Lake Titicaca

We departed from Cuzco airport heading for Juliaca, which is the airport needed to access Puno and Lake Titicaca.  

It was exciting to fly out of Cuzco where the runway is along the bottom of the valley and the plane has to climb and bank reasonably sharply away from the surrounding hills.

What a magic experience to fly over the Andes! It seems there is always something to see, from a small settlement in a beautiful river valley...

  ... to snow covered peaks ... 

... to meandering river valleys on dry, desert plateaus.

But it was all very dry.   

Water does accumulate in some places.

The Juliaca airport is a small regional airport.

An Incan warrior statue is almost obligatory in public spaces.

And the moto-taxis waiting for a call. 

The drive into town was through rather depressed retail and housing areas.  

But, once past the 'Welcome to Juliaca' sign ... 

... the retail areas improved ...

... but the traffic congestion didn't.

A large central park with a church fronting onto it was to be expected ...

... along with more traffic...

... and an Incan warrior here and there.

At the traffic lights, a Peruvian version of a busker entertained waiting cars and taxis. It’s different to the windscreen cleaners we tend to see elsewhere.

Once outside the city, heading for Puno, the highway, with two lanes each way, was gun-barrel straight across broad flat plains.

We diverted off the highway to visit Sillustani...

and went past some traditional farms. 

Sillustani is a pre-Incan burial ground on the shores of Lake Umayo. The tourist infrastructure is well developed. There are clean, paved roads, with traders' stalls and covered 'bus-shelter' style pedestrian seats along the way. 

The funerary tombs are circular stone towers built to house the remains of the rulers of the times. 

The largest was 12 m high and all of them were wider at the top than at the base. The rocks were carved in a regular, rectangular pattern.

The faces of the rocks were curved. This is remarkable given that pre-Incan (and Incan) civilisations had stone tools only. There seems to be agreement (online, at least), that Incans did not use iron tools, so their stonework was remarkable indeed.

The large island in Lake Umayo had a distinctive flat top and shape. Looked like a basalt flow structure from a distance. Some indigenous people still live there.

One lady from the island came over with some of her animals - a picayune and an alpaca.

Further along the highway towards Puno, we stopped at a traditional farm with llamas... 

... and alpacas. 

The farmer demonstrated the grinding of quinoa flour and he made available some cheeses and other produce to sample. The cheese was superb. 

There were other traditional farms in the area.

The drive into the city of Puno provided some great views. As we discovered later, our accommodation was on the far side of the bay, past the white building visible in the far distance.

A statue dominates the skyline, overlooking the city - in common with many cities in the region.

The hotel was quite grand with views overlooking the water and, no doubt, would be a sought-after location for weddings and functions. 

Next morning, we headed for the jetty to visit the floating islands of Lake Titicaca. It’s obviously a big part of the economy. There were too many tourist boats to count.

Lake Titicaca is the highest and largest navigable lake in the world, with the border between Peru and Bolivia running through it. It is very deep in parts, with an average depth of over 100 m, but a maximum depth of 280 m in some parts. Probably, it formed as a result of land movements during earthquakes. 

Within Puno Bay, there is substantial reed growth on the water.

This has been exploited by some local communities over a long time and they have used and adapted the reed growth so they can live on these floating islands. The original purpose was defensive - if they were under threat, they towed their island to another location - but it appears that the attraction now is that they can avoid paying taxes.  

Some structures were quite elaborate and decorative.

There is usually a shower/toilet facility on each island with some form of heating. 

There are about 120 islands with perhaps 3-10 families per island depending on size. They are referred to as the Uros Islands and the inhabitants are indigenous to the region.

We visited an island with 5 families and 17 people. Each island elects their own President each year.

The President and his off-sider demonstrated how the islands are made.

An extensive mass of roots of Totora reeds are cut to size from the main body, according to the area needed, and anchored to the sea floor. Then, multiple layers of harvested reeds are placed on this base. The reeds have to be replenished regularly because they rot and decay depending on the weather conditions.

They build the family huts and other structures they need on top of multiple blocks of harvested reeds bound together.

The ladies of the community displayed some of their craft-work which was available for purchase.

... and a little one stole the show!

Each visitor was assigned to a small group, led by one of the ladies, so they could look at the small huts in which they live. Talk about close-quarters living! 

An interesting point from our Tour Guide was that constant living and walking on these reeds (it was like walking on a mattress) affected their gait and meant that the inhabitants found it very difficult to walk on solid ground when they took their products (fishing catch or crafts) to market. They could walk only short distances because that’s all they do ‘at home’.

Woven condors were popular.

We also visited the main island in the Uros group.

These islands mostly occur in the relatively sheltered waters of Puno Bay, a small bay off the side of the larger lake. When our boat took us further out to a ‘solid’ island in Lake Titicaca, Taquile Island, the water was clearer and cleaner. 

The border with Bolivia runs through the lake.

Taquile Island. 

The climb up the well-formed track on Taquile Island looked deceptively gentle, but the effects of altitude made breathing quite difficult, and exertion had to be slow and gentle.

Of course, the locals, old and young, suffered no such impediment and strolled past us regularly as they hauled all their products up the slope.

Some farmers worked in the terraced fields. 

When we reached the village square at 3950m above sea level (and about 150 m above lake level) air was in short supply ... 

... but the walk down to our restaurant for lunch was easier.

Lunch was looking out over the lake towards Bolivia. 

The young man who served our lunch was athletic and nimble, and showed off his knitting skills and other skills after lunch.

The trek back to Puno took us past the vast totora reed beds again - some of them recently harvested.

 

There were other means of traversing the waters, but not sure how this craft would go in the open water.

   

We departed Puno early next morning with a last stop and 'selfie' overlooking the city.

Then, it was a flight to Lima.