Las Aventuras en Perú: Un viaje increíble ~ Puno

On Thursday we took off on our journey to Puno at about 7:30am. Although we were looking forward to sleeping on the bus, we were soon to find out that this was not an ordinary bus but a tourism bus. The bus had its own guide and made four stops along the way.

Our first stop was only about a half hour into the ride, at the tiny town of Andahuaylillas. Here we toured La Iglesia de San Pedro, which was constructed sometime in the 1500s and was later turned into a Jesuit church. The church displayed influences from both the Incas and the Spanish, and some of the Incas who helped make it were buried under the floor while some of the Spanish who constructed it were buried within the walls. On the way out, our guide Juan pointed out a very interesting painting portraying the pathway to hell as full of flowers and the pathway to heaven as full of thorns - an interesting interpretation of the suffering experienced by the people who constructed the church. Our next stop was a site of Incan ruins called Raqchi, which was a huge temple complex dedicated to the god Wiracocha. After that, we stoped at a spot called La Raya, which is the highest point on the way between Cusco and Puno (4335 meters above sea level) and has a beautiful view of the mountains. The last stop on the journey was a tiny town called Pukara, where we saw a museum of ancient artifacts and ceramics of cultures from times before Christ.

Finally, after 10 hours of travelling, we arrived in Puno. Puno is a beautiful city overlooking Lake Titicaca, although most of the city remains in poverty. Lake Titicaca is an amazing sight, as it is the world's highest navigable lake. We explored the city of Puno a little on Friday night and made sure to rest up for a busy day on Saturday. On Saturday we left the hotel by 6:45am to take a boat ride on Lake Titicaca. First on our agenda, we went to Las Islas Uros, the floating islands that are about half an hour from Puno by boat. The people originally constructed these islands to escape from the Incas, and they speak the native language Aymara as well as Spanish. The islands were absolutely amazing - they are made simply of about a foot's depth of reeds and they are anchored to the bottom of the lake so they will not float away! As soon as our boat arrived, the people of the island came right over to us to welcome us to their home. A woman named Rosa approached me and invited me to see her house, which was a reed house with one room. She told me a little about the island and then gave me some clothes that the Uros people wear and told me to try them on! When I walked out of her hut, I saw all the other HC students wearing the clothes too, and we made sure to take plently of pictures!

After the Islas Uros, we took a 2-hour boat ride to La Isla Taquile, which is an island town built onto a hill. We hiked up the hill for a while, stopping to take in the beautiful views along the way. When we arrived in the main plaza, we saw all the island people dancing around the plaza to celebrate the festival of San Santiago. The people of Taquile wear unique clothing - married men wear red hats, single men wear red and white hats, and women usually wear a black covering over their heads. The people of Taquile speak Quechua and Spanish, since they descended from the Incas. For lunch on the Taquile Island we had fresh trout, and it was one of my favorite meals so far in Peru. After La Isla Taquile, we took the 2 1/2 hour boat ride back to Puno. That night we had dinner in the Plaza de Armas and met up with a relative of Megan who lives in Puno. Megan's father's cousin has been living and working in Puno as a priest for 40 years, and it was very interesting to hear some of his stories.

On Sunday we drove to a small town called Chucuito and saw a Spanish look-out point over Lake Titicaca, as well as the Inca Templo de la Fertilidad. In the afternoon, we took off for the airport in the city of Juliaca. On the way to Juliaca we stopped to see an old cemetary and burial ground for the Kolla culture from the years 1000 dc to 1600 dc. The site is called Sillustani and had many huge tombs marking the grave site for entire families. Many of the graves were destroyed when the Spanish came and stole gold and silver from the burial sites. The top of Sillustani also had amazing views of the two lakes on both sides of the peninsula.

After Sillustani, we completed our trip to the airport, waited a while, and finally flew home to Lima. It was an unforgettable week of travel, and I was so intrigued and amazed at everything we experienced and saw. I am so excited to plan weekend trips to further explore Peru during the semester. By the end of the trip, we were satisfied with all that we saw, but certainly ready to return to Lima - our new home.

Las Islas Uros - Islas flotantes