Puno to Lake Titicaca

From La Paz, it was time for us to cross the Peruvian border and head to Puno. We stopped at a small building and got our passports stamped, then had to walk about 2 minutes to get to Peru. We had enjoyed our time in Bolivia, but we were so happy to be leaving it.

After a day of travelling with Henry, we got to know him a bit more and found out he was a really funny guy with a laid back attitude. As soon as he arrived back in his mother land, he accumulated a beer from somewhere, and had a drink even though it was about 10am. He poured some on the grass, smiled and just said 'pacha mamma'.  He explained that he was just as happy to be leaving Bolivia as we were, and we all seemed instantly a lot more comfortable.  He was also friendly with the local police so led us into the police station for a wee!

We arrived at our hotel and had a look around Puno. It was a pretty town with a large church, and here we went for food and our first taste of Henry's favourite drink, pisco sour. Tom was still unwell so went to the hotel for a rest whilst Steph and the others ate a late lunch. Henry ordered a bottle of pisco, and told us it was a sugar cane spirit. Pisco sours are a mix of pisco, egg white, lemon juice and sugar and were really tasty! Something we could get used to drinking. In the words of Henry, "pisco sours by the hour", and once again he dribbled some on the floor for 'Paccha Mamma' even though it was a carpeted restaurant!

We would be coming back to Puno after our homestay, so we had a small look around the town, and took the afternoon to relax and recover from Bolivia. Tom ordered some room service for a pizza in bed and Steph a hot chocolate as a night cap!

The following day we were to depart at 8am to leave Puno and head to Lake Titicaca, which is so large it spans across the border of Bolivia and Peru. It is the second biggest in South America behind Lake Maracaibo of Venezuela. By volume of water, it is actually the largest lake in South America, but Maracaibo wins on surface area. Titicaca is said to be the highest navigable lake in the world at around 3800m elevation and is 284m deep on the Peruvian side. It is here we would be doing our homestay.

We had to check out early, so after packing our bags and lugging them down to reception we handed over our room keys. We were ushered quickly by a very excitable Henry outside, to board our bus transfer only to be greeted by a convoy of tuctucs lined up waiting for us and our bags. At what we thought was Henry having a joke, was actually him having the time of his life. We realised Henry wasn't going to be the serious guide we first anticipated. We paired up and jumped right on the novelty transport, and all took pictures. We then proceeded to weave in and out of traffic like a a game if Mario kart. Obviously everyone laughed the whole way like excitable school children. Luckily for the riders, it was all down hill, and only took about 10 minutes in total.

 We were taken to a small port where we would board our boat to start our voyage across lake titicaca! At the port, there was a small market type stall which was our last opportunity to purchase food and gifts for the local family that we would be staying with. We were advised by our extra local guide on what types of food the family would appreciate the most, and with this we bought mainly fruit, as apparently fruit is scarce on the island we were heading to and impossible to grow with their climate. We purchased bananas, oranges, apples, basic supplies like pasta and tinned fish. We were also advised not to buy any sweets as it could make the already poor dental hygiene on the island even worse! However,we did buy some Oreos as everyone loves Oreos. We also bought a colouring book and some pencils on the off chance the family had children.

With offerings in hand, we boarded our boat and set sail across the lake. It was a nice day, and we headed across Titicaca which could have even been mistaken for the sea as it is so vast. Our first stop would be the floating islands of Uros, made entirely of reeds and inhabited by small villages of people. It was a really unique opportunity, so we were so excited to see it after reading so much about it. Our local guide taught us a bit of the local language that the people speak, as Spanish is the 3rd language in these parts. Aimara is the first, but we would be learning the second most used, Quecha.

 We neared the island, and saw 4 brightly coloured dressed women waving to us and singing. Our guide explained they were very welcoming and warm ladies and relished the opportunity to share their culture with tourists (and sell us their handicrafts). The island had a gigantic fish statue also made of reeds as its island symbol. Each separate island and small community will have their own symbol and this one, unsurprisingly from the picture below was 'big fish'. 

We got off the boat and said "kamisaraki" (hello how are you) to which they replied "waliki" meaning very good. Apparently they always reply in this way as they are always happy and very content people. We stared in awe at the ground of reeds, and sat down on some tied up reeds that were benches. They explained that the people have to renew the layer of reeds every 2 weeks and they have to make a whole new island every 25 years because the bottom layers rot from being in constant contact with water. Because the new layers are constantly replenished, eventually they reach the bottom of the 3 meter deep lake, hence the reason they have to move to make new islands. To anchor the islands, they dive to the bottom of the lake with a rudimentary saw, and cut blocks out of the roots of the reeds and they tie it to keep it in one spot. To start an island, they use a minimum of 10 cross hatched layers of reeds and expand from there.

 The local people have multiple uses for the reeds here. They make rugs from the dried reeds, they cut them open and use them to cool a forehead with a fever, and they also contain fluoride so they use them as toothpaste as well. It was absolutely fascinating learning how resourceful the people of these small islands were.

Reed Benches

Cooling his forehead

After a brief explanation, we split up and were shown around the houses of each woman. Ourselves, Australian Kate and Scottish Andrew went with a lady called Gladys, who welcomed us warmly, and explained in very broken English how her husband was out fishing and her 6 year old son was at school, located on another floating island. She dressed us up in their clothes, and looked at our iPhones like they were alien objects when we asked her to take a picture of us. 

Us with Gladys

Andrew, Steph, Tom and Kate dressed in local attire

She also showed us all the textiles she hand made, and we bought one of the larger pretty ones, as they individually tell a story if the family. We also climbed up the reed fish and saw the huge expanse of islands.  We tried the traditional fried flat bread and had some cocoa tea, with other herbs mixed in. We left the island in a traditional reed boat, and want back to the main boat on our way to the next location. They waved us goodbye and sang to us as we floated away.

The Blue textile we bought from Gladys

Gladys' stall

The next island was Taquile island, which is also unique as it is souly the men who knit, while the women weave. We had to walk up an incredibly steep hill which we struggled with. It was a beautiful island but here everyone realised how tough the altitude could be. We got to the top to see fantastic views, and it made it worth it. We went to a restaurant where they're was a table outside on a balcony laid out for us. We ate freshly caught trout which was delicious, whilst the sun shone over the lake.

 A local man came to show us the local traditions and weaved attire. They have hats to show if your married or single, and the married men weave their wives long black hair into their belts as a sign of monogamy and closeness to their partners. Our guide told us there was a 99 year old man on the island who often sat weaving in the square. His wife had died long ago but he wore his belt with her hair in and told everyone she was still with him because if it.

After our food we headed towards the weaving cooperative which is where they sold the UNESCO protected patterned textiles. Sure enough, sitting right outside was the adorable old man, weaving away happily. We gave all the coins we had to have a picture with him, and thanked him whilst Steph tried to hold back tears.

We went in and browsed the stunning colourful hats and clothes and bought lots of souvenirs for our families, as the pattern cannot be made anywhere else in the world. We left the island and headed towards our final stop, where we would meet our families and stay for the night.

We arrived at the rural island of Luqina, and were welcomed by a huge parade. We walked up the hill to the most picturesque football pitch we'd ever seen, with mountains behind and the sun setting. The local teenagers like to challenge the gringos to a football game whenever they are on the island, so Tom stepped up and had a go. In the altitude this was incredibly hard.

Toms match commentary..

We went 2-0 down pretty quickly and with it being first to 3 it looked like another easy win for the locals. However, the gringos dug in and with a bit more structure and some great teamwork, Henry set up Tom for a drag back and side foot into the top corner to make it 2-1. Our keeper punted a goal Kick high into the air towards Tom. After some loose chest control from the Peruvian midfielder tom hit an amazing fluke of a volley (which he is still adamant was intentional) and it rifled into the goal from the half way line! GAME ON! Tom was on for the hat trick. After a sweet through ball from Henry Tom side footed past the keeper and tantalizingly hit the post. At this point tom couldn't actually breathe, only to see a cameo appearance from Australian Elanna.. As the ball rolled to her feet she went for an almighty swing kick an swiftly tripped over the ball and rolled down the side of the pitch. Literally ass over tit. The players, crowd and locals were all bent over in hysterics and couldn't contain themselves.

After a short break to regain our breath Steph decided to have a go on the pitch, even if it was just to make up numbers and game faces. Henry wangled his way through the Peruvian defence to smuggle in the WINNER! The smiles quickly dropped from the other teams faces and Henry shouted 'LOSERS!' in their faces multiple times. Tom was delighted to have beaten a team of 15-16 year old Peruvian boys in a football match, as he was feeling old with 10 years difference. By the end, Tom was on the edge of being sick, struggling to talk and gasping for breath.. So I think we know who the real winners were.

Action shot of Tom scoring his 1st goal

After this we were introduced to our short term mamas. We were introduced to Saturnian, and were welcomed with a warm hug. All of the villages mamas bought down clothes for us to all dress in, so we could learn the local dance in style. Swiss Thomas was NOT happy about having to dress up.

From Left to Right: embarrassed Thomas, Elanna, Andrew, Tom, Steph, Bossana and Andres

The people believe in pachamama (mother nature) and the dress in brightly coloured clothes to represent their gratitude to the rainbow, meaning rain has come and fertilised their lands. Steph was given 3 different coloured skirts, so whilst twirling they revealed multiple colours like a rainbow. Tom was given a poncho and hat and we were both handed a "witchiwitchi" a prop for dancing. The locals demonstrated the dance, and then it was our turn to have a go a relay what they taught us. It was good fun, and we all had a laugh whilst doing it.

After this, it was time for us to retreat home for dinner. Our mama led us through the dark, and we were feeling nervous about having to sit through dinner with the difficulty of language barrier. Steph could speak a little Spanish, but with the families not speaking a word of English, it was going to be tough. As we entered the garden to the house, we were both relieved to be greeted by a tiny little excitable girl and our Papa.

They showed us to our room which was far more luxurious than we had anticipated. It was a small out house with 4 beds and an en suite bathroom. Mama helped us out of our traditional clothes, whilst the little girl got dressed into her outfit. We found out her name was Sonia, and she LOVED to play. We were told dinner was at 7 so we unpacked and played with Sonia. We asked her  how old she was and she said she was 5.

Sonia in her dancing outfit

Our little room

We went to the kitchen at 7 and sat down. It had a small wood burning stove, and lots of family pictures on the wall. Traditionally the family sit against a long bench along the wall, but they had set up a table for us as they wanted us to feel comfortable. Before we sat down, we presented the bag of food and presents to them which they were very grateful for. Sonia ignored the colouring book and pencils as she had eyed the Oreos straight away, and ripped open the packet and started munching.

We sat down, and our Papa joined is at the table so he could talk to us. Mama brought over a large bowl of quinoa soup, and sat on the bench near the stove. She was a very good cook and the soup was delicious! Steph had a go at conversing with the father, and discovered they had three more children. At that moment Dennis and Lucy came in for dinner. Steph asked how old they both were and Dennis said he was 13 and Lucy said very shyly, hidden behind her hat that she was 11. We asked about Sonia and it turned out she was not 5, but actually 3. The other son was at university in Puno studying tourism which Papa told us very proudly. They asked us about ourselves and we explained about our travels and studies, and Steph explained how she had a naughty younger sister so liked little children like Sonia, who had disregarded dinner completely and was half way through the Oreos.

Our lovely homestay family, Papa, Dennis, Lucy, Sonia, and Mama

Mama cleared our bowl and then brought us a huge bowl of rice and home grown boiled vegetables. We noticed that Lucy had a sling on her arm and asked how she had got her injury. Apparently their donkey had kicked her and broken her arm! Papa explained the next day we would be working on their land herding sheep, harvesting crops, and potentially, leading said donkey to a new field! Steph understood while Tom just smiled and nodded his way through the conversation.

Before we went to bed, we laughed at Sonia as she danced and ran around with Oreos in her mouth. We were thankful to have a small child as we could all laugh at what she was doing and understand each other without language. Papa kept calling her "Sonia Morales", which with a quick google later on, we found out was the Peruvian version of Kim Kardashian. Steph asked what the family name actually was, and he told us it was "Dorales". We were told breakfast was at 7:30am and had an early night and went to bed at 8 and fell asleep. We were woken in the night by the sound of heavy rain pummelling the tin roof we slept under.

The next day at breakfast, we were told the rain had changed the set jobs for the day, as the weather had caused a leak into the family greenhouse. We managed to get a better view of the house we were staying in in the daylight.

The kitchin is the building ground floor on the left, and the rest is the living quaters of the family that we didn't go into.

View to Lake Titicaca from our room with Sonia roaming around waiting for us to get up.

We said goodbye to Dennis as he left for school, and then Tom helped papa replace the rubber in the sealing, whilst Steph was just generally marched around by Sonia hand in hand. 

She felt she wasn't helping but keeping Sonia entertained was probably helpful for mama to do her work for the day! Steph started relaying the dance we had done the night before, and Sonia got up instantly and started doing it with her. The dance was obviously taught to them at a young age, however whilst twirling around some Oreos Sonia had been saving for later fell out of her pockets!

Once the roof was fixed, we had to go to the shore and get buckets of water to water the plants inside. This was very difficult as we were lugging large buckets of water up hill. Once in the greenhouse, Sonia showed us exactly how to water the plants and demonstrated how to do so.

 After this,  we helped Lucy and mama herd sheep to a new field. Lucy was a natural whilst Tom and Stephs sheep wandered into other fields. We asked if her arm was still hurting to which she replied yes. When we returned home, we peeled potatoes and broad beans ready to be cooked for lunch.

Mama told Sonia to show us where the families pig was to feed it the left over peelings. She grabbed our hands and marched us down the hill to the shore of the island where we found the pig fast asleep. Before we knew it, Sonia had picked up a rock bigger than her head and launched it at the pig. It woke up with a large squeal whilst we contained our shock and laughter at what tiny Sonia had done. Her face was so cute and cheeky though we couldn't see past her innocence!

 We had our final meal with the family which was a soup to start with the beans and potatoes we had peeled, and then a cob of corn, a slab of cheese and bread. The food we were given was lovely quality, and they were so generous with their portions we could rarely finish everything. We thanked them for their hospitality and exchanged a goodbye hug. We wanted a particularly large one from tiny Sonia as she had found a place in our hearts over such a small space of time.

We left the island and heard about what the other groups had done. We had had the youngest child in our family which we were hugely grateful for.

 We sailed back to shore and arrived back at Puno, and everyone felt like throwing themselves back into normality with lots of lots of drinks. Although the experience had been highly educational, it was also hard to shake the idea that we had experienced just a day in their simple lives, and that they would still be there. Although they were happy and comfortable in their livelihoods, they were still very deprived compared to our fortunate upbringings, and we felt bad we couldn't help them more. The families thrive on the tourism though, and as we left the family house, Papa told us he was building more accommodation so they could house more tourists as it's a great source of income for them. This instantly encapsulates the attitude differences between the Peruvian and Bolivian people in our opinion. We felt that Peru has embraced tourism and realises how profitable it can be, therefore put in the time and effort to make it an experience, whereas the Bolivians reject the idea, and tend to want tourists money without putting in the work to help tourism grow. This is one reason we found Bolivia a little harder going, and it such a delight to be in Peru. It is clear that the Peruvians hold the same attitude, as Henry and other Peruvians we met later on would make jokes and comments about the state of Bolivia.

That night, Henry took us to a restaurant where there was a live dancing show with beautiful dramatic costumes.

The pisco sours were flowing and we had some Peruvian food whilst we were entertained.

 Everyone was eager to try the traditional guinea pig, but Henry assured us it would be much better in Cusco.  After dinner, Melisa, Susan and ourselves, along with Henry went for a few more pisco sours, and ended up having a big night out full of rapping and dancing. This may have been a mistake as the next morning would be early check out, to head to Cusco.