The Islands of Uros, on Lake Titicaca, Peru Sept 14

When people visit Puno on the shore of Lake Titicaca in Peru they frequently tour the Islands of Uros, and that is my goal today.  Here is my first look at the lake from the pier on the way to the boat.

While we were loading on the boat we had entertainment from this man playing the stringed instrument and a pan flute at the same time.

This boat is the same type as the one we were on.

This picture kind of captures the odd way the surface of this lake glistens.  The Peruvians call it the Mother Lake and they treat it as sacred.  When I was in the sacred valley we visited the temples of Mother Earth and the Sun.  As it turns out, Inca legend holds that long ago one of the Inca Gods had 4 children, two male and two female.  These three Mother Lake, Mother Earth and Father Sun were three of the children.  The other is the wind.

Here we are arriving at an area where there are many reeds growing in the water.  This is important because the Islands of Uros are man-made and are constructed from reeds.

Here are the women of one island out to welcome us.  You can see the island is flat and not very thick.  To build them they start with square pieces of root and soil which they have cut from plants in the lake.  They lash them together to make a flat surface and then cover them with layers of reeds.

Here are our tour guide and the President of the island explaining things about the islands.

The women are making crafts for sale.  They have many articles to show us.
You can see that the houses are built totally from reeds too.

Another different style of house and something drying on the mat in the foreground.

There were many such islands in a circle and each one had a lookout like this one.

This is the house of the President.

Looking inside we see the President talking with one of the tourists.  You can see some things are hung on the walls.  The house is small and there is no furniture except the bed.

They had a pair of Cormorants tied up to a stake and they had provided water for them by breaking a hole through the center of the island.

Waters edge.  They go by boat to fish and to trade with people living on land but even so their existence seems minimal.  It was cold the day we were there and I don't think going into their houses would have been much warmer.  They have another island where all the food preparation is done.  We were not shown that island.

Here we see the logs (made of reeds) that we sat on when we first gathered together to talk.

This is a special type of boat that they use to take tourists over to the other islands.

This is the style of boat they use to work or take the kids to school or fish.
They are made totally from reeds.

They took us across to the business island where they have a restaurant and hotel for tourists.  While there we saw this boat bringing tourists from another island.

A sign advertising the restaurant.

This is one of the two hotel rooms.  You get a reed mat on the floor like the ones the people use.  There is a light bulb in there but little else.

They have a formal market place on the business island.  You can see that they have put out new green reeds here.  They must keep doing that as the reeds pack down.  It actually feels a bit spongy as you walk on it.
     

Looking at the side of the restaurant.

You can see the string of islands in this picture.  They are in a circle inside a huge patch of reeds.  The islands are staked to the lake bottom which isn't very deep in this area.  When the level of the lake rises after the rains they have to pull the stakes and use power boats to pull the islands to a new location.

What a facinating way to live. 

Coming back to Puno now you can see the city from the water.

This is the town center of Puno and it is called Plaza del Armus.  I think there is one in every city.

A beautiful church on the square.

A shot through the center of the square.

Tomorrow I will head for Bolivia stopping at Copacabana for one night on the way.

Puno, a town on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca, Sept 13

I booked a ticket on one of the tourist buses going from Cusco to Puno hoping to see whatever there is to see along the way.  I got up early and headed for the bus depot.  We had several scheduled stops along the way and the trip was to take about 8 hours.

Our first stop was Andahuaylillas where we toured the Church of Apostle San Pedro (St. Peter).  This church is otherwise known as the Sistine Chapel of the Americas because of all the paintings on the walls.  The church was under renovations when we were there but you could still appreciate its excellence.

Crosses outside the church.

Some buildings attached to the church.

Next stop was at Temple of Viracocha in Ragchi. Peru.  This is the entance way.

Inside the site were ruins of former dwellings.

Outside the walls of the temple there were farm dwellings still in use.

Looking across the fields from the temple.

Sometimes the landscape here reminds me of the foothills of Alberta.

Another view of the ruins which were once homes or farming storage.

This was the most impressive part, the walls of the temple have mostly fallen but they are in the process of protecting and restoring them.

Leaving there we boarded the bus to the site of the highest elevation in Peru, at 4335 metes above sea level.

Passing a pastoral scene along the way.

Here I am standing by the sign, just breathing.  I am not kidding about that.  Sometimes I would drift off
during our ride but never quite went sound asleep because my body would wake me so I could focus on breathing more deeply.

Here is another photo opportunity that tourists could purchase.  I just grabbed a shot slyly from the side.

Even up here in the freezing cold you could still go shopping.

Another landscape shot.

We stopped at this museum next and I didn't get the name of the place.  It contained a lot of old carvings.

  We only had 10 minuits to look around because we were running late because of so many road construction delays.

This chuch in the same town looked interesting but there was no time to see it.

Back on the bus we pass a typical looking graveyard alongside the road.

The trip actually took ten hours with all the stops.  Just heading off to bed and looking forward to exploring Puno tomorrow.

Back to Cusco

It was a 45 minuet drive into Cusco from the retreat center and I arrived here just after noon.  I got settled in the hostel I had used on the way down and got busy catching up with electronic details.

I needed to get some cash so headed down to Plaza de Armus for an ATM.  Here is the center of the square.  It is neat and clean and surrounded by high end clothing stores. 

This is the Cathedral on the square.

This is the Iqlesia de la Compania de Jesus.

One of the streets of shops along the square.

Looking up the hill behind the square after dark.

I had some supper and then headed back to the hostle to prepare for my bus trip to Puna in the morning.