Lake Titicaca was another incredible experience. We spent three days visiting all of its iconic sights. This included time with the famous Uros people on their floating reed islands and an overnight stop on the tranquil island of Taquile.
The reed islands were extraordinary. More than a thousand people still live on an archipelago of 60 artificial islands floating in the reed marshes near Puno. Our tour stopped at one of these remarkable structures while on our way to Taquile. I was surprised at how close they are to Puno. It's incredible to think that the Uros have maintained their lifestyle for hundreds of years less than 5km from a major urban centre. You see the layout of these reed islands in the aerial image I’ve pulled from the web below.
After gliding through reedy waters we eventually "docked" at an island the locals have set up as a tourist site. This let us to see the Uros harvest reeds to rebuild their island. As the bottom layer of reeds rots, the islanders replenish the island with a fresh top layer of reeds once or twice a month. As a result, we saw conical stacks of drying vegetation dotted across every island all ready to go.
Garry also bought a couple of cushion covers from the locals. You can see him scrutinising a final selection in the image above. We eventually bought two of the grey designs you can see. These now take pride of place, along with cushion covers from South Africa, on our leather sofas at home.
However, while the Uros island visit was fascinating, it did feel a little engineered. This made Taquile, our next port of call on Lake Titicaca, all the more special. The people of Taquile are reserved and friendly folk. They've preserved many of their traditional culture and customs despite the daily visits of up to 800 tourists, and have done so without morphing into some formulaic tourist version of reality.
The women wear large flowing skirts and brightly coloured shawls, while the men wear white shirts and black trousers with large, home-weaved cummerbunds. The men’s costume is topped off with a large, floppy ‘Santa’ hat. Different colours denote single and married men. At times you feel as if the entire island is preparing for an endless black-tie event. Dress smartly folks, we're at 4000 metres.
From Taquile, we returned to Pune where the town's annual street festival was in full swing. Our last evening in town was filled with a riot of colour, and sound and women in swirling skirts as thousands of people participated in a stunning street parade that continued for hours.
We climbed to the summit of the island on our first night and watched the sun go down. At 4000 metres, you think you're above the fray. However, as the sun sinks, it drops behind Andean mountain peaks lying beyond the horizon. At this moment spectacular black shadows streak across the sky. We saw this phenomenon repeated one evening while on the Amazon, almost 4000 feet lower down.
A colourful, festive crowd slowly snaked its way through the centre of town, passing down one winding narrow street after another. By chance, the parade route included a laneway outside the restaurant we'd chosen for dinner. Throughout the evening, our group rose from the table, again and again, to watch a little more of the incredible spectacle gliding by its front door.
The costumes were bright, loud, hand-sewn garments. Everyone, young and old, male and female, rotated and swirled their way through the cobblestone streets singing and dancing in time to flamboyant, local music blaring from trucks and houses. The entire evening was a highlight of our entire time in Peru.
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