We were up early for our next adventure... through the VERY high mountains between Arequipa and Puno, which is a small city on Lake Titicaca. I have wanted to go to this lake since I was a kid and learned about it in school so this was one of my favorite days!
We boarded the bus in the morning and said goodbye to Arequipa, and goodbye to Chachani volcano near the Arequipa airport.
As we were making our way through the very high altitude mountains, I saw a BUNCH of alpacas!
I also saw a lovely floodplain.
At one point along our route from Arequipa to Puno, we started screen capturing our phones to see where the highest elevation was. Todd won... 14,740 feet!
SO. MANY. ALPACAS! There were just so many alpaca at these high elevations - how do they even breathe!?
Even high up in the desert Andean mountains, we saw Lake Lagunillas which is at almost 14,000 feet.
It was time for a snack on the bus - Vanilla Oreos, Trolli gummy bears and a Coke Zero!
At one point, we hit some road constructions. At first, they stopped traffic in both directions at. Then they let the other side go for a bit before finally letting us move along. It took like 20 minutes!
We also took a quick pit stop for a bathroom break and some more drinks and snacks in Santa Lucia.
But finally we made it to Puno! And our first stop was for some coffee and cake at the Rupha Cafe!
After some caffeine and sugar, we strolled over to the Plaza Mayor - and I do mean that very literally because Puno sits at 12,500 feet above sea level, so we walked slowly wherever we went.
Here is Todd walking VERY SLOWLY through the Plaza Mayor toward the Puno Cathedral.
This church was built in 1757 and is also known as Catedral BasÃlica San Carlos Borromeo.
Once inside of the Puno Cathedral, you can climb some very narrow stairs to the second level.
Up here, you get a really nice view of the interior of the cathedral.
And once you've caught your breath after climbing those stairs, you can climb even MORE stairs up to the bell tower!
Why does he kind of look like Batman here.
In the distance to the east, you can see Lake Titicaca. You will also notice that there are zero guardrails or any kind of protective measures up here. And a cracked bell that reminded us a bit of the Liberty Bell.
The views of Puno were amazing from all sides of the cathedral bell tower.
Hello down there! (Please dear Lord, do not let there be an earthquake here while I am up here!)
I can see Bolivia from my house! Just kidding... Lake Titicaca is very big and you cannot, in fact, see Bolivia from this bell tower! But it's out there!
The stairs were so steep, we both had to back down them backwards.
We also went into the crypt, which, as you can see, was not really built for 6'4" men... but to be fair, it wasn't really built for 5'3" women either. As Todd looked around, he said, "There's a bunch of black mold in here, I'm gonna get out of here!"
We walked back to our meeting spot to meet up with our guide Meneleho and hop on a van to head down to the docks on Lake Titicaca. Here, we hopped on a boat to head out to the Uros Islands where Meneleho pointed out the British ship the SS Ollanta. This British ship was a "kit ship" - it was sent over from England, and reassembled here in Puno for use on the Peruvian waterways. When they finally put their Lego boat (lol) together in 1931, it was the largest ship here on Lake Titicaca at the time.
Goodbye, Puno... we are off to visit the Uros Islands! Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world at 12,507 feet, and the 18th largest lake in the world. We were later told that it was 270 meters at it's deepest point (or about 885 feet).
As you ride out to the Uros Islands, you pass a large amount of totora reed, which is what the Uros people use to build their islands.
They also used the totora reed to build fancy boats in order to get around the lake.
There are about 120 of these little man made islands with about 1,300 people living here.
The boat with the little Peruvian flag took about 30 minutes to get us to our destination, which was one of the individual islands belonging to one family.
And this is pretty much what each of these islands looks like. Each one houses about 4-6 families, and although the outward face of the islands is a mayor, each island has a chief which represents their own interests in the local Uros island government.
The water itself is about 25 meters (roughly 82 feet) deep and each island is about 3 meters (about 10 feet deep) to support the structures on it. Tourism is the primary source of income, so they rely on tourists to come here, learn about their islands, and make a purchase from the goods they hand make. Todd and I bought a pillow cover featuring Pachamama (Mother Earth) for one of our couch pillows made by a lovely woman named Gladys. Nearby, they have a community school that the younger children go to (Kindergarten and elementary school) although the older kids go to school in Puno.
I think one of the coolest things I learned about the Uros Islands is that they now rely on solar power to give them a bit of electricity on each island. You an see the solar panels on the community bathroom which warms the water for their showers. They also have panels that provide enough electricity to light each home, and to provide outlets to charge cell phones. You can't escape cell phones in this day and age! They cook on the island by using flat stone cookers (and stone pots) - and the stone is incredibly important since it prevents the reeds from catching on fire.
Not only that, but Gladys allowed us to visit her home to see how she and her family lived! I was pretty sure Todd was going to break this ladder, but thankfully he didn't. You can see here there is about 1 meter (or 3 feet-ish) of reeds that elevate their structures above the island itself.
It's just fascinating that they have light on these little islands in the middle of the lake!
We took a quick group photo of all of us who visited the island. It was fun to meet up with people from around the world!
After our island visit, we got to ride in a reed boat to another island. It was breezy, and chilly on the island, but they gave us homemade blankets to keep us warm.
Todd and I on a reed boat ready to float around Lake Titicaca.
I appreciate that the homes here are elevated. This lake has flooded in the past, and it was particularly bad back in 1985 and 1986 when many of the homes flooded and they were forced to relocate within the lake.
It was a beautiful evening on Lake Titicaca.
We had great views from down below the upper deck.
I couldn't tell if this boat had washed ashore or if someone parked it there!
Don't be fooled, he didn't work that hard. There was (just off screen) a motorized boat tied to us that was doing all the work!
We were very cold though! Of all the time we spent in Peru, where it was early spring, this was the coldest.
I hope that elevated house is only using the lower level for building access, parking and storage!
Eventually, they dropped us off at another island where we could get a hot cup of coffee, take a few pictures and even get a stamp in our passport (which you know I did!)
And we were treated to a beautiful sunset.
I have always wanted to visit Lake Titicaca and this trip did not disappoint.
For the record, despite it's funny name to Americans, Titi means "Puma" and Caca means "Stone" or "Rock" in Quechua. It translates backwards to stone puma, because they believe the rocky shore of the lake is shaped like a puma. (I can't see it, but I'll take their word for it!)
Todd getting some smooches from a fake condor.
Everyone drinking coffee among the reeds.
I think we were only sad about the sunset because we knew we had to get back on a bus and drive all night to Cuzco.
Goodbye Uros Islands, thanks for the memories!
We had a couple of hours before we had to board the bus to Cuzco, so Todd and I strolled through Puno in search of some dinner.
It was a very busy evening, with people out and about. I thought this was funny because it was THIS busy on a Monday night!
This little restaurant, recommended by our Peru Hop guides featured many old tyme irons on the wall.
After dinner, we walked back through the Plaza Mayor and there was either a real fire at the government building here on the right, or they were just practicing but they carried a couple of people out on stretchers.
And we obviously didn't document anything back at the hotel where we all waited for our bus to arrive to pick us up and take us to Cuzco, but there were a couple of hilarious young college men from England (Bath and Bristol) who were having ... ahem ... some bowel issues (as many people do in Peru). I'll spare everyone the rest of the details, but they kept locking themselves out of the single stall bathroom in the lobby of the hotel and having to get the desk clerk to unlock it. The worst part for these poor kids was that we were about to board an overnight bus to Cuzco that did not have a bathroom they could use for errrr .... those purposes. (If you have to do this, you need to alert the bus driver and have them stop at the nearest rest stop!)
It was also the bumpiest bus ride EVER and we hardly slept. Why does Peru have speed bumps on it's highways? I'll never understand it!
Next stop, Cuzco!
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