Day 48 Sunday 11th November: All about ‘The Broads’

John writes:

After our long day yesterday, poor Mike was still feeling the alpaca’s revenge or perhaps the effects of altitude so headed off to bed at 6pm.

Doug, Chris and I sampled the international cuisine of our funky little hotel which generally means everything comes with chips. Fortunately the hotel also had an extensive wine list compared to most we have stayed in – red or white! We are becoming used to the Peruvian wine which can be quite passable even if it is Malbec from the Valle de Ica rather than the Valle de Uco!

We met an interesting lady from England/Australia/Majorca who was travelling with her 5 year old twins. They have just spent a week following the Inca Trail near Machu Pichu followed by 2 days staying with a family on a floating reed island on Lake Titicaca. That really is adventurous!

Sunrise was before 5 so we were all up early, including Mike who was fully rejuvenated after his 12 hour sleep. Breakfast was an amazing view over Puno and Lake Titicaca, made all the more Peruvian when a trio of alpacas stopped in front of us to tease Doug and Mike further.

We had a 9am pick up for a ‘scratch the surface’ trip onto the lake to visit one of the floating reed islands which have been inhabited by the Uros people for hundreds of years.  Time did not permit a longer trip so we were in deepest tourist territory only 30 minutes from Puno through some of the shore side reed beds which reminded Doug of his upbringing on the Norfolk Broads. The Uros people have retained this lifestyle and their population is stable with about 3,500 people living over 100 islands. Each island lasts about 40 years before having to be replaced although requires permanent maintenance. Sure the solar power they now have makes life easier.

Once on our own island where 5 families lived (including the captain of our boat) we were educated by Ivan, our guide, and ‘El Presidente’ of the island – a very imposing lady of enormous proportions broad in the beam if not in height! Ivan told us that Titicaca is the worlds highest lake at 12,500 feet high, is 120 miles long and 50 miles wide with its deepest point being over 900 feet. 60% of the lake is in Peru and the rest in Bolivia. El Presidente then explained how they construct the islands from totora, a reed like plant similar to that grown in Norfolk so Doug is already contemplating a new business venture.

We were then each invited by a lady to visit her house and with El Presidente looking on really couldn’t refuse – especially Doug who she dragged off to her hut. Our guide said they did not want money but would like us to buy gifts from their handicraft wares. We did as told, Chris having no choice but to put his samples on but I think we will be leaving them all behind in the hotel rooms tomorrow!

The next wheeze our hosts had in store was to be rowed by 2 younger ladies on one of the traditional boats. The older ladies insisted on singing us off with a variety of Uros songs before breaking out into ‘Row Row Your Boat Gently Down The Stream’ in English! We responded with the Hokay Kokay!!

The young ladies set off rowing the 4 old men and seemed to make good progress in their  centuries old Uros style, until Doug overflowing with enthusiasm decided he should try the traditonal Norfolk approach to rowing whereupon all forward motion stopped. The ladies got their revenge as he was out of breath for many minutes later as they got as back to the island.

Feeling touristed out we headed back to the city of Puno, which although having a 200,000 population is very limited with 2 squares and 1 Main Street with the ubiquitous cathedral dating back to the 16th century and various indigenous people in traditional dress.

After a light lunch we headed back up the hill in a tiny taxi which was grounding on the speed bumps so we had no hope for it making up the hill that our trusty Nissan Patrol just about coped with. We should never have doubted our local driver though.

After an afternoon of admin and preparing the car for our departure we are back into town for our Peruvian Gala Dinner. Still haven’t tried guinea pig yet so maybe that is tonight.

Tomorrow it’s off to La Paz in Bolivia and our first road border crossing in South America. Fingers crossed the queues are short, the documentation in order and the officials friendly!