Exploring the biggest lake of South America

When we arrived in Puno, we had our first sight of the highest navigable and biggest lake of South America, the famous Lago Titikaka. Its name had meant so much to us, even before we saw it: we were thinking ocean like blue waters set in a high Andean plateau. The reality was like our fantasies: a huge lake, blue waters shining in the sun and bordered by Andean towns on green hills. Its vast waters spread across two countries: Peru, that has 60% of its waters and Bolivia. In the next few days, we would explore the lake by boat and visit a few of its islands on both sides of the border.

Walking on floating islands made of reeds

Puno was a really dynamic middle-sized town right on the lake. As we were walking down the streets, there was activity all around, from street vendors trying to sell you their food, minibuses calling up for customers by yelling their destination, moto-taxis buzzing quickly through the streets and finally bikes with a cart hauling people around. It was fun to watch all this mix of people and moving vehicles around us. For our first dinner in town, we tried a new meat: Alcapa, the smaller cousin of the Llama. They had it in many restaurants and with the live ones we just had seen on our journey, we were intrigued about what it tasted like. The steak was very appetizing and we were told hat it also is a very lean and healthy meat. From the first bite, we loved it! The taste is quite hard to describe: it was tender even if stringy and had a subtle gamy flavor to it, with the color of pork. It was a delicious novelty that we would for sure have again.

The next morning, we left the motorcycles at the hotel and walked to the port to take a boat to the Uros islands. Actually, they are not really islands: they were created a long time ago by the Uros tribe to escape the Inkas and Crollas, both aggressive civilizations trying to expand their kingdom. To escape, the Uros went to the Lago Titikaka and by using Totora, a buoyant reed that grows everywhere on the lake, they built their own “islands” far away from the attacks. It proved to be a very successful tactic as to this day, they are still about 45 floating islands on the lake. The technique they use is so unique: they take the reed and use the base of the plant as a floating base for their islands, which can be as thick as two meters. They cut these bases in blocks that they tie together with string and wood stick to build the base of the island, on which they pile up the reeds to form the ground on which they walk. As the “island” gets older and the lower layers of reed rot away, they pile new layers on top, constantly keeping the island afloat. In addition, to avoid that the island is blown away by the wind, they attach it to wood poles planted in the lake. We were fascinated by how the locals explained us how this all works and how they were able to keep their unique lifestyle alive to these days, even if their population is only about eight hundred people today.

While we were impressed by how they had build all this and how their culture had survived, we were a little disturbed by how over commercialized it had become. They made it clear from the start that without the tourists, they would not be able to survive and any occasion was good to get money from their visitors. They were really friendly with us which was the good side of it but really pushy when it came to sell craft, have us order food or drinks, take us on a tour in one of their handmade Totora boat or even try on their traditional clothes. As you can see, Caroline was not able to get out of wearing all the local clothes and posing with the President of the island to Chad's delight, who was snapping pictures. We really liked our visit of the floating islands, understanding how their entire culture revolves around the reed that they use for everything. It was just tiring at times to be reminded constantly that we were the tourists with all the money and that we had to make a contribution to help them to survive.

A slightly disturbing border crossing into Bolivia

Our second night in Puno was going to be our last one in Peru and we enjoyed a tasty dinner, where Alpaca was again the course of honor. With a warm sun and no rain cloud on the horizon, we drove towards the Bolivian border. The road was along the lake and we were enjoying incredible views of the water, with an endless blue sky where big white clouds were hanging around. It looked like the earth had no end with this big plateau stretching as far as the eyes could see. Before crossing the border, we stopped in the little town of Juli, also called the Little Rome of Peru since it has four beautiful colonial churches that look like they were taken straight out of Antique Rome. We had a hard time believing that such a small town had four big and beautiful churches. This was the last town we visited in Peru and after a quick lunch, time to go to the border before it closes, especially since Bolivia is an hour ahead of Peru.

We arrived at the tiny border town of Yunguyo, right on the lake as well. Leaving Peru went really fast as they were very few people in line: a stamp from the Police on our entry card, an exit stamp from immigration in our passport and a quick visit to customs to return the temporary vehicle importation paper and we were ready to go. They opened the gate for us and we drove to the Bolivian immigration building. Since all the other borders in South America had been so easy, I think we were a little too relaxed for this one. Immigration was easy even if we had to go through two different processes: Caroline got a free entry into Bolivia for 30 days while Chad, as an American citizen had to apply for a visa. His papers filed and $135 later, he got his visa sticker in the passport valid for 90 days each year for the next five years. Not cheap... Then we went customs: the paperwork for the bike was quick and easy but not the other questions they asked. We declared that we were traveling with two cameras and a laptop (which obviously we should have lied about): the customs officer wanted to see the original invoices to prove we had not stolen them and see how much they were worth. We did not have the invoices which was going to be a problem: he would not be able to let us in with our electronics. We had a feeling that he was about to ask for money to help with the situation. We explained to him that we had not stolen them and that our insurance had asked us not to bring the invoices with us in case they get stolen. He listened, thought for a while and finally let us go, warning us that we should be very careful and not get them stolen in Bolivia.

Almost ready, we had to get a last stamp from the police who had to verify our paperwork and make sure we had an insurance. They asked for all our papers and even if everything was in order, they held on to it. The officer was kind of explaining that a monetary contribution would be appreciated before we leave, all this ironically under big posters on the wall, stating that corruption should not be allowed nor supported. We just acted confused, took our papers from his hands and left with the stamp. It was a weird and uneasy border crossing, that reminded us of the ones in Central America. Even if all ended up well, we will not let our guard down for the next one. It was not really the warm welcome we were hoping for so let's hope that we will enjoy the country more once in Copacabana, a small town on the lake.