By Jamie F., Guestblogger from Cusco, Peru SALUD program
So we arrived in Puno at midnight and had a driver and guide pick us up at the bus station and take us to the hotel. The guys originally wanted to go out to a discotecha but the hotel said nothing was open and it was really unsafe to go out in Puno at night. So it was a good thing it was too late and we decided not to go out. We still only got about 6 hours of sleep since our bus was leaving at 7:45 the following morning. We picked up some other people on our bus and then headed down to the dock. I figured I would have enough time to change over some money but didn’t so ended up borrowing soles from friends the entire weekend, oops.
Our first stop was on the floating islands which are made out of a type of straw grass thing that grows in the lake. They pick it and make their houses out of and cover the ground with it. To construct the islands they take blocks of mud that are 1 meter across and 4 meters down and tie them together and then put the straw on top. There are many different islands and they really are floating even though they are somewhat anchored to a shallow part of the lake they can still sometimes move. We got to dress up in their traditional garb and see the inside of their houses. Because of tourism, now some of them are able to have electricity which has helped save many lives because before the fires would easily burn on the dry straw. Some of them also had little TVs so that sort of ruined the originality of it.
Our guide said that pretty soon they think that the islands will die out because even though they have schools up to high school the kids have to go into Puno for high school and university and because of the long commute some of them end up buying or renting apartments and then are exposed to the modern life an decide to move there.
Our next stop (after a 3 hour boat ride) was to the island of Mantani, which is where we ended up staying for the night with a local family. This island doesn’t have any electricity and limited running water. The family welcomed us with a delicious lunch of soup, fried cheese patty, different varieties of carrots, potatoes and a tomato. We had a little rest in our cute room after buying a traditional hat that the mom made.
Next we all went on a hike up 1500m from sea level of the lake, which is about 4000m. Obviously this was quite a tough hike as Puno is already even higher than Cusco. We took it slow and the hike was quite worth it as we got an amazing view of the entire island and the lake as well as the sunset. We learned about the ancient Incan temple at the top of the mountain and I walked around the mountain three times for good luck. We descended and were able to watch a special festival that only takes place once a year, which was quite an experience. They took some of the straw/grass and burned it and chanted and danced and it was really beautiful. Our family met us at the festival and walked us back with flashlights to the house for yet another delicious meal. This time it was first soup followed by rice and fries fried with an egg and a tomato. I will definitely remember that meal and try to reproduce it at home! On our walk back I saw the best stars I have ever seen in my entire life. There was obviously no light pollution and I could see every constellation and the entire milky way, it was awesome!
Next the family dressed us up in traditional garb and sent us off to a traditional dance where they had a live band and the locals showed us how to do some of the traditional dances. Here they even had some light provided by a car battery! Once back at the house we called it a night since it was hard to do much with only a candle for light but we needed our rest so it was okay.
Click for information on AmeriSpan’s language programs in Cusco.
Click for information on AmeriSpan’s SALUD program in Cusco.
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