Well, it´s been a hectic few days, I have to say! We left Copacabana to cross into Peru, and drove the full way around the lake. The border crossing was ridiculously easy - having an Irish passport is a ticket to smiles and welcomes, I´m telling you! Me and Alan met a lovely little chap, named Edbar, of about ten years old at the border, and he asked us for some Irish coins when we were passing. We didn´t have any, but I gave him all my Bolivian coins, and he sat chatting with us while we waited for the rest of our friends - turns out he learned English from passing tourists...and his English was fantastic! He told us all about the area, and showed us his shoe-shine box - but he seemed more interested in talking than hustling for money, as with some shoe-shiners. Also, at the end of the day, even though these kids are earning money for families, they are just kids, at the bottom line, and what kid doesn´t enjoy attention?? So, we chatted to him, and gave him some more money as we were leaving - the equivalent of about three euro, but his face lit up like it was Christmas. A great intro to Peru!
When we arrived in Puno, we were hustled to bits by our bus driver, who kept trying to get us to sign up to his boat tour to the islands, or buy tickets for the trip to Cusco off of him. He wouldn´t take no for an answer, and we ended up having to agree to meet him in our hotel the next night just to get him to leave us alone! Our hotel was fantastic - which it would want to be at $20 a night! But there was nothing else free in Puno, so we had to take it. We had two nights booked there, and we spent an awful lot of that time lolling in the bath and watching our cable television! We are very lazy at heart.....
The town itself was pretty nice, though, and our hotel overlooked the main square. The nights were punctuated with the beautiful sounds of the central cathederal´s bells ringing out the celebrations for Carnaval, the night sky dotted with fireworks, and our ears assailed with the sounds of marching and singing through the streets. However, nothing compared to the Sunday, when we moved to our new hotel - owned by our hustling friend, and with the special price of $10 per night - and we discovered that the town´s inhabitants took Carnaval very seriously, and the streets were filled with parades of colourfully dressed groups, who took turns marching to the main square, and preforming in front of the cathederal for the gathered crowds. We stood for hours in the sunshine, watching drum shows, and wonderful dances involving farming tools and women and men doing elaborate exchanges, which must surely mean something - but which we were woefully ignorant of! Kids in full traditional costume, women and men in multicoloured masks and clothes, flags waving, drums banging, pan-pipes tooting - it was everything I though Carnaval would be! And all that night, as the groups obviously began drinking, the street party continued! Our hotel was in the centre of it all, and by leaning out the window you could drink in the music and dancing without fear of attack - a favourite passtime of the Carnaval goers is the throwing of water balloons at gringos, and some cans of spray-foam were making appearances also! All in good fun, of course....
We set off Monday morning on the early boat (7.00!) to the islands, and our first stop was the floating islands, made of reeds. There are 37 in all, and each house about five families. We stopped at the first, and it was unbelievable! The reeds were visible metres down into the water, stacked on top of each other, and on top of turf, to keep the island stable, and the ground was springy beneath your feet as you strolled around. The families were most welcoming - as we sat listening to the description of our guide on how the islands were constructed, the women rushed forward with blankets to protect us from the rain! They welcomed us into our homes, speaking Ururu (I think that´s what it´s called!) - an ancient language from the ´people of the sun´. The kids freely wandered among us, asking us for chocolate, and happily played amongst the tourists! The houses, the ground, the roofs, their furniture - all made from the thick reeds that grow so abundantly on the lake. To top off our visit to the islands, we were taken in a reed boat to the next floating island - crowded together on the base, with the lake around us, and a cheeky girl of about six from the previous island who wandered amongst us, touching clothes and hair and hats with wonderment! She, as with all the women, were dressed in the many-layered dresses of various colours typical to the area. We bought some crafts from the locals - the least we could do! - and hopped back on our motor-boat. As we pulled away from this mass of floating islands, I notice a solar panel on the reed roof of one of the houses....and a t.v. inside! Ha ha......
Next stop was the larger island of Amantaní, where the islanders speak Quechuan. Here, we were treated to a smaller Carnaval, as the islanders marched across their small sun-drenched patch of land banging drums, playing pipes, and singing heartily! We walked across the hills from our harbour to the main village, where the islanders were all gathered. All in traditional wear, we were told that the coloured skirts on women meant that they were single, and black skirts signify marriage (in mourning for their freedom? ha ha!), unless they are young children - then it is the school uniform! The men, on the other hand, wear large woollen hats. Fully red hats signify marriage, and half red, half white signify single. Amazing!
The people of the island all weave, knit and sew - even the men. We entered their craft area, and I watched as women from the island and delivered their wares, and were all marked into a book. Each item you buy has the name of the maker on it, and I bought a scarf. 10% of the profit goes to the island at large, and the rest to the maker, so it was a great feeling knowing that some of the women who gathered around were benifiting directly! We ate lunch in one of the many communally owned restaurants, where for 12 soles - about 3 euro - we had vegetable soup (with vegetables all grown on the island) followed by grilled trout (caught in the lake) with rice and chips (all grown there). We walked back across the island in the sun, surrounded by the beautiful blue lake, and down the Incan steps to the harbour. There, we met the bands on their return journey, having traversed the majority of the island singing and playing their instruments. While we panted in the high altitude, they stolled upwards with ease - though their abilities were somewhat explained when one of the men zealously wished me a happy Carnaval and introduced himself, smelling strongly of alcohol.....ha ha! They would like St. Patrick´s day, I think.....
So, this morning we caught the early bus to Cusco. The journey should have taken about 7 hours, but the driver was a lunatic, so we got here in six. On the way, he narrowly avoided the legs of a motorcycle driver who came off his bike ahead of us...we were all thrown to one side as he swerved the bus! Scary stuff....
Cusco is as beautiful as I remember it! We´re staying in The Point hostel, which is owned by Davey - our fabulous Tipp man who owned The Wild Rover in La Paz (he´s getting here Sunday), so I´m currently sitting with a cold, bubbly, Brahma, and am about to settle in for a hectic evening of doing sweet fuck all!
And best of all today? I got an imported Twirl - REAL cadbury´s chocolate! And then when I got to the hostel? A bacon and egg toastie....
Life is good..........
Machu Pichu, here I come!
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