lake titicaca

emil says:

this was one odd place to visit. arriving in the port town of puno on the peruvian side of lake titicaca is like rolling in to bombed out sarajevo in the 90s. the industrial port, bus terminal, and what looks like a garbage dump take up most of the town’s waterfront. we took a one day boat tour of the lake and visited 2 islands. the first stop was visiting the ‘ancient floating island’ civilization of lake titicaca. the inhabitants tie what seem like a zillion reeds to each other and then live upon these small floating haystacks. all seemed marginally genuine until our departure when the local women all belt out in chorus ‘hasta la vista, baby”.  just odd. (though we did visit a truly isolated island civilization later in the day). the lake itself feels rather strange as well. at 12.5k feet of elevation it’s the highest navigable lake in the world, with waves, currents and water temp that resemble an ocean more than a lake.  but the odd thing here is the true lack of wildlife. at this elevation little algae grows, and hence the food chain just isn’t much of one. one doesn’t see fishing boats.  one doesn’t see much of anything on the 5500 square miles of water. it’s serene and beautifully surrounded by the andean mountain range but its almost eerie spooky quiet out there.  

the floating islands

reed boats are the primary form of transit

hasta la vista, baby!

taquile island

princess of taquile 

terrace farming on taquile

lake looking out to bolivia

laurel says:

lake titicaca is a tough one to figure out.  puno is the primary town for exploring the peruvian side of the lake and they are sitting on a goldmine, but have not yet figured out how to tap into the enormous tourism potential of lake titicaca.  to say the town is rough around the edges would be an understatement.  but alas, we were not here for the town, it is the beautiful azure lake that is the draw.  lake titicaca is enormous.  our little “speed” boat puttered nearly 3 hours out on the lake just to get us out of the bay.  however, the view of crystal blue waters and snow-capped andes never got old.  the highlight of our trip was our visit to taquile island, a unesco world heritage sight where the 2000 inhabitants live a life that is frozen in time.  no running water, electricity or cars.  the main pastime is keeping up their world-renowned handicrafts tradition.  the men learn to knit and women learn to weave as children and become masters at their craft over the course of their lives.  the hats they produce are true works of art.   they live collectively and honor the inca code: do not lie, do not steal, do not be lazy.  overall, i am happy we visited but i would only recommend making the trip to lake titicaca if you have extra time on your hands.   next stop, chile!