Somehow everyone I talked to, about going to Lake Titicaca, had to first snigger...*wonder why*:-P
So the official Wharton trek was limited till Machu Pichu but a bunch of us felt that if we went back without a visit to the famous lake Titicaca, the Peru trip would forever remain incomplete. Lake Titicaca was a place I had only visited in my school Geography books - the highest navigable lake in the world, with floating islands and indigenous, non-Inca tribals living on those islands, cut off from normal land life. There was no way I was going to miss that. So I organized a little side trip and got company from a few other intrepid batchmates and partners and off we went to Puno!
Getting to Puno posed a bit of a challenge. There is a train that runs twice a week from Cusco to Puno and the route is supposed to be very lovely. Unfortunately, the day we were supposed to leave from Cusco wasnt the day the train ran. So we booked ourselves on a bus which was to take 10 hours to get to Puno from Cusco. None of us was exactly looking forward to the 10-hour journey across Peru, but as all Peruvian mini-trips, little did we know what what in store!
The trip turned out to be the most beautiful bus journey I've ever been on, cutting across the Andean mountains and some of the most beautiful landscape I've ever seen, stopping by prehistoric tourist spots and a restaurant with lovely Peruvian music consisting of Banjos, guitars, Pan flutes (multifluted little thing from which emanates the most heavenly music ever!) and little drums.
So the official Wharton trek was limited till Machu Pichu but a bunch of us felt that if we went back without a visit to the famous lake Titicaca, the Peru trip would forever remain incomplete. Lake Titicaca was a place I had only visited in my school Geography books - the highest navigable lake in the world, with floating islands and indigenous, non-Inca tribals living on those islands, cut off from normal land life. There was no way I was going to miss that. So I organized a little side trip and got company from a few other intrepid batchmates and partners and off we went to Puno!
Getting to Puno posed a bit of a challenge. There is a train that runs twice a week from Cusco to Puno and the route is supposed to be very lovely. Unfortunately, the day we were supposed to leave from Cusco wasnt the day the train ran. So we booked ourselves on a bus which was to take 10 hours to get to Puno from Cusco. None of us was exactly looking forward to the 10-hour journey across Peru, but as all Peruvian mini-trips, little did we know what what in store!
The trip turned out to be the most beautiful bus journey I've ever been on, cutting across the Andean mountains and some of the most beautiful landscape I've ever seen, stopping by prehistoric tourist spots and a restaurant with lovely Peruvian music consisting of Banjos, guitars, Pan flutes (multifluted little thing from which emanates the most heavenly music ever!) and little drums.
The 16th Century Andahuaylillas church. They call it the Sistine chapel of Americas because of all the gold and paintings inside - pics werent allowed inside, unfortunately. I thought it was a bit too gaudy for my taste.
11 of us
The archaeological ruins of Raqchi - the temple of Wiracocha
More camera-friendly and super cute Llamas
Most Peruvian houses have this pair of stunned-looking bulls to bring prosperity and ward off evil
The postcard-ish landscapes on the way were...breathtakingly beautiful
With a beautiful interplay of shadow and light..
...and clouds
...and more shadowsSo after a beautiful (and very comfortable, btw) 10 hour journey, we reached Puno. Our hotel was overlooking Titicaca and...there's a little plug due here for the Libertador hotels in Peru - you guys are AWESOME. Lovely hotels, wonderful service and great locations. Super costly, of course, you guys also played a large role in my bankruptcy exactly 2 months after spring break. And we all love your Jacuzzis:-D
So the next morning we took a boat to the closest group of floating islands - Uros. And by floating, I mean really floating. So these islands are made of reeds and are literally alive. The reed floor of the islands is about 3 -5ft thick, but is still squishy to walk on - as if you were walking on a water bed. The tribals live on these islands, have their own schools, fish and even grow their own stuff on the reed soil. Uros is a fairly commercialized island, well set up for tourists, but there are other islands which are still untouched and pristine. Since we only had a day in Titicaca and had to catch our flight back to NY the same night, we only had time for Uros. For people with more time, I highly recommend Amantani.
So the next morning we took a boat to the closest group of floating islands - Uros. And by floating, I mean really floating. So these islands are made of reeds and are literally alive. The reed floor of the islands is about 3 -5ft thick, but is still squishy to walk on - as if you were walking on a water bed. The tribals live on these islands, have their own schools, fish and even grow their own stuff on the reed soil. Uros is a fairly commercialized island, well set up for tourists, but there are other islands which are still untouched and pristine. Since we only had a day in Titicaca and had to catch our flight back to NY the same night, we only had time for Uros. For people with more time, I highly recommend Amantani.
yeah..one tends to become a little poetic after a 10-hour bus journey. I would blame the high altitudes. Thats Lake Titicaca in the background. 'Titicaca ' literally means a Jaguar eating. If you look at the map of the lake, it does look like a Jaguar hunting a little rabbit
The view of the lake from my hotel window
Reaching Uros - on both sides are the floating reed passageways to the islands
Reed boats - very touristy
So these islands are tied to each other to prevent them from floating away - see that yellow rope in the water?
The happy lives that the tribals live...singing and dancing away in colorful costumes...:) Deevee living it up with one of the locals
On the uber-touristy reed boat - NT and SS trying their hands at rowing (I tried and sucked)
This little kid was the cutest ever!
umm...I just liked this pic from the boat, playing around with the DoF
Some of us tried a 'Reservoir Dogs' impression on the boat back
..Which soon turned to a Wharton bhangra jig
..at the temple of fertility..DeeVee still likes to think these were mushroom sculptures, lol!
At Lima, leaving for home...NT somehow had the heaviest baggage of all of us - we all suspect he was taking back some nubile young Peruvian lady back as a bride
3 comments:
Stunning pictures PS:) Visiting after a long hiatus from blogging and reading blogs! Hope to be regular again.
amazing landscapes...those colours are unreal! and i'd go there just to catch a llama look at me that way :)
Woe, what pictures!
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