Being a person that loves the water, I have always been interested in seeing Lake Titicaca. It was finally time to head there. The bus from Cusco to Punk left bright and early at 7am which meant I had to be up and at the bus station before that. The bus ride ending up being a bit of a tour as we stopped at a number of places to see some churches and some other sights. I figured I should take advantage of seeing everything I could even though I was tired.
Upon arriving to my hotel I discussed with them the different tour options. I opted for the full day tour. This included visiting Eros which is the village of floating reed islands and Tequile which is a nature island. It was interesting to see how the people on the reed islands live. There are 75 different islands which are each considered neighborhoods. We took a short ride in one of their reed boats as well.
The next stop was Tequile. Here we had lunch at the house of a family on the island. It was great to try their typical fare which obviously consists of fish as they live in the middle of a lake. We walked around the island and saw the pre-Inca built terraces which are still used today for farming. They primarily weave and fish for work. While they do not have much, they do have direct TV. It was shocking to see the number of satellite dishes on the roofs of houses.
After lunch it was time to head back to Puno. Talk about an experience! We got into the middle of a storm and the boat was listing back and forth pretty bad. I was sure we were going to end up in the drink for sure. Luckily we made it back alive and I have a good story to tell. There is much more to it that what I have put here. While the end of the trip was not ideal, I’m glad I was able to do it. I would love to see other parts of the lake as well in the future.
The next day I had a few hours before my bus to Arequipa. I attended mass at the cathedral as well as walked around the city a bit. There was a marching band playing that I ran across as well. While they did not match up to the high school band, it was great to see and hear them.