Puno 7-9 Feb

Sun 7th February
We packed up and got under way for the journey to Puno by lake Titicaca. Up and up into the mountains again, this time with even more impressive views of the volcanoes that surround the area. Celso and my heads were pulsing from the altitude but it seems that Tristan is unaffected. We were treated to some fantastic bird life as we drove through the Salinas Aguadas Blancas Park, enormous moorhens, blue beaked ducks, some sort of herons and some flamingoes. There were also the llamas, vicunas and alpacas; some with the coloured strings tied through their ears; and of course there were the locals selling their wares in the most unlikely of places on top of the mountains.
As we headed further inland, eastwards, we met more desert but interspersed with lakes and rivers. Some Cara Caras (a bird that acts like a vulture, i.e. scavenges, but isn't one) were on the edge of the road with striking red beaks and black plumage.
We passed through a horrid city called Juliaca with dust everywhere and roads that had 2 foot holes in; so that, at times, it was like being in a small boat rocking and rolling over the waves. I was really suprised that some of the larger vehicles didn't get stuck with wheels in holes and undercariage grounded inbetween.
And then, there it was, Lake Titicaca; it didn't look that impressive as we approached (but we found out later that that was only because we could only see the bay, in fact it is 155km across) weaving around the mountains, then down into Puno and absolute chaos. We have arrived in the middle of an 8 day festival that is apparently the largest in Peru. It starts on the 2nd of February and ends on the 10th and every afternoon there are parades through the streets with costumed dancers, people squirting foam at each other and general merryment culminating in a horde of friendly drunks and several feeling very sick. It's a bit like carnival in Brazil except that the music is absolutely awful, monotonous drum banging and tuneless brass bands. Celso and I, already with headaches, felt really quite awful and the music (if you can call it that) was certainly not helping matters. The roads were absolutely crammed with people, cars, bike taxis and phut phuts, the driving was manic and after several failed attempts to reach the centre of town we parked up (in a pedestrian street that was all quiet!) and Celso went in search of somewhere to stay. The problem was that there are loads and loads of tourists in town for the festival so everywhere we asked was full.
Finally Celso returned and we have ended up in a really posh hotel (though they don't know how to fit windows!) with duvets, a bath, a shop and a restaurant, bell boys, car parking and wireless internet; really expensive for here but no more than we paid for motels in the States and Canada. I had a long hot bath and slept really well under my duvet!
Mon 8th
Up at 6am we had breakfast (included in the hotel price) and then went by minibus down to the port to board a boat for a tour around two islands out on Lake Titicaca. Our first stop was a floating Tortora reed island inhabited by 6 families who explained how they lived and allowed us into their houses. They are Aymara, an ancient people who originally came from the jungles to the area around the lake and then moved onto the floating islands to avoid conflict with some of the more warlike tribes (Collas and later Incas) who decided to conquer the area. The islands are made entirely out of reeds. First the root bed of the reeds; a tangled mat of roots in a peat like (rotting veg) soil is cut into large slabs about 1.5 metres deep and 2 to 3 metres square. These float naturally, and are secured one to the other by staking with wood and then tying them with string (used to be made out of plaited mountain grasses but now made out of synthetic fibre). On top of this floating base successive layers of cut reed are lain, each successive layer at right angles to the last. A new layer has to be laid about every 2 weeks as the lower layers rot. Digging down only about 10cm you find the rotting reeds that are full of water. The whole island is then anchored into the lake bed and Tortora reed beds with long stakes and ropes. The ropes are weighted down with stones so that they don't get tangled in passing boat oars or propellers. The reeds are also used to make their houses and boats, used as firewood and the soft white growing end is even eaten. We were invited into the houses and also to try on some of their clothes that were made from Alpaca wool and were really warm (which was good because it was overcast and cold). Each of the houses has a solar panel outside which was their snippet of modernity; but they have no running water and the loos are just lidded holes through the reeds and into the lake (which is about 16m deep at the point that the islands are located). They cook outside on a stone slab to prevent setting fire to their island, especially in the dry season. 7 of our group (of 25), ourselves included, then paid to take a trip on one of the reed boats. All the ladies lined up and sang songs to us as we departed. The songs were in Aymara, Quichua, Spanish and then strangely enough they sang Twinkle twinkle little star and then shouted 'Hasta la Vista Baby' as they waved and waved. Several children came on the boat with us and sang more songs in all sorts of languages including Twinkle twinkle again, Frere Jaque and a song in Japanese and another in German... it was all very strange but they were all very cute!
Our guide later explained that they are only able to maintain their way of life due to tourism. They used to make a living from hunting waterfowl and fishing but after the Peruvians introduced trout and the Bolivains introduced King fish to the lake the native fish died from a fungal infection and predation and the stocks plummeted.
We then had a 2 hour journey to our next stop as our boat chugged across the increasingly choppy water. Our guide took the time to explain some of the history of the area. The subduction of the Nazca (sea) techtonic plate under the mainland plate caused the uplifting of the Andes range, producing the volcanoes in the area and forming 3 lakes full of raised up sea water trapped between mountains. Titicaca was the highest lake but not the biggest, it was drained by a river known as Paw Paw (sp?) into lake Paw Paw and then that drained again into a third and largest lake in Bolivia. This lake is now an enormous salt lake and completely dry. Paw Paw only gets wet in the rainy season, and Titicaca has been so watered down that the water is now considered to be 'fresh' even though it still has 0.5g of salt per litre of water. Due to this salt and a high concentration of other minerals the water cannot be used for drinking or crop irrigation without treatment. He also told us about the giant frogs that are unique to the lake, they live at a depth of about 100m and never surface, they take in oxygen from the water through their skin and have no lungs, and the largest one ever found measured a metre. They were discovered by Jaque Cousteau in the 1970s. Our guide also told us about the first boat on the lake that was brought by mule by the British in the late 1800s. It took 5 years to transport and assemble the steam boat on the lake and it is now a floating museum.
The next island we visited was a natural one called Taquile (from the Spanish owner, Count Rodrigo de Taquila, who bought the island in the 1700s for 50 gold pieces who came from Andalucia).
The island has been inhabited since about 3000AD and has ancient terraces for farming which are still in use today. At this time it was a female only island. Girls were taken here at the age of about 10 to learn how to be a wife. They learnt farming, weaving, cooking and child care skills. Then they were married off without any choice in the matter. When the Spanish arrived and the island was sold, the new owner brought men to the island and made the island into a prison due to its isolation. The women adapted and a new type of society formed. The men were made to knit and only those that were proficient could find themselves a wife. With the outlawing of native dress they adopted some Andalucian style garments with a very unique native twist. They have a sort of colour coding to denote status. Long, knitted, nightcap style hats with a bobble on the end are made and worn by the men. If the hat is at least half white in colour then the man is unmarried. If he is not interested in looking for a wife then he will wear the bobble down the back, if he is looking he will wear the bobble to the side, if he is very, very keen he will also put on a white scarf to show that he isn't seeing anybody! When they are married the hat is red all over. The women wear a black shawl but with bobbles on the corners, if they are married then the bobbles are red and small. If they are seeing someone then they are larger and red, if they are looking for someone then they are huge and gaudily coloured in purples and oranges!
It is acceptable to be living with someone to try out a relationship (this is when they wear the 'seeing someone' colours), these relationships can be broken off at any time by either party, but once they are married then this can never be broken.
All the men were wandering around knitting, making their hats and special bags for carrying Coca leaves (these are either chewed or used to make tea to alleviate altitude sickness), they knit with up to four needles at a time.
In the 1970s the island was returned to them and they continue their traditions selling many of their knitted and woven goods to the tourists. They have set up restaurants and hostels which distribute profits to the community. Each boat of tourists that arrives is assigned a restaurant to go to so that all the restaurants are used. Their is no electricity on the island and so no refrigeration meaning that the only food available is locally produced vegetables and trout. We had a wonderful Quinoa and vegetable soup with warm, fresh bread - delicious!
The sun came out as we ate and was incredibly hot, on the boat trip back Celso travelled on the roof of the boat but Tris and I hid inside in the shade and played a two hour game of I Spy!
We returned to more mayhem as the carnival was on again and we couldn't even escape it in the restaurant that we ate supper in as it was being broadcast live on the TV!
I suppose I should really go out and photograph some of it but it is really quite an unbearable noise, even now, when our headaches have gone!
Tue 9th
Today was a lazy, lazy day. We had to take the car to a mechanic because some sort of oil was coming out of the back wheel, we did the laundry (or had it done anyway) and made plans for the next few days. We are going to leave the car here in Puno (it will cost about £1.05 per day for it to be stored in a garage) so that we don't have to go through all the problems to get through the border and then back again. So, we are going to go by bus and boat to La Paz and see what Bolivai has to offer before coming back here to go to Cuzco and try our luck with getting to Macchu Picchu.