Puno, 3600m, is a busy port and town on the shore of the worlds highest lake, lake titicaca. It's not as cosmopolitan as some of the other cities we've visited recently, it's a bit rough round the edges, but were getting used to that. Mind you, the scabby hostel with no hot water was a far cry from our nice hotel on cusco.
Now we had our overnight trip to the islands on the lake booked since England, but Kate and stefs rendition of the day version of the tour was pretty crap, so our expectations weren't high. We even considered not bothering, helped along by another early start. But I was determined to be open minded as other people's experiences can be tainted by other variables, which dont necessarily ring true for everyone, plus I remembered celine saying it was awesome and I trust her opinion over our new friend's.
So early the next morning 16 of us were shuttled down to a mossie and migie ridden port to pick up our ridiculously slow so called motor boat. On the way we were told to pick up some treats for our host family. We aren't stingy but this is a year long trip you know and we have made a point of not tipping, so our offering consisted of apples, rice, colouring pencils and some of gregs unwanted slightly stale giant puffed corn (one of the regions delicacies). You might be thinking this is weird gift, but its a remote island and they never visit the mainland and simply live off the fad o' the land which is basically potato heaven.
The rest of our group weren't too bad annoyingly, so Greg won't have a lot to moan about, for me it was slightly annoying as they were mostly Canadian so their mannerisms and accent grated a bit but they were nice enough.
The first island, part of a group of 72 was 20 mins away, its a man made island totally built from packing the reeds together so their about 2 meters deep, then they just keep replenishing the top layer under their reed huts every couple of weeks. Very strange but interesting, then came the selling part. I got dragged in and relented to buy some pretty shit cushion cover, which you will find on the bed in the spare room in the future, where all the other ugly purchases go! None of us believed these people actually live on the island all year round, there are 70 odd islands like it and you could see the tourist boats against many of then, it was all a bit forced and set up.
Our next stop was Amananti island a painful 3 slow hours away, this however was worth it. The families on the island open their homes to tourists to get some extra income, however their way of life is so unspoilt, most don't have electricity, heating is a wood burning stove in the kitchen room, no running water, outside toilet, no tv and our host had never seen one or been to the cinema. They go to the mainland for absolute essentials but otherwise school, farming and community is all they need. You might think it primitive but there's no theft, no police, people help each other, no real need for money as you trade for what you need, babies are delivered at home and medicine is natural, and by the look of it it works as the families are massive and the old people really old. I discovered it works on me too, I had a headache and we were given hot water with a lavendery minty herb and it went straight away. I love the ethos they live by - there's no police, they just agree to live by these rules:
Don't steal
Don't lie
Don't be lazy
Now that's what it should be like, puts our society to shame.
We were paired up with our host Jenny, who was the sweetest kindest person you've ever met, even though we couldn't really speak each others language you could tell. We followed her up the really steep hill to her house for lunch. The sun is so hot at this altitude but cold at the same time, forget for a minute and you get burnt to a crisp! I look like rudolf currently.
We sat in their little mud hut kitchen with mud floor. Lunch was quinor soup which is big over here, and then a bowl of about 4 different varieties of potatoe, which got stuck somewhere in your chest, we had to force it down as we didn't dare leave anything.
The rest of the afternoon was spent watching Greg play football with the locals which was brilliant as I'd never seen him play and this was such a great environment. There was some good footwork before he totally ran out of breath and the ball was shot between his legs into the goal. We then sat drinking real hot organic chocolate in the local bar before dinner.
Dinner was with the whole family in the little kitchen, mum, dad, gran and 2 sisters. It was potato soup followed by potato stew with rice! By this point our gift felt a bit pathetic so we added in some biscuits and also our bit shit wind up head torch which we thought could be really helpful for them as batteries are scarce. They loved it all and within 10 minutes all the food had been consumed, shared out between the family. Conversation over dinner was painful, they speak chechuan so Spanish isn't even their first language. We got by just about using the limited phrases from our phrase book, which includes "can I breast feed here" and "I won't have sex unless you use protection" and "will I get hassled for being gay here" I mean who is going to look those phrases up! There is a whole section on sex, which could have been put to better use with conversation when at a home stay!
After dinner Jenny dressed us up in traditional clothes, we both looked like idiots but it was fun, and then we joined the others at the village hall where a pan pipe band was waiting. Fancy dress and dance are 2 of gregs most hated things but he couldn't refuse when Jenny got him to dance! See photo evidence.
The next morning we got back on the boat without a wash or teeth clean as there was no running water and we didn't fancy the outside bucket. We said some slightly emotional goodbyes and went in our way to Tacne island where men knit?! We had a momouth trek up a steep hill in the boiling sun to get to our restaurant destination for lunch, which was amazing. It overlooked the island and lake, and we ate freshly caught trout.
Once back in puno the hussle and bustle of the city was just annoying compared to the simple serenity of the island, and I missed it. It's such a simple life but the content reward is so visible. I think we might decided to try it ourselves, and get a bit of The Good Life.
Well that's it for Peru, the following day we were on or way to Copacabana in Bolivia. I've loved Peru it's been an amazing experience, and we soon got over our fear of being mugged, as everyone kept saying to us! Roll on Bolivia which is supposed to be worse in that aspect!
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