramic windows and a guide that can give us some history on our way. We´re hoping that the decline in elevation between Puno and Cusco (which sits at a comfortable 3,326 meters) will be a good thing.