Friday afternoon we arrive in Puno, a small Peruvian town situated on the western end of Lake Titicaca. We have heard from friends that there are floating islands offshore that we can spend the night on.All we have is a phone number of some place and nothing more. So Amy calls the number, has a frantically confusing phone call with a man who hangs up on her after a few minutes convinced that all is clear concerning the arrangements. Amy is left with the impression that the man is coming to pick us up...but where? when? how? With so much confusion, Mariah and I insist that she call again. This time a woman answers and Amy is unable to understand no more than that the man has left and the woman will try to call him. The woman hangs up shouting loudly into the earpiece and amy is left worried and even more confused. Still unclear as to what we should do, we call one last time and learn that we need to go to the Liberador Hotel to meet the man. We are instructed to ask for Don Majin or Luis.
Now convinced that we have things under control, we take a taxi ride to a isolated location on a cliff overlooking the lake (which is so big you´d think it was the ocean). As we enter this enormously prestigious hotel lobby, that from the outside looked like some sort of military base... doubt begins to chip away at our confidence. We ask the 5-star concierge for Don M-- and are met with confused expressions from the staff. We explain that we are meeting him there to take a motorboat to the island and ask if meetings like this are normal...we learn that this NEVER happens. By this point we are thoroughly confused and frustrated. The hotel staff suggests we take a boat from the main port to the island of the hotel and thus, we do just that.
After a 20 minute boat ride, the motorboat docks at the first island and we get out. We are then presented with a very touristy presentation/explanation, a sort of ¨How did they do it!?¨ about the man-made islands. (Several hundred year ago, an Indigenous people group decided to avoid all of the conflicts between the colonizers and other groups by building islands solely of reeds and creating a new way of life living on them.) The show included dolls, mini houses and the grand finale of the guide explaining that if a family doesn´t get along with the others on the island, they just cut them off-literally (he pulls out a saw and demonstrates how they would cut off a part off the island)! Following the comical presentation, Amy is guilt-tripped into buying an expensive tapestry so that the children on the island can go to school. (mariah and Steph are touched but not enough to buy nic-nacs that we don´t want).
At last, we are on the boat approaching the island with our hotel. We have noticed that all the islands seem to consist solely of these reed hut structures. However, on our island we see a ´normal building with solid walls and a tin roof,´ which must be our hotel. WRONG! We are escorted to a lovely teepee with a reed floor which feels much like a nest. (Later we learn that the building is an evangelical church and hear familar praise songs blasted on the sound system late into the night. looked like someone had a generator they werent sharing!)
That night, the weather was cold and windy, and everything is outdoors. To stay on the island really is ´roughing it.´ The bathroom is a porcelain toilet sitting atop reeds surrounded by 4 reed walls....no roof. Naturally, there was no running water or electricity, so we were never very clear on the method of what we call ¨flushing.¨ so like everything even this part of our life became very communal if you will. The night was so cold that we all slept with jackets and scarves on, spooning for warmth. Needless to say, no one got much sleep.(especially amy, she had a horrible case of gas after that extra fresh trout for dinne-the cook literally shouted out the window..¨Tres Truchas!¨ and they caught them and brought them into the kitchen) It sure was an adventure, i suppose.It might have been a rough night but it was worth the experience of sleeping in a teepee on a reed island with an incredible community of islanders in Lake Titicaca!
And now? We´re back in La Paz after a day of travel yesterday. We made ¨friends¨ with some artisans (very much like hippies in our culture...but much more legit)on our bus and had an entire musical jam session as we cruised past the lakes and hills on our return, Mariah got a braid in her hair, and we had food fights with large overpopped corn that someone had spilled in the aisle. Needless to say, we may be waltzing our way down to the artisan community this afternoon to see if we can find our new friends once more before we leave, perhaps Antonio can even sing one last song about Steph´s deformed body! ¨I´ve got one arm! everyone else has two!!¨
sidenote: ever since Steph suffered her injury we´ve had to keep her arm wrapped up across her chest with large rolls of gauze. Although she receives some funny looks, for the most part she´s please with the decrease in cat calls, and increase in sympathy from authority figures (aka policemen, government officials, etc.)She is getting quite handy (ha!) with her one hand. She can dress herself, and even button her pants on her own!!! These are welcome and impressive strides, and so songs about her lack of arm just add to the fun of the transition...i think!
Mariah leaves tomarrow morning early early. So I´m incredibly sad to see her go, the month she´s been here flown by. So it will be without our third Amiga that we´ll return to Cocha, battle wounds and all, tomarrow afternoon/evening. It will be nice, but do have the feeling my big empty room will be a bit sad after all our adventures. i´ll need to busy myself immediately with left over work from ProHabitat and starting my spanish lessons back up.
peace,
amy
