Lake Titicaca...a rough ride

Carmen and I booked an overnight trip to the Lake Titicaca islands. Here is my perspective on how that went. Carmen will certainly have a different view.

I was hesitant to go on this trip to the islands because I've been having a bit of stomach problems. The trip involved long boat rides and a homestay on one of the islands. Despite my reservations I convinced myself to go on the trip since I figured this might be my only chance to ever see these islands...and we came so far to get here.

The boat ride there was fine. My stomach held up, but probably because I hadn't eaten since the previous day. The first stop, Isla Uros, was fascinating.





The rest of the boat ride I spent curled up on one of the seats waiting to hit land. We arrived 3 hours later to Isla Amantani and were taken to our host's house. With prompting from Carmen I ate a bit of soup our host family made. It settled fine so I ventured to eat a little more soup for dinner. That was a mistake. I should have listened to my instinct which said food was a no-go.

I spent a very long night sick out in the field next to the house. My sole companion was a donkey. I had to run out there several times in the night. Mind you it was about 45 degrees. The house was very simple...adoble walls, dirt floors and lots of lovely animal and strange food (?) smells. Our room was upstairs and had a normal floor and even a rug...but to get outside I had to scrunch through the 4 foot door (...why doors are so small, not sure). Several times during the night I had to bound down the stairs in the pitch dark through the dirt courtyard, past the sheep enclosure, and into the field next to the house. There was an outhouse with a semi-flushing toilet, but I found the field more...umm...inviting. The stars were very lovely to gaze out though. I've never seen so many stars.

This morning I skipped out on the rest of today's tour, which included a visit to another island. Instead I took the locals' boat straight back to Puno (the city). In the picture below I am trying to look normal, although I was pretty nervous about getting on a 4 hr. boat ride in the condition I was in. And I was cold.

For four hours I was squashed in a very slow-moving boat between indigenous women knitting alpaca hats and old men chewing large wads of coca leaves.The center of the boat was piled high with colorful bags and cloth-wrapped bunches. I guess the Amantani folks were sending their goods to the market in Puno.

After about the second hour, when my behind was seriously sore from sitting on the hard wooden bench, the motor suddenly sputtered to a stop. We were in middle of a very large body of water and I prayed the motor would start up again. A few old men bent over the motor, which looked like it was home-made, jerry-rigged by a tube to a canister of gas. To my delight they got the motor running again. Two more hours to go. Below is a picture of the mother and child that slept at my feet for much of the ride. And one of the knitting women.( I took the pics on the sly so they're not really clear.)

I finally arrived at the dock, bid farewell to my indigenous boat friends, and bee-lined it for the hotel. To my relief I found out there was a doctor just around the corner. I dropped in and he saw me right away. He is very kind and seems to know the problem. So I should be cured soon.

Carmen should be back from the tour in a few hours. I'll let her post her view, as I'm sure it will be more cheerful than my perspective.

Stay tuned.