Lake Titicaca, Peru

We left La Paz and said goodbye to Bolivia. Arriving in Puno Peru at 9pm was not the brightest thing we have ever done, but we managed to arrive safely to a hostel run by a very welcoming family.

Sillustani

The next day we decided to take it easy and do a tour to the Incan ruins of Sillustani, which were large tombs up to 12m tall. It was interesting to see the superior craftsmanship of the Incans compared to some other smaller Pre-Incan tombs nearby. Those ones looked like Jason could have even built them they were so shabby looking…. Well, that´s what Dow would have said. After the quick tour we were back in Puno prepping for our trip to the islands in Lake Titicaca.

Islas Flotas (Floating Reed Islands)

We left for the islands the next morning and made a quick stop at some other islands that are probably not on the official map…. the floating reed islands. In the 1500´s, when the Spanish conquistadores were coming looking for slaves to work in the mines, the people got the idea to flee to the safety of Lake Titicaca. So they made boats out of reeds and sailed out into the lake and started building floating platforms out of reeds in order to live on. It appeared to be quite a hard life, but likely better than the alternative in the 1500´s. We were happy to hear that the people are starting to be able to leave the islands if they wish, as they are using money from tourism and their textile work to educate their children so they can choose to stay on the islands or leave and have other opportunities.

Isla Amantani

After the floating islands, we took a couple of hours to arrive at Isla Amantani, where we were greeted by local families at the dock. We noticed that the islanders were rather friendly towards our guide, which was nice to see. A short walk up the hillside brought us to our family´s modest home, where we would chat with them about their lives and ours, and see how they lived. They had 4 children, all of whom left the island for work. It was a bit sad, but then again, Jason left his birthplace and family for work, so it isn´t like this sort of thing doesn´t happen every day. After an afternoon with the family and some fresh local food, we went for a walk to the top of the island for the sunset. After dinner, we were told that it was time to dress up for the dance…. We wanted to make sure that the dance wasn´t something that the locals hated to do, so we asked them a few questions…

We asked them if they liked the tour guide and the tour company, and they said yes. It seemed that they acknowledged that even though they probably preferred their privacy, they knew that without the tourists coming, it would be very difficult to obtain any money. Then we asked them if they liked going to the dances… We never saw their faces light up all day until we asked them about the dances! It was clear that they got a lot of pleasure out of dressing up the tourists in their clothes and watching them awkwardly dance around. So off we went to the dance, and we have to admit that even though it was a bit ridiculous, it was a lot of fun.

Isla Taquile

The next day we headed for the other island, Isla Taquile. On Taquile, we were told that the people don´t need to talk a lot about relationships, as everything can be discerned from the clothing…. Although Janice figures that the people probably still talk about these sorts of things, Jason figures why talk about it if it´s basically written on your forehead?

Anyway, for example, (disclaimer; we may have the details here a bit off but this will give you an idea of the system) the men wear certain colors of hats to show relationship status. A white hat means you are single and young. A white hat with a red top means that you are single but you are ready to start dating. Then there are certain ways to wear the red and white hat which may or may not attract the females… If you wear the top of the hat to one side, it means you are looking for a long term girl to make your wife, if you wear it to the other side, you are just looking for a casual fling. Then there is another way to fold the top to show that you are kind of involved with a lady. Once a man ties the knot, he trades in his white and red hat for a red hat.

Looking at the female side of things, they can accept a man who is wearing his hat to one side or the other, by shaking a pompom on the right side of her dress. If she doesn´t like him, she shakes the pompom on the other side, which tells him to buzz off. A young woman wears a coloured skirt to show that she is single, whereas a married woman wears a black skirt… possibly to show that life is much more dull and less colorful after marriage?? We weren´t sure why they change to a red skirt, as the red, orange and yellow skirts seemed so much more jovial.

We then headed back to Puno to rest for a night before heading to Cusco on our way to Machu Picchu.