The Floating Islands and Cuzco

After our trek across Isla del Sol, it was time to check out Lake Titicaca on the other side of the border. This meant a stop in the Lakeside town of Puno, our first stop in Peru. The border crossing was a bit of fun, we were herded like sheep by our bus driver who told us on multiple occasions to leave all our valuables on the bus and take only our passports and visas. I reckon it was so he could raid the bags whilst we were in immagration. It was immediately apparent that Peru is slightly better off than Bolivia. The Bolivian immigration office is nothing more than an adobe hut whilst the Peruvian offica at least has a computer. Puno is not a very pleasant city, it is made entirely of red brick buildings, but it is not very pleasing on the eye. The main plaza is of course nice, with a large cathedral but other than that. The main attraction in Puno is Lake Titicaca itself and the Islas Flotantes or Floating Islands which you can access from Puno. They are surreal, extremely touristy and there is a million ways to spend your money on them from overnight stays to little pieces of jewellery or even a boat ride in a traditional boat. Once you get past all of this though and listen to the history of the people and how they live and construct their islands it is quite incredible. Our tour was late in picking us up, 45 mins late so we did not get much sunlight to see the islands but other than that it was a good afternoon. The islands are inhabited by the Uros people who took to the water to flee the warlike tribes of the Aymara and Tiwanaku peoples. Almost everything they use is constructed entirely from the reeds that can be found in the lake. The islands themselves are constructed from these reeds and are moored with and anchor from the roots of the plant. If the people on the island want to move then they simply up anchor and float to where they want to go. The islands are also made up of small individual communities, each with a leader who is elected every 2 years (I think). They are a collection of small democracies that combine to create a larger communtiy. We were treated to a trip in one of the traditional boats and whilst floating to another island the chiefs small boy sang a rendition of a French song in no less than 7 languages to us, including Quechua, Aymara, Spanish, French, German and even Japanese. That was quite something. There is a steamer ship docked in Puno called the Yavari which in the guide books claims comes from England. However we believe that it comes from Dumbarton and after leaving the islands we passed it in the dark. It was carried in over 2000 pieces all the way from the UK and over the Andes by donkeys before being put together on the Lake. After the islands we headed straight, overnight, for the colonial city of Cuzco. Qosqo is a Quechua word and means centre of the world and it is where the Inca empire made their centre. The Plaza de Armas is beautiful with 3 impressive churches surrounding it. These were built on the top of important Inca buildings. We met again with Tamara and Adam in Cuzco and watched Scotlands opening game in the RWC with Adam and two other friends we had been in Cochabamba with. We visited the site of an Inca fortress with Tamara just outside of Cuzco. The fort is called Saqsaywaman which is easier pronounced as Sexy woman. It is impressive and is desgined in the shape of a puma with diagonal walls representing the teeth. We were not keen on paying the 70soles entry fee and so instead climbed the nearby hill to Christo Blanco and were rewarded with a great view of the fort, the city and an old man playing traditional songs on his guitar. A couple of free city tours showed some more colonial style buildings, built on top of the foundations the Quechua had built. One special foundation contains a 12 point stone which many believe to have spiritual powers. Cuzco is a beautiful city in a wonderful setting with a pretty good nightlife as well. However the constant badgering by people trying to sell you everything and anything certainly grinds. There is only so many times that you can say no thank you to the same person before getting annoyed. The city is also a great base for some excellent adventures as we were about to find out. Machu Picchu was first on the list and we had been waiting 4 months for it.