Lago Titikaka

Finally returned from our weekend to Lake Titicaca. And I´m clean! First (cold) shower in four days.

Lake Titicaca was beautiful. The trip was...many things. Daniela, Shannon and I, having just met each other, embarked on our trip at 11pm on Friday on an overnight bus. I sat next to a Peruvian woman, about my age, on the bus. I fell asleep before we even left the bus station, and woke up as we were pulling out and she was putting one of her blankets over me. I think maybe this is the nicest thing anyone has ever done. And lucky too, because the buses are freezing.

 

I taught the girls a thing or two about sleeping

 

Arriving at the bus station in Puno at about 5am, all we wanted was a coffee. Coffee in Peru is, well, put it this way - Starbucks is the best coffee in Peru. But it warmed me up. They left me alone for 2 minutes and I disappeared into one of the little shops in the bus station, emerging with the most amazing mittens and a beanie. So I was warm and ready to go.

We were on a rickety boat with maybe 20 other people, and our first stop were the floating islands. Everything on the floating islands is made from totora reeds. The islands themselves, the houses, the boats. They even eat it. It was pretty amazing, although very commercial.

   

We were invited into their houses, which I find a bit uncomfortable and I really hope they get paid for it. I tried on the skirts and hats, a very becoming sight.

   

We had a look at two of the floating islands, and then had a three hour boat to a real island (as in, not made of reeds and not floating) Isla Amantani. I slept for Australia during that bit, with altitude sickness taking me over. Actually, I have slept solidly for Australia since I left. We´ve decided this is a particular skill that I have.

Anyway, we got off at Amantani and were billeted off with a family, the three of us stayed with one family. We think our guide from the family didn´t like us, which maybe she was just sick of having to take gringos everywhere. Fair enough. She basically sprinted up the hill and from this point I was completely overcome with altitude sickness. The family were really lovely, they speak quechela on the islands, but also know Spanish, so we could communicate (OK, Daniela and Shannon could communicate). They cooked us the most delicious lunch, vegetable soup, corn, haloumi and potatoes in their skins that sparked a ¨I can´t believe it´s not butter¨ moment for me. We had more coca tea, which they promote for all ailments. And then I went up to our room, which was really nice and decorated with crepe paper like we used to do in primary school, and I continued to sleep for Australia. I got really sick, and couldn´t get down for dinner so the girls brought up some coca tea and soup for me. It felt like my brains were trying to escape through my eye balls, and when that didn´t work it was a double attack as my body threw a tantrum in my stomach. I was convinced I was going to die (I´m prone to hyperbole), but it started to rain and hail so there was no leaving.

 

 

Then the sun came up (I´m skipping over the bit where the girls had fun without me all dressed up at the fiesta) and I felt amazing again. Yay! We had breakfast with the family (variations on flour and water, so I had a muesli bar and some mint tea), and went back down to the boat. By this stage we were all slowly starting to get friendly on the boat, with all the other travellers, some from Peru and most from all the main backpacker places - Canada, America, England and I represented for Australia. We even had a couple in their sixties with us, which I thought was pretty awesome and I hope I´m still backpacking at their age. Anyway, so I didn´t sleep this time! I was doing a celebratory jig for not having altitude sickness anymore and was all touristy and taking photos of everything. You can really tell how high up you are, because the clouds are just hovering over the water so close.

 

We went to another island, and I can´t for the life of  me remember the name of it. We had to walk up, which I was nervous about but our guide gave me some of the mint to sniff which really works. I got really snap-happy taking photos of the slopping hill with all the livestock and little houses. It reminded me of the English countryside kind of. Shannon took it slow with me, stopping every few metres so I could catch my breath.

 

 

 

We even stopped and bought BFF bracelets for the three of us. Aw.

 

Eventually we got to the town square and I bought some postcards for my grandmothers and took another hundred photos of the breathtaking view. After some time there, we headed over to a house on the other side of the hill, where we sat at this long outdoor table overlooking the lake and our guide explained to us more about this island and their traditions. And then, we had the most amazing trout for lunch. By this stage I was ravenous having not eaten for so long, and fish, rice and chips was exactly what I needed. Amazing.

 

After lunch, we wandered back down (540 steps, lucky it was downhill), where our boat met us and we jetted back off. I managed to stay awake again and got chatting with others in our group, who were all doing various amazing volunteering things in Peru.
 

      

By the time we got to the bus station, things had become a little tense though. All three of us had suffered various illnesses over the weekend. We were tired, hadn´t showered and toilet stops were really hit and miss. We´d just met and had spent three days on top of one another. So we had a little fight. Actually, it wasn´t too serious and now we are laughing about it. We hugged it out, got on an earlier bus and I slept for Australia again. We didn´t get in until midnight, and now it appears I´ve lost my bank card. I don´t know when I became the most useless person in the world, but I have.

las amigas