Monday, October 24, 2011
Post #2 - Lake Titicaca, Arequipa & Lima
Hola,
We left at 10:15pm by bus for the shores of Lake Titicaca. By 7am the next morning we were at the docks of Puno waiting for the once daily departure by slow boat to Amantani Island, in the middle of the lake. At nearly 13,000 feet, Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world. Though not nearly as large as the great lakes of North America, it is still imposing at ninety miles long by forty-five miles wide and a maximum depth of almost 1,000 feet. The scene here is bizarre. It's pretty damn cold being so high up, yet the sun is stronger here than in most places we've been (also because of the altitude). You find yourself burning up while you're shivering your ass off. The landscape is mostly barren. It is sparsely populated, with small settlements along the banks of the lake and even smaller settlements on the remote islands in the middle, one of which was our destination for a night. The exception to this is Puno, the unofficial capital of the Peruvian lake district (Titicaca is shared with Bolivia). We spent a night in Puno but it's not very nice and is simply a hub to get to the lake (for tourists, anyway).
Our three hour boat ride to Amantani brought us first through the floating islands of Uros. We've read it has become much more touristy than it once was, but still we have not seen anything quite like them. The Uros are a small race of people that took to the water to avoid the much stronger Inca Empire. Too weak to remove the people already inhabiting the proper islands on the lake (such as Amantani), the Uros literally built their own. The reeds that grow naturally in the lake (closer to the shores, attached to the floor/mud) form thick, clay-like roots, which the Uros cut into pieces. These peices actually float, and they cut many pieces off and then tie them together to form the base of the island. The Uros then take the cut reeds themselves and pile them up on top of their own roots. When you step onto the "island", it feels like you're stepping onto a huge waterbed. The people put large huts on the islands for living, also made out of the reeds. One for their bedroom, one for their kitchen, even one for their bathroom. They even have small "ponds" within the islands that act as a fishtanks for caught fish so they can't escape. As a kicker, their traditional boats are also made completely out of the same reeds. At their most grandiose they look like Viking ships made out of reeds. The whole experience is extremely surreal. Of course Pat managed to fall through the "floating islands". The guide book warns you to watch out for rotten patches, but Pat didn't read this bit until afterwards. He was waiting on line to use the bathroom towards the edge of one of the islands when this woman brushes him aside and cuts the line. Opposed to getting into a quarrel, Pat decided to simply go to one side of the very rustic facilities (they were made of reeds for God's sake) and do his number one business. Well it didn't work out. What's worse is Shauna saw the whole thing as she was also waiting on line. As Pat approached the edge, the floor suddenly gave way and he was knee deep in what we hope was mostly water and reed root. It smelled, however, and it was a little too close to the bathroom for comfort, so who the hell knows. Pat was furious (and embarrassed). He wanted to scream at the bloody British woman who butt him in line and blame her entirely, but instead he just swore over and over at no one in particular. Shauna, once she saw he wasn't going to disappear through the island entirely, was doubled over in laughter. The laughter didn't subside (pun intended) for a long time, as Pat remembers it. The rest of our boat was silent as Pat stormed on, and the only sound to be heard was Shauna's incessant giggling. Leave it to Pat to actually fall through the floating islands of Uros.
Luckily we had our packs with us and Pat was able to change for our journey to Amantani. Doing the best he could to put the incident behind him, Pat put his best face on and at least pretented to enjoy the trip. It was cold, but it was uniquely beautiful. Like we said before the landscape is mostly barren, but in the distance you can always see the snow-capped mountains of the high(er) Andes. We finally arrived at Amantani and took in the unique culture of this remote place. Here combined with its sister island of Taquile offer a glimpse into the far past. Both islands are quaint and quiet, with little to no electricty and customs and traditions that stretch back millennia. On Taquile, for example, the men where different color hats depicting their social status. Red and white hats indicate being single where red and blue indicate marriage. No doubt the islands have their own natural beauty, but the trip out there was worth it more to see a place that is mostly unaffected by the extreme changes seen most everywhere else on the planet. The faces of the people were amazing as well. To live in such a harsh climate one must adapt. As we said earlier you were shivering as the sun beat down on your skin. We tried to stay out of the cold while reapplying sunscreen once an hour. The locals did no such thing. Anyone over the age of twenty seemed to have a face made of leather, wrinkled prematurely by the harsh wind and sun. Nowhere else on earth can a people possibly have faces like those around Titicaca.
Our next stop was Peru's second city of Arequipa, about six hours by bus away from Lake Titicaca. After over two weeks of constantly being cold, wet, sunburned, and generally uncomfortable, we treated ourselves to three nights at a decent hotel in this stylish city. Sitting in a fertile valley below three snow-capped volcanoes, Arequipa is beautiful. With trendy restuarants and bars, we stretched our legs and relaxed for a couple days. The city is also home to two genuinely unique attractions. One is the Monestary of Santa Catolina, where over five hundred people once lived in chaste living in devotion to God. A city within a city, the monestary is a beautiful sanctuary with picturesque courtyards and alleyways. It's a look into what life was like for a small but powerful group of people from the 17th to the early 20th centuries. The other great attraction is "Juanita", the Incan girl sacrificed to the mountain gods five hundred years ago. One of only four children ever found, Juanita is a first hand account of what religious practice was like before Columbus (and Pizarro after him). The girl was found by an American climber in 1995 on top of one of the highest volcanoes in the world, at 20,500 feet, after an eruption exposed her burial site. She is still amazingly intact, fingernails and all, and sits in fetal position at negative five degrees Fahrenheit behind glass to preserve her present condition. It is well documented that the major pre-Columbian civilizations practiced human sacrifice to appease their gods, and Juanita is absolute proof. If Juanita was not a royalty before her death, she and her family certainly were afterwards. The Incans would choose only the finest child (no physical difficiencies, other attributes the Incans found pleasing) to sacrifice, and it was supposed to be a great honor. The mountains and volcanoes were gods in and of themselves, and it was believed that if they took care of the gods, the gods would take care of them. Seeing as how the Andes were the heart of the Inca Empire, one can see why it was important to keep the mountains happy. It was fascinating to learn Juanita's (named after the climber who found her) story, and scientists continue to learn much about the Incas through ever-improving technology.
From Arequipa we flew to Lima for a couple days in Peru's capital. At almost nine million people, the size compares with New York. There are abundant slums but there are also modern European-like neighborhoods. We stayed in the fashionable Miraflores, again opting to end our trip in relative luxury after "roughing it" for most of our trip. We took in the catacombs of San Francisco as well as the main plazas of Central Lima. Our favorite part, however, was experiencing the city on foot in the neighborhoods of San Isidro, Barranco, and Miraflores. Trendy restaurants and bars abound in all three, and the Pacific Ocean crashes against the cliffs of the latter two. There are nice beaches, golf clubs, and parks. There is obvious money here, and seeing the mostly white, Spanish descendants stands in stark contrast to the dark, native South Americans we saw everywhere else. We only spent a day and a half here, but Lima (at least the neighborhoods described) is a place where most of our friends and/or family would find themselves comfortable for a while.
Our time in Peru was fantastic, but it's time now for the beach. We head for Costa Rica, where hopefully we'll find lots of sunshine.
Until our next entry,
S&P
We left at 10:15pm by bus for the shores of Lake Titicaca. By 7am the next morning we were at the docks of Puno waiting for the once daily departure by slow boat to Amantani Island, in the middle of the lake. At nearly 13,000 feet, Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world. Though not nearly as large as the great lakes of North America, it is still imposing at ninety miles long by forty-five miles wide and a maximum depth of almost 1,000 feet. The scene here is bizarre. It's pretty damn cold being so high up, yet the sun is stronger here than in most places we've been (also because of the altitude). You find yourself burning up while you're shivering your ass off. The landscape is mostly barren. It is sparsely populated, with small settlements along the banks of the lake and even smaller settlements on the remote islands in the middle, one of which was our destination for a night. The exception to this is Puno, the unofficial capital of the Peruvian lake district (Titicaca is shared with Bolivia). We spent a night in Puno but it's not very nice and is simply a hub to get to the lake (for tourists, anyway).
Our three hour boat ride to Amantani brought us first through the floating islands of Uros. We've read it has become much more touristy than it once was, but still we have not seen anything quite like them. The Uros are a small race of people that took to the water to avoid the much stronger Inca Empire. Too weak to remove the people already inhabiting the proper islands on the lake (such as Amantani), the Uros literally built their own. The reeds that grow naturally in the lake (closer to the shores, attached to the floor/mud) form thick, clay-like roots, which the Uros cut into pieces. These peices actually float, and they cut many pieces off and then tie them together to form the base of the island. The Uros then take the cut reeds themselves and pile them up on top of their own roots. When you step onto the "island", it feels like you're stepping onto a huge waterbed. The people put large huts on the islands for living, also made out of the reeds. One for their bedroom, one for their kitchen, even one for their bathroom. They even have small "ponds" within the islands that act as a fishtanks for caught fish so they can't escape. As a kicker, their traditional boats are also made completely out of the same reeds. At their most grandiose they look like Viking ships made out of reeds. The whole experience is extremely surreal. Of course Pat managed to fall through the "floating islands". The guide book warns you to watch out for rotten patches, but Pat didn't read this bit until afterwards. He was waiting on line to use the bathroom towards the edge of one of the islands when this woman brushes him aside and cuts the line. Opposed to getting into a quarrel, Pat decided to simply go to one side of the very rustic facilities (they were made of reeds for God's sake) and do his number one business. Well it didn't work out. What's worse is Shauna saw the whole thing as she was also waiting on line. As Pat approached the edge, the floor suddenly gave way and he was knee deep in what we hope was mostly water and reed root. It smelled, however, and it was a little too close to the bathroom for comfort, so who the hell knows. Pat was furious (and embarrassed). He wanted to scream at the bloody British woman who butt him in line and blame her entirely, but instead he just swore over and over at no one in particular. Shauna, once she saw he wasn't going to disappear through the island entirely, was doubled over in laughter. The laughter didn't subside (pun intended) for a long time, as Pat remembers it. The rest of our boat was silent as Pat stormed on, and the only sound to be heard was Shauna's incessant giggling. Leave it to Pat to actually fall through the floating islands of Uros.
Luckily we had our packs with us and Pat was able to change for our journey to Amantani. Doing the best he could to put the incident behind him, Pat put his best face on and at least pretented to enjoy the trip. It was cold, but it was uniquely beautiful. Like we said before the landscape is mostly barren, but in the distance you can always see the snow-capped mountains of the high(er) Andes. We finally arrived at Amantani and took in the unique culture of this remote place. Here combined with its sister island of Taquile offer a glimpse into the far past. Both islands are quaint and quiet, with little to no electricty and customs and traditions that stretch back millennia. On Taquile, for example, the men where different color hats depicting their social status. Red and white hats indicate being single where red and blue indicate marriage. No doubt the islands have their own natural beauty, but the trip out there was worth it more to see a place that is mostly unaffected by the extreme changes seen most everywhere else on the planet. The faces of the people were amazing as well. To live in such a harsh climate one must adapt. As we said earlier you were shivering as the sun beat down on your skin. We tried to stay out of the cold while reapplying sunscreen once an hour. The locals did no such thing. Anyone over the age of twenty seemed to have a face made of leather, wrinkled prematurely by the harsh wind and sun. Nowhere else on earth can a people possibly have faces like those around Titicaca.
Our next stop was Peru's second city of Arequipa, about six hours by bus away from Lake Titicaca. After over two weeks of constantly being cold, wet, sunburned, and generally uncomfortable, we treated ourselves to three nights at a decent hotel in this stylish city. Sitting in a fertile valley below three snow-capped volcanoes, Arequipa is beautiful. With trendy restuarants and bars, we stretched our legs and relaxed for a couple days. The city is also home to two genuinely unique attractions. One is the Monestary of Santa Catolina, where over five hundred people once lived in chaste living in devotion to God. A city within a city, the monestary is a beautiful sanctuary with picturesque courtyards and alleyways. It's a look into what life was like for a small but powerful group of people from the 17th to the early 20th centuries. The other great attraction is "Juanita", the Incan girl sacrificed to the mountain gods five hundred years ago. One of only four children ever found, Juanita is a first hand account of what religious practice was like before Columbus (and Pizarro after him). The girl was found by an American climber in 1995 on top of one of the highest volcanoes in the world, at 20,500 feet, after an eruption exposed her burial site. She is still amazingly intact, fingernails and all, and sits in fetal position at negative five degrees Fahrenheit behind glass to preserve her present condition. It is well documented that the major pre-Columbian civilizations practiced human sacrifice to appease their gods, and Juanita is absolute proof. If Juanita was not a royalty before her death, she and her family certainly were afterwards. The Incans would choose only the finest child (no physical difficiencies, other attributes the Incans found pleasing) to sacrifice, and it was supposed to be a great honor. The mountains and volcanoes were gods in and of themselves, and it was believed that if they took care of the gods, the gods would take care of them. Seeing as how the Andes were the heart of the Inca Empire, one can see why it was important to keep the mountains happy. It was fascinating to learn Juanita's (named after the climber who found her) story, and scientists continue to learn much about the Incas through ever-improving technology.
From Arequipa we flew to Lima for a couple days in Peru's capital. At almost nine million people, the size compares with New York. There are abundant slums but there are also modern European-like neighborhoods. We stayed in the fashionable Miraflores, again opting to end our trip in relative luxury after "roughing it" for most of our trip. We took in the catacombs of San Francisco as well as the main plazas of Central Lima. Our favorite part, however, was experiencing the city on foot in the neighborhoods of San Isidro, Barranco, and Miraflores. Trendy restaurants and bars abound in all three, and the Pacific Ocean crashes against the cliffs of the latter two. There are nice beaches, golf clubs, and parks. There is obvious money here, and seeing the mostly white, Spanish descendants stands in stark contrast to the dark, native South Americans we saw everywhere else. We only spent a day and a half here, but Lima (at least the neighborhoods described) is a place where most of our friends and/or family would find themselves comfortable for a while.
Our time in Peru was fantastic, but it's time now for the beach. We head for Costa Rica, where hopefully we'll find lots of sunshine.
Until our next entry,
S&P
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)