Lake Titicaca, Peru Roundup and Cancun Arrival

Lake Titicaca

The journey from Cusco to Puno on the bank of Lake Titicaca is about 6 hrs by bus. The scenery is not as spectacular as I was hoping but the Peruvian people wearing their bright textiles contrasts amazingly with the barren landscape.

Puno itself isn't a particularly beautiful town but it is a good base to do a day tour on the lake. One thing I noticed particularly is that most houses in the towns look only half complete. That is to say there are 2 floors and then the third floor looks like in is in the preparation stages. The reason we were told is that if a house is incomplete there is a loophole where any resident living in the completed floors do not have to pay taxes. One town we passed through had about 90% of houses like this which kinda reminded me of a nuclear test site. Juliaca was the name - do not stop to visit this place. Yuck!

After a heavy nights rain we set off on a beautiful morning for our tour of Lake Titicaca. The Lake is about 170km long and sits at an altitude of over 3800m. On the Lake the first stop is to the floating islands of the Uros people. They have lived for generations on the Lake and built small floating islands made of reeds in which to live on. You can if you wish stay on one of the islands with a family overnight. I preferred just to do the day tour myself. The islanders demonstrated how they build the islands and also how they anchor the island in the Lake. Each island has a few families living on it. The women are well rounded to say the least due to not getting enough exercise I suppose. The kids as in most of Peru are very cute and perhaps this day I got some of my best shots. The Uros people now rely more on tourism for an income and they make some garments to sell to tourists. It was an interesting visit and the people seemed happy despite what obviously is a hard and simple life.

Next stop on the Lake is about a 3 hr boat ride to an island called Taquile. This island has some nice views and a small number of villagers living on it. Because the lake is deep the lake looks an amazing deep blue and it reminded me of a Greek island in the Med. Along the path to the main village center you meet some beautiful old villagers going about their daily lives. Many of the villagers look in their 70's-80's but the tour guide said they were in their 50's. He's got to be kidding! Again photo opportunities come thick and fast. Most will ask for 1 sole if they spot you taking a photo.
The men of the village learn to knit from a young age and have to knit their own hat. The hats are different for the children, men and women. The size of the tassles hanging from the hat or skirts determine if the villager is single or not. Large means you are single and small means you are married.
We have lunch on top of a hill with nice views over the Lake and then head off back to Puno for our last night and then flight back to Lima.

Peru Roundup

The tour finishes with the final night in Lima and I reflect on what has been a great trip but extremely tiring one. After two back to back tours I've ready for some r'n'r. Peru has some great highlights and it would have been nice to have a month instead of 2 weeks but alas I feel I saw 90% of what I wanted to see. Will I go back? Probably not but I would definitely recommend a trip to the Amazon or a Machu Picchu trek to any wannabe South American traveller.

You hear reports of Peru and especially Lima of being dangerous. I don't deny you hearing horror stories but I felt safe throughout my trip. The people are friendly if you make the effort and give a nice smile. Perhaps not as friendly and smiley as Thailand and other parts of Asia but the people work hard for very little. There are many kids especially working from a very young age which is something I think the Government need to stop so the kids can get some education and improve Peru for future generations. It was also good to see at least in the Amazon strict controls on curbing damage to the environment which is far advanced from the Brazilian mentality.

Cancun Arrival

Now I'm chilling out for a few days in Cancun. The journey was a long one and the amount of security checks in Mexico is a little un-nerving. Perhaps I look like a drug mule but luckily no fingers up my bottom yet! The journey to the Cancun strip of hotels along the narrow beach takes about 20 mins. I've never in my life seen so many large hotels in one place (apart from Vegas of course in a few weeks!). My hotel is called ME by Melia and it is beautiful inside. My room is very modern and comfortable and the breakfast I had this morning was unbelievable. I've never seen such a variety and choice of food in any hotel I've stayed in. They have about 5 areas and three stations with different cooks to make a huge list of things for you (omelets, pancakes, waffles etc). There is an area dedicated to healthy food which every type of fruit, cheese, yogurt you could think of. Absolutely amazing. The 4 kilos I've lost so far may come back very quickly after a few days of this.