Daisy Abigail's: Live from Peru: Puno: Floating Islands

We arrived in Puno around 5:30 that night and got dropped off at our hotel…probably the nicest hotel I’ve ever stayed at in my life. The only time I’ve stayed at one that nice is when my family’s gone to Great Wolf Lodge or something similar to that. It was Saturday night so we headed out to do some checking out of the city. We were only a block from the Plaza de Armas and when we got there we could see there was something going on at the cathedral in the center. Saturday was the day before Easter so we knew it had to do with that. Noelle bought us each a candle so we could participate in whatever was going on. We waited outside for a bit as the clergy came out and did some stuff and then we all went inside for the mass. It was interesting to be in there, experiencing another religion on a holiday such as Easter. It was on my bucket list!! We left partway though since we couldn’t understand anything and my tummy was growling.

Notice the lady's hair next to me. Each city we've visited has had a pretty distinct cultural way to dress. Puno's women wore large yarn extensions in their hair. Usually the whole braid was their own hair, but then they had these bell-like thick braids attached to the end. Even some of the really young girls wore them.

The three of us found a small pizza place to get a quick, cheap bite to eat before heading back to the hotel for the night. For some reason, we always pick the sketchiest looking places to eat since leaving Cajamarca. I don’t know why, but it never crosses our mind until we realize we’re in the restaurant no one else is in and we’re sitting in lawn chairs inside. Thankfully, none of us have gotten really sick while traveling.

The adventure to the floating islands started early Sunday morning. We took a boat out on the lake with about 20 other tourists. What are the floating islands? Well, they’re these manmade islands made out of reeds that are in the middle of this huge lake. Between two and six families live on each island, it just depends on the size. They also have an island or two for the school and one for the church. They are all positioned in a big circle. Currently, they are anchored down but if they want their island to move, they just undo their anchor system and move their home wherever they want. It’s kind of a crazy concept. We were told each island will last 11-12 years and then they have to make a new one although it takes about seven months to build a new one.

It looks like grass in the background but they're actually reeds.

So although the islands in themselves were cool, I was a little weirded out being there. I felt like the whole thing was just a show and for tourism now. I’m not really sure what these people do besides sell souvenirs to tourists. They stand on the edge of the island, waving to you as your boat pulls up, then after you learn about the islands from your guide, a woman comes up (sometimes with a child in her arms) and invites you to come to her home and see what it looks like. So I walk into this lady’s very tiny home (the size of my closet at home…maybe a few square feet bigger) and get to look around and try talking to her kids for a few minutes. After a bit inside, she invites me, and the others who were in her home, to look at her handicrafts and to buy one to help support her family.

A few of the women chatting. I'm quite proud of myself for this picture...no photoshopping or enhancements of any kind.

Their homes on the islands.

Our tour guide explaining to us what we could buy from them.

Eating reeds.

I’m just confused as to what the people there do today. I’m sure even 20 years ago they didn’t have as much tourism so living on the islands would be more of a way of life. That’s cool. I just felt so invasive being there and felt like I was hindering the authenticity of the island way of life. Maybe I’m totally overreacting, but maybe I’m not too. I’ll never know. They were cool though, I’ll give them that. And I enjoyed seeing their traditional costumes, especially since they were soooo different than the mountain women of Cajamarca.

After the floating islands we hopped back on the boat for 2 hours and 20 minutes to get to another, real island for lunch. We were on a boat over two hours just so we could eat lunch haha. It’s a really good thing the lake and surroundings were beautiful and the weather was PERFECT or the ride could have been really long and boring. I enjoyed just sitting on top with the wind in my hair and the sun in my face (I was the only one of us that didn’t get burned), soaking up the beauty of the highest lake in the world.