Back to Peru

The Pictures are:

1. Island of the Uros people

2. "Traditional" boat filled with coke bottles

3. Look how many people it can hold

4. See the cute rabbit

5. Me juggling in Puno-Nathan what do you think?

So as quick as we arrived in Bolivia it was time to leave. We only spent two nights there, and need to go back some day. On the way back Eva did not have to fight for butt space in a small vehicle as we took a direct bus. It stopped for border formalities on both sides and went all the way to Puno. It was a little more expensive than the regular mini vans and was only filled with "rich" foreigners. Incidentally it would have made an excellent score if you were into holding up buses.

About halfway into the journey a guy got on selling tours to the Uros Islands and hotels for the night. He cleaned up and got a lot of business including Eva and myself. It was two things we wanted anyway and the prices seemed good. So when we got to Puno, he put us in cabs (included) and 6 of us went to the same hotel. Two German guys and a Belgian couple accompanied us. We all discussed as to whether we would ever get that tour we paid for or if the guy would run off with our money. It was only 20 soles each (about 6 USD) so I wasn't too worried. But we paid 11 USD each total for hotel and tour and many people had to get their cut from that. The hotel, the cab driver, the boat owner, the tour guide, the mini van guy that picked us up for the tour and of course the salesman. Not much to go around really.

So we had a quick look around Puno and then back to our hotel to await the tour. The six of us waited outside our hotel, and eventually the mini van came. It took us to the docks and we got on a boat with about 30 other people who I think had been waiting a while (impatiently) for us to arrive. More than 75% of them were Israelis. There sure are a lot of them traveling in South America. Then we were off to go visit the Uros people.

From my understanding from our tour guide, the Uros people are a pre-Inca society that fled to the lake to avoid conflict with another local tribe. Instead of fighting for the land, they built themselves Islands out of reeds. Around 3000 descendants still live today with a few hundred maintaining the Island lifestyle. They also build boats out of reeds. They used to be made out of solid reeds, but now they use something else. Empty plastic coke bottles, so they are good for something. We visited two Islands and the families that live there. They showed us how they build their Islands and took us in a reed boat. On the reed boat over to the main Island (with the school) the boatman's little daughter sang us songs in 7-8 languages. A lot of people think that this excursion is "to touristy" and don't like the pressure of the families hawking their goods. But I think, of course it is why else would people invite mass tourism into their home, and I think a man-made Island is worth seeing. I remember our tour guide told us one thing about the lake. He said the Bolivians are fond of saying this about it "We get the Titi and they (the Peruvians) get the Caca."

We got back after dark and there were not enough mini vans for all of us. I guess the cut was not big enough for all those people I mentioned and a few drivers decided not to show. The six of us staying at the same hotel figured safety in numbers and walked back. It was only 20 minutes, a long walk for an American but certainly short for the Europeans. Eva and I had take away pizza in our room that night and fell asleep early. The next day we had the whole morning to walk around Puno before getting on a bus to Cuzco.