Machu Picchu

Travelers' Takes

Rates and Deals

Lake Titicaca

More Photos
stevepage
stevepage
First Reviewer
4 out of 5
Avg. Member Rating
2
Reviews
4
Photos
Sort by: Most Recent|Positive|Negative|Most Useful
1-2 of 2
Editor Pick

Visiting Lake Titicaca

  • October 8, 2009
  • Rated 5 of 5 by beckyX from Cambridge, United Kingdom
Visiting Lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca is situated on the border between Peru and Bolivia and is famous for being (arguably) the highest navigable lake in the world (3812m above sea level). Even though that definition may be subjective, (there are higher lakes in the world and some boats can navigate in only a few inches of water), you shouldn't question that claim too loudly - this lake is home to the Bolivian Navy (pretty impressive, given that Bolivia is landlocked!). Either way, the lake is visually very impressive and immense, with a surface area of over 8000 square kilometres.

My review is of my travels on the Peruvian side, since that was where I visited.

===Getting there===
The main city in this region of Peru is Puno, which is located on the Western shore. We arrived here by road from Arequipa - if you take this route, then do not underestimate how high the Andean passes are on this route - they are physically challenging even by bus. The other main arrival route by road is from Cuzco, which was our onward route. The nearest airport is about 30 miles north of here in Juliaca, although you would have to connect via Lima.

When visiting the lake, you can take a ferry to stay on one of its several islands; you leave your luggage behind in Puno and just travel with a swimsuit, any medicine, plenty of money and an (optional) change of clothing. Many of the ferries also stop at the Uros "Islands" en route.

===The Uros Islands===
The Uros islands are the famous floating islands on Tititcaca. These islands are anchored in place and are constructed from mats of tortora reeds and are home to the Uros people. As the reeds are very biodegradable, the islanders have to constantly rebuild their islands from the top down - our guide told us that without this, the islands would rot and break up in only a few months.

We arrived on the islands by motorboat and were greeted with a miniature reed sculpture of a boat and freshly baked flatbread and cups of the ubiquitous Peruvian tea. These had been prepared on a clay stove, which was used directly on the (probably highly flammable) reed island. Walking on the island is a strange experience - it feels very springy, but reasonably secure, so I didn't feel I was about to put my foot straight through!

We were then shown around some of the islands and chatted to many of the islanders in Spanish (apparently the Uru language is no longer widely spoken as a first language). The houses were extremely small and were also built from tortora reeds. The elementary school on the islands though was a little more rugged, made from corrugated metal; inside here was a very simple classroom, with little more on the walls than a map of the world. Tourism is now the main industry here, and everyone, young and old made us feel very welcome, although there was an inevitable undercurrent of salesmanship and the knowledge that people feel the urge to reciprocate. One thing that you must do if you visit is bring gifts for the young children - pens and pencils are recommended although, naturally enough, what the children really want are sweets and they aren't shy about asking you for them!

As a part of our tour, we were given a ride on a twin-hulled reed boat, which had a platform which we stood upon and relied on paddlers below for propulsion. Then, sadly, it was nearly time to go. But we did have time to shop before we left and bought plenty of the small reed sculptures (of boats and of people) as well as woven and embroidered items, such as cushion covers and ceramic bowls (which I suspect may have been fired on the mainland). As in the rest of Peru, haggling is an important part of the buying process, although after such a warm welcome, we didn't haggle too hard!

===Taquile Island===
Our lakeward journey then took us on to Taquile Island, a hilly island located in the middle of the lake. Tourists who stay here as we did do not stay in a hotel; instead we are accommodated in someone's home. The accommodation was fairly basic by tourist standards (although luxurious for local standards), but the beds were very comfortable. The house we stayed in was very reminiscent of a youth hostel - many beds crammed into tiny rooms in barns and outbuildings. Dinner was in a canteen-like hall, which was the only place that had electric lighting - our bedrooms were lit by candlelight. The other facilities were similarly rustic - no showers and only outdoor toilets which were, thankfully, of the Western style (and not the hole in the ground that you find most places), which were supplied with water via a big water butt. Sadly, only one of these actually had a door, but I'm sure the view out of the second out onto the lake must have been superb!

There is no transport on the island, so you have to walk everywhere. As we were still adjusting to the altitude, this is an extremely slow and painful process, particularly since this place is very hilly. We wandered around slowly being shown the sights and spent sunset visiting pre-Columbian ruins of local religious significance. As in the rest of Peru, the religion here is a mixture between Catholisism and the old ways. When you reach high places, you often find small rock piles, which are religious offerings and show that that place is sacred.

Another expedition that we made was down to the beach for a swim. With the waves lapping against the beach, the lake really had the feel of a sea to it, although the water was sweet, not saline. When swimming, I found that it was hard to imagine with the glorious blue skies and clement weather that I was nearly 4km above sea level. The trek back up hill soon brought it home to me though!

The main village on the island has an art exhibition centre, where you can view work that has been produced by the people of the island. These people are Aymara, which is both the name of the people and of the language (it is one of three official languages of Peru and is very distinct from Quechua and Spanish, which are the other main languages). The Aymara spoken here is a subtly different dialect from that which is spoken on the mainland of Peru and of Bolivia, and the culture here is correspondingly also different. Weaving and knitting are culturally very important here and are only done by the men. The woven goods are a main source of income here - you can buy the sashes and the hats that the men wear, although be careful, because the patterns and the colours apparently indicate your marital status and availability!

Sadly, the time came all too quickly to depart from the island. The way off the island involved a tiring trek up over the hill and down a steep set of steps to the harbour. Then once again, a boat took us back to the mainland, to leave behind the stunning lake and continue on our onward adventure.

===Handling the altitude===
I can report first hand that at 3812m above sea level, this lake is indeed extremely high. That's high enough that you have a pretty good chance of getting altitude sickness (as indeed I did have by that point). But the good news is that you can get diamox (an altitude sickness medicine) over the counter at pharmacies in Peru (in the UK you have to get a private prescription). This pushes the cost right down - it cost about 20p per tablet there, as opposed to £4 per tablet from the travel clinic. All my travelling companions (who included medical doctors and many seasoned travellers of high altitude) warned me against the medicine as they said it had horrendous side effects. This meant I didn't take it in advance like you are supposed to; BIG mistake! Altitude sickness in the lungs is truly awful, so do take the medicine before you get to altitude!

Other than one curious property, I didn't notice any effect of the medicine other than it making me feel better (in the interests of neutrality - this would have happened anyway, it just speeds up the process). The curious property is that it makes carbonated drinks taste flat. I had heard about this, so I tried this out with a bottle of carbonated water, not really expecting anything, and it was true! I could tell from the flavour that it was acidic, but it didn't feel fizzy in the slightest.

===In conclusion===
This is a truly stunning place to visit. I can't recommend it highly enough that you come here if you visit Peru.

NB: Review will be posted elsewhere

From journal Peru Travels

Editor Pick

Lake Titicaca

  • August 1, 2002
  • Rated 3 of 5 by stevepage from dundee, United Kingdom
Lake Titicaca

Uros Islands A short distance offshore from the town of Puno, The Uros Islands are home to an Indian community who are now almost wholly reliant on the tourist trade for their continued existence. The islands are constructed from layers of reeds which form rafts, as the reeds at the base of the raft rot away more layers are added above. The community operate a line of craft stalls on each island and a small natural history museum which is pretty good considering their limited means, beyond this the only other industry is fishing, undertaken either from reed woven boats or more commonly from normal wooden rowing boats. Although once these people did actually live like this the influx of tourists have changed their way of life forever, some “residents” actually commute out to the islands each morning to meet the tourists and the straw huts now have basic electrical power provided by solar panels and car batteries Thor Heyerdahl – The knowledge involved in the construction of the reed boats has been passed down through the generations of the Indians living on Lake Titicaca but little is recorded about its origins. This began to interest the Norwegian archaeologist Thor Heyerdahl who first aired the theory that this technology could have existed since very ancient times. To prove the basis for his theory he became involved in a number of expeditions between 1947 (Kon-Tiki – Peru to Polynesia) and 1977 (Tigris – Persian Gulf) all of which used reed based craft constructed using local techniques from around the world. Whilst the Kon Tiki expedition is perhaps the most famous in achievement terms the Ra II championed the theory by completing a transatlantic crossing from Morocco to Barbados in just under two months.The theory was further reinforced by Thor during excavations in Tucume, Peru where images of such boats were found along with images similar to those found on Easter island. Taquile Island A few hours further out from the Uros Islands, Taquile Island hosts a small traditional community, largely based on agriculture. The community members have grouped together to provide services to the visitors, ranging from boat hire and tour guides to the pre-Inca archaeological sites and the customs of the people to porterage of baggage. In addition there are three communally owned shops and the San Santiago restaurant in the village square. The annual craft and folklore fair is from about 25 July to 5 August. The community are concerned about the impacts of tourist visitors, both in terms of the environment through recycling and waste minimisation of refuse and to their culture, by requesting that visitors do not provide children with gifts or sweets and thereby encourage begging, donations for the children’s schooling is collected at the municipality in the main square instead. This is still undermined by tour companies who continue to advise clients to take a few pens or sweets along and a line of stalls selling exactly that at the harbour in Puno.

From journal On the trail to the lost city

Sort by: Most Recent|Positive|Negative|Most Useful
1-2 of 2

Compare Machu Picchu Rates

1. Enter travel information

City

2. Select websites to compare rates

Each selected website will open a new window.

Machu Picchu Travel Deals