Silvia Garcia’s Adventure With Intrepid Comes To And End

After exploring Cusco city and Machu Picchu we arrive at Lake Titicaca, the final stop in the ‘Peruvian Pathways’ tour. We left Cusco on board the bus ‘Inca Express’ at 9am. It’s an eight hour service with picturesque village stopovers not to be missed all the way to the city of Puno.

On our comfortable and modern bus, a gracious waiter repeatedly serves us morning tea. Three hours later we stop at the village of Andahuaylillas, famously known for its lavishsly silver and gold decorated Jesuit church.  I am bit overdosed with colonial churches, but I have to admit this is my favourite so far. Locals tell me its hidden gold treasures were once robbed, so they take turns guarding it 24/7.

It contains 17^th century paintings and carvings, including a canvas of the Immaculate Conception by Esteban Murillo.

Our next stop are the remaining walls of the Viracocha Temple, though  they look like a huge aqueduct from road distance. The temple was made of twenty-two adobe columns constructucted on top of volcanic foundations, which helped support the largest-known Inca roof. Once a holy shrine, it was the residence of Inca nobles until the Spaniards destroyed it. We follow our local tour guide around the ruins to learn more about the Inca history.

Back on the road, we finally arrive at Puno for dinner. This small city has few remaning colonial buildings combined with poor urban development, though is home to the highest navigable lake in the world, the Titicaca.

Our Lake Titicaca expedition starts the following morning at 6.30 am. We navigate in a small vessel for 30 minutes to the famous ‘floating islands’ of the Uros indigineous people. The floating title refers to the different chunks and layers of totora reeds brought together to form the ground base of the islands. The Uros people of dark tanned cheekbones, and most in ancient costumes build their houses on top of the totora reeds. As soon as we set foot on the island, they give us a class on how they construct and mantain the floating islands.

The totora reeds grow abundantly on the lake,  they are cut, gathered, and united by big metal nails and rope, and constantly replenished from the top as they rot from the bottom. To try its soft and springy resistance, my inner child starts jumping and jumping, but I learn my lesson not to put my feet on the few rotten sections. My toes barely chilled, and thankfully they never summerged in the lake’s freezing water.

Almost all Uros people speak the indigineous language Aymara and some a bit of Spanish. They began their floating existence to isolate themselves from the agressive Collas and Incas. Today, they make a living out of tourism and trout fishing, as well as creating traditional clothing and handicrafts worth buying to support their secluded lifestyle. Though these days it’s not uncommon for younger generations to migrate to the cities.

Before we leave the Uros floating islands, our hosts invite us on board their prime method of transportation: canoe-shaped totora reed boats. The boat looks a bit small, but it suprisingly carries ten of us. We navigate on Lake Titicaca relaxed as the chilli winds blow toward us and the strong Andean plateau sun burns my cheeks. It’s a real boat trip delight you can only experience in Puno.

Another 2 ½ hours on board our vessel, we arrive to the tiny 7-sq-km mountain island of Taquille. It is the only Quechua speaking island on Lake Titicaca with a population of only 2000 people. The town centre located at the mountain top is reached by a 500 hundred rocky step climb. Peter and I compete for who gets there first.. Obviously no one wins as we end up breathless helping each other out.

The Taquille people are not as shy as some of the Uros people. They have a strong sense of identity and like to maintain their customs. They do not marry non- Taquile people and denote their social status or past position through specific items of clothing and color. Jose, our local guide introduces us to the young Manuel, who is known to be married by his use of a red hat, while his black and red belt denotes an authority figure among the community.

In the town centre, we explore the small plaza, the local church, and visit the photo exhibition taking place. Then, we climb more high altitude steps in search of a hearty meal. The most delicious and cheapest (less than five aussies dollars) three-course menu in the whole trip. For appettezires, traditional highland oven baked bread, accompanied by chilli tomato-onion dip.. Then, a tasty vegetable quinoa (Inca cereal) soup followed by the main dish, a generously big grilled trout served with chips and steamed rice.

With our stomachs satisfied,  we could barely hike down the other side of the mountain to reach our vessel. As we make our descend, we gaze the red colored soil of the island and sorrounding mountains in the strong highland sunlight contrasting with the intense blue lake color and the glistening backdrop of Bolivia’s snowy cordillera on the far distance.

This is how we end 13 days of intrepid and comfortable travelling in Peru. Definetely a trip to remember for the beauty of its landscape, the warmth of its people and the interesting historical events throughtout time.

Getting there

Fly to Lima with Lan Chile via Auckland and Santiago. See www.lan.com or call 1800 221 572.

For further information on the Intrepid ‘Peruvian Pathways’, and other tours to Peru, see  www.intrepidtravel.com or call 1300 364 512

For information on Peru, see www.peru.info/perueng.asp