The ride from Cuzco to Puno was rather long, but I enjoyed the view along the hilly landscape. I think we arrived at around 16:00, and shortly after checking into the hotel, we went out for lunch/dinner. It was a mistake trying to eat as a whole group. The food took over one hour after ordering to arrive and well, the quality was mediocre at best.
After I spent the rest of my time uploading pictures for the blog (BTW: is it okay for you if I use the gallery option with the photos below the entry or do you prefer the version with the interleaved text?) we originally agreed on going to this Karaoke bar, but most of the people were too tired.
So under the promise that we would be singing the day after tomorrow when we came back from the Lake Titicaca, some of us just had a couple of drinks in a bar called Positive. And yes, the atmosphere was very positive and the music, a combination of Reggae and Rock was quite good.
The next morning bicycle Tuk-Tuks shoved us to the port where we got onto a boat that would take us on a long journey on the Titicaca lake. This lake at an altitude of almost 4000m, is the biggest lake over 2000m worldwide.
Our first stop was a very touristy community called Uros, who lived on floating layers of reed. I was a bit disappointed how tourism changes the life of these people, concentrating on producing tacky souvenirs and posing as very low-tech. In the meanwhile, solar panels are powering their mobile phones and in the houses are ceramics depicting Sid and Scrat from Ice Age. I will try to avoid those places in future.
After a unbelievably long and slow journey to the Taquile Island of around three hours, I was already mildly upset. The group was led to an “restaurant”, offering only one menu for 20 soles (a vegy soup and an omlet or fish plus tea). I decided not to take part in this tourist exploitation.
However, the story that the guide then told about the customs of the people on this island, that looked like it could be a cut out from a lovely place somewhere in Greece, made me very angry and upset. If a boy wanted to date a girl, he simple would throw a stone at her window at night. The next day, she was obliged to walk up a hill where she would then be the victim of a sexual assault.
But wait, this was not the worst story. Sometimes there would be parties and a boy would just grab any woman he desired and would tear her outside. And no matter how much she would scream or fight against it, nobody would be helping her, but instead just look away. The girl would be dragged to the boy’s house and then raped. The parents of the boy would come to the house of the girl the next morning with gifts and tell their parents, that the girl is now part of their family and would arrange the “official relationship”.
On this island, the mantra also is: Beating and hurting people is a way to show how much you love them. I was completely shocked by this all. What about human rights? Where is Amnesty International to protect these women? Disgusting.
We continued to Luquina, a small village on an peninsula where we would stay overnight. Again, the set up party and dances of the local people were so artificial and wrong that I hardly enjoyed it. We were dressed by the families to also take part in the dances. Finally, even the sweet little kids of the village had to perform in front of the tourists.
The family I stayed with was very nice though. Luckily, I was able to have conversation with them with my little knowledge of Spanish. I think ten people out of our group of 15 do not speak Spanish and that must have been a little awkward.
The next morning the daughter of the family and I drove the sheep down to their fields and later I helped harvesting a whole field of wheat. Mano negro, illegal.
Although I enjoyed a few bits of this Lake Titicaca experience, the major part of it was just awkward. But I guess, every tour has its not so good parts.
Tomorrow, we will cross the border to Bolivia and sleep in La Paz, the last night of our G Adventures Inca Heartland experience. I will miss the people, but I am sure I will enjoy travelling on my own again, setting the pace myself and do only what I want to do.
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