The Andean Explorers and Lake Titicaca (Day 2).

The Andean Explorers and Lake Titicaca – Day 2.

After our first night in our beautiful train lady we started early into our excursion day. Breakfast was recommended at 6am to see the sunset while eating, so we got up at 5:30am. We enjoyed the breakfast and as we had chosen another table than for dinner the night before we sat next to another table where one South American looking guy was sitting. KJ and myself had our tea and suddenly the asked, where we would come from. This was when our connection started. His name was Rodrigo (again) and it was love at first sight. Rodrigo came from Arequipa and was travelling with his father and the wife of his father doing a family trip and guess what, they were the first Peruvian people on board of this train. We had a nice chat, we told him about the rental car and the off-road way in Colca back to Arequipa and he laughed his ass off. He found us quite crazy, thus sympathetic probably. He told us the story that only some time ago a couple got totally lost on the road we had chosen. The woman survived and was seen again days later again but the husband disappeared. It went through all Arequipa media and he said we were lucky ones that nothing happened. Well, so thought we. Good, that we did not know before. At 8:15am we should all meet in the bar cabin to start our excursion as soon we would arrive in Puno. From here we would go by boat to famous Lake Titicaca, namely to Uros Island, to meet Native people there and get into contact with their very old traditions. Lake Titicaca is at almost 4.000m a.s.l. and there with the highest lake in the world. 60% of the lake belong to Peru and 40% of the lake are part of Bolivia. Or as our Amigo Nuevo Rodrigo explained to us (from there on we were inseparable) the part Titi belongs to Peru and the part Caca belongs to Bolivia. I think it is the same with your neighbor countries all over the world. We arrived after 30minutes cruising over the lake and David, our tour guide from the train, taught us some lessons about the Andes and Peruvian geography. You need to know that Peru consists of three different areas: The Andes with 30%, the coast area with 10% and the Amazon area with 60%! We arrived at Uros Islands where people live on self-made islands, called floating islands. It is a tradition since hundreds of years and goes back to times when the Uros needed to isolate from aggressive Collas and Incas. The floating islands have been created entirely with the so called buoyant totora reeds that grow abundantly in the shallows of the lake. The lives of the Uros people are strongly interwoven with these reeds. They eat it, they built houses or huts, boats, and crafts with these reeds. The boats are beautifully decorated, we have never seen this on any other place in the world. And it is really said that these tradition is unique. The islands are constructed by many layers of totora, the top layer being soft and springy. Women do wear very colorful traditional clothes and men – this is very interesting – do weave. In Peru, this is a man’s job. We were warmly welcomed and David gave us another lesson while we sat on the benches of reed in the sun. He explained the traditions of the Uros, showing us how the islands were built and took us through Uros history. This was nice as we were not simply watching but also learning a lot. We were invited to see their original homes and Maria, kind of chief Mama of this little tiny island, we were on, immediately captured Jonathan and myself. She showed us her hut how she was living and told us about her over 100 years old mom living on another small island. She was always visiting her by boat. Another lady came and took my KJ to sell souvenirs to him. Then they took a picture and she was saying to me “Sexy man, sexy man, Mr. Jonathan”. Well, I said I know and took him away 😉 No, we took another picture together. These ladies were really sweet, even if you were not buying any crap from them. They were singing for us to say good-bye and we had another short boat trip over Lake Titicaca to another island. After a short market stop there (of course all hand-made from Baby Alpaca) we got back to our big boat again to go to another famous island, named Taquilla. Tanquilla is situated 45km offshore from the city of Puno, where we had arrived by train. About 2.200 people live on this lonely and very small island. The highest point is on 4.050m a.s.l. In 2005 the Taquile and its Textile Art were honored by UNESCO world heritage as the Taquilenos (as the people on that island are called) are known for their fine handwoven textiles and clothing. Their goods are regarded as among the highest-quality handicrafts in Peru. Again, knitting is exclusively performed by males, a handicraft that they learn in their early boyhood. Women spin wool and use vegetables and minerals to dye the wool. Women are only allowed to weave the Chumpis, the colorful wide belts with woven designs worn by everyone in this little community. We met the locals and had a very good typical local lunch consisting of famous Quinoa soup (love it, all veggie) and fresh caught rainbow trout (Regenbogen-Forelle) with herbs and corn from the local garden. But before eating, we had to worship Pachamama (Mother earth) with some leaves of Coca, like the locals do. We needed to blow the leaves and then put them under a stone to give them back to nature (Pachamama). The Peruvian do very much believe in this. After this ritual David, the guide, asked us to make a circle and hold hands. We did. He held a speech saying that we were all family on this earth, no matter where we come from. After his speech, he said we should all hug as we are one family on this trip. Well, sounds maybe weird but we did and felt closer afterwards. We had lunch together with Rodrigo and his family, his father was a really nice and cool guy also. He used to be the former Major of Arequipa and had also been travelling a lot, also to Germany and Switzerland. Nowadays, he is doing very well in agriculture on a farm they own since generations near Arequipa. After lunch, we were asked to dance (!) with the local people and after some first shyness we did. Turned out to be a very good and funny experience although everyone was embarrassed at the beginning. Anyway, we got closer somehow for the second time on that day. After this we chose to take a walk over the island, we were climbing a little mountain and as we were still on the level of 4.000m we noticed the altitude. We walked slowly and enjoyed the peaceful island by walking. After another boat ride, we were back in Puno where we were offered a nice tea time at the harbor and then we could (finally) board (our beloved) train again (already missed it). Everyone chose to take a nap because almost nobody slept the last night, but we went to the platform. This is one of the memories we will keep forever. The three alpaca friends on the platform. We had so much fun this late afternoon with Rodrigo, made our own Sun downing Cava time on the platform and worshipped the wonderful landscape in the nice afternoon light that we were passing. This moment belonged to best we had on this train. Only us on the platform passing Peruvian Andes. Unforgettable. We afterwards had dinner and were spoiled by the fine train kitchen and its Chef again. After one glass of Peruvian Malbec (very good!, look for it in your winery!) we almost fell under the table as we were sooo tired, from waking up early or having no sleep, from the altitude and also from all the experiences we had made this day. This night the train would stop at midnight on its way to Cusco, so I also was able to find sleep. The funny thing is, exactly when the train did stop, KJ woke up and could not sleep anymore. As I said, he is a train sleeper.

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