Puno and the islands of Lake Titicaca

After the dazzling Arequipa we jumped on a bus and headed to Puno. Puno is perched on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca, the highest lake in the world sitting at about 3,830m above sea level. Luckily we’re well adjusted to the altitude since arriving in Cusco so it doesn’t bother us anymore.

After a lunch of ‘sopa de pollo diet’ (which, after a ‘who eats wins’ session, I found out is chicken broth with noodles and a chicken drumstick, ‘diet chicken soup’ when translated (WTF?)), we headed back to our hostel with plans for an early night as we’d booked a tour of the Lake Titicaca islands the next day. We ended up playing Kings in the hostel bar til the early hours but nevertheless made it for the 7.30am the next day.

The tour lasted two days and one night and included a home stay on Isla Amantani. The first stop was the floating island of Uros on which locals actually live and work, their livelihood is predominately the tourist trade, the making and selling of handicrafts and boat rides around the lake etc.

After a lengthy boat trip we arrived on Amantani and met our host family, a lovely Quechuan- speaking couple called Florentino and Victoria. Our time spent with them was one big game of charades, as both they and us spoke very little

Spanish, and English was out of the question. They showed us to our room (the ceiling was a few inches taller than me) and fed us quinoa soup, rice and veggies. All in all it was a great experience, highlights were a walk up to one of the island’s peaks - ‘Pachatata’ (Father Earth), a night out dancing wearing the islanders’ traditional clothes (sorry, no pics – too embarrassing!) after which we walked home on an unsealed road in a thunderstorm, and a taste of some delicious local trout on Isla Taquile.

Arequipa and its 'adventures'

The girls and I made a split decision to move on to Puno and Lake Titicaca via Arequipa. We were told Arequipa was worth visiting for a couple reasons. The first was to see the exhibit of 'Juanita the frozen ice maiden' - a mummy discovered in 1995 on the top of Mount Ampato, just outside Arequipa. She was sacrificed as a child by the Incas around 500 years ago when she was aged between 12 and 14, and her body remained preserved by the freezing temperatures. There have been several other bodies found since on Ampato and other mountains, but none have been in such a condition as Juanita.


Another reason we went to Arequipa was to visit the Colca Canyon, apparently the biggest in the world (even bigger than the Grand Canyon). We took a two day tour on what felt like the bumpiest road in the world which the tour guide enthusiastically told us that it was 'all part of the adventure'. The adventure got even better when she told us we were taking the same road back... . The highlight of the tour was probably the many 'who eats wins' opportunities along the way. Oh, and we got to see a couple of condors flying in the Canyon, along with about a thousand endangered vicunas - the bus driver stopping at every one for a photo opp. A low-light was definitely driving past a tour bus that had run off the road and was lying on its side. On the way back it was upright but had been painted white so we couldn't read the tour company name - not very uplifting for us tourists!















The overall opinion was that Arequipa itself wouldn't win city of the year. Known as the 'White City', it is very pretty and had some beautiful architecture - including the gorgeous 400 year old Santa Catalina Monestery - but it lacks character (and places to eat that sell something other than chicken!) and we were happy to move on to Puno. In fact, I think I've dedicated more than enough blog space to Arequipa. That is all.

Peru's Challenge

A real highlight of my trip so far has been a visit to a tiny community called Pumamarca, located 10km from the centre of Cusco. Pip, a friend of mine from my CSU uni days, has just moved here to help coordinate a volunteer program run by an organisation called Peru's Challenge. One of the program's main activities has been to renovate the local school and round up students. Apparently this was done via a community door-knock, where volunteers handed out bananas as incentives for local families to get their kids out of the fields and into school. It worked - the school now has 150 students! The community has really got on board and many of the fathers have helped, and continue to help, renovate the school.












Other problems the community faces include a water supply that is something like 200 times over the safe drinking limit! So the program has established water reservoirs and introduced filtered drinking water. Domestic violence and alcoholism are also issues within the community. A mothers' group was started as a way of making women in the community self-sufficient. The mothers are required to meet three times a week at the school where they have learned the art of making handcrafts, such as knitted goods, which they can now sell to tourists. This means they have an independent source of income which is divided up, some going to the maker of the product herself and some to materials. At the end of last year there were enough funds to purchase Christmas hampers, and there was even some left over after that. The mothers collectively decided to use the remaining funds to realise their dream of visiting Machu Picchu.

Who eats wins

We've started a game called 'Who eats wins'. There's so many interesting things to try over here, one of which has been 'Cuy' or guinea pig. Cooked guinea pig is a Peruvian specialty which we tried while we were in Cusco. It comes in many forms and is usually whole. Jesus and the Apostles were even depicted eating Cuy and 'Chicha' - an Inca corn beer - in a painting of the Last Supper we saw in a Cathedral in Cusco. Other things I've tried include Alpaca, Lake Titicaca trout, intestines stuffed with meat and rice, and Bolivian saltenas (sweet samosa-shaped pastries stuffed with chicken, potato and other mystery ingredients).

Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail

Anyone who's heard of Peru has had to have heard of the Inca Trail. After a 22 hour bus ride from Lima, we arrived in Cusco for the four day/three night trek, leaving on 7 December. All up we walked between 45-50km and it was hard! I'd rolled my ankle the month before so had stopped doing regular physical activity and, coupled with the altitude (the highest we reached was about 4200 above sea level), I felt it! The good thing was that we were able to take our time and enjoy the amazing scenery which consisted of mountains and glaciers. We also learned a lot about the Inca civilization from our guide, Freddy, who worshipped the traditional Andean religion (he even asked that we make an offering of coca leaves and rum to 'Pachamama', or 'Mother Earth'). We had many opportunities to see various Inca ruins along the way, many of which were amazingly intricate and intact. Unfortunately once we arrived in Machu Picchu it was overcast, but we were still able to get some good pics once it cleared. I'd definitely recommend a trip to Peru for this, but it's not for the faint hearted!