Wednesday, July 03, 2019

Day 7 - Lake Tititaca

I've been doing some whining
now I'm doing some finding
Say You Don't Mind - Hailey Tuck

Day 7 was perhaps the toughest day for Gioia. It was our last Peru Hop ride and it was supposed to be a straightforward ride that wasn't supposed to be that long, but it became quite a long day and with the altitude, I guess it was trying to many people. Our pick-up time was supposed to be at 05:15 AM, but our guide told us to ignore that pick-up time and be ready at 05:00 AM. Yeah it's early and hence I was glad that this was the last ride. Gioia again was ready and was already checked out and got our packed breakfasts when I got down. We asked the hotel staff to get our luggages down the stairs and as he got the second luggage down, the Peru Hop shuttle people was there to pick us up. We're the first to be picked up which meant our luggages had enough space for storage. Really as we picked more people, more bags needed to be put in. The driver was a guy and the staff who collected people was like an auntie and I thought she was very strong in helping us with our things. Me and Gioia spent the time picking people discussing about Game of Thrones :D

Then we're all dropped at this place waiting for the buses to come. By this time, the sun has risen but it's still cold. There's a few buses because there's the one going the Cusco - Lima direction, the one going straight to Cusco, and the one we're on going to Puno. Side note: the buses that's going to the direction of Cusco to Lima have a more demanding schedule, there's more than one overnight bus and the arrival timing kinda sucks. I definitely wouldn't want to do that. Anyways, after asking a few times to make sure we got into the correct bus, we got into the bus. There's a breakfast stop by a big market. The market scene reminded me of market in Indonesia, again there's that familiar feeling. Me and Gioia didn't get breakfast, instead I just ate what the hotel gave us. I recalled there was a sandwich, but I didn't eat that and gave that to Gioia. I really didn't want to do the bread anymore. I recalled there's a juice box and a peach for me. So that's that and we went along on our journey.

The bus stopped a few times and I suddenly became aware of that after I woke up from one of my dozing off. I thought there could be some traffic which was kinda silly. Then I thought perhaps big vehicles just had to move slower in this mountain roads. Then we found out the bus was having difficulty. The evening before Peru Hop emailed us to say that they're changing the bus due to technical difficulty but this supposedly better bus we're on was having a lot of breakdowns. I guess the engine got overheated easily so every so often they had to stop and cooled down the engine. I was unexpectedly calm in the midst of all this. No complaining, nothing, just accepting the fact. We were stranded in a place with a view, with mountains all around, so it wasn't all bad. However for people feeling the altitude, this sucked so bad. Our guide felt bad for us too. He managed to call his people, which by the way I thought was kinda amazing because I wasn't having phone signal in the mountains. He managed to get a different bus to pick us up once we reached a scheduled stop. The scheduled stop was Lagunillas Lake which was this big lake which I thought was quite stunning that day.

I read some people say they saw flamingo here, but I didn't see any when I was there and I was kinda sad disappointed. There were 1-2 llama or alpaca which was tied down. This one below is a llama.

I think on normal situation we would spend more time there however since we're already running so late, we didn't stay long. The new bus was there, our bags had been moved, so the guide was like calling people to get on the bus. We're supposed to arrive in Puno at 1 PM but we arrived sometime after 3 PM. There were shuttle vans waiting to pick us up and get us to our hotels and it was like a rush to get everyone and their bags. We ourselves had a booking for a tour of Lake Tititaca at 4 PM and we're rushing for that. Peru Hop was giving everyone a free tour of this, but I already booked and paid for this separately. I guess I could ask a refund from Peru Hop, but I really didn't want to deal with them anymore. That being said, yeah our trip didn't go smoothly but unless there's a better alternative or unless I get so much richer, if ever I get to Peru again (that is if God blesses me again), I think I may use them again. So anyway we got to our hotel and we didn't have much time before our tour pick-up and we rushed to get checked in so that at least we could settle something and luckily we were able to do that. I managed to store our bags in our rooms, paid for the rooms, and there's a small window to relax and drink coca teas.

Really before long we're picked up for the Lake Tititaca tour. The guide for that was kinda upset because of the rushing and he said Peru Hop always does this, they're not very organized. Since I was okay and somehow calm throughout the whole ordeal, I was really okay about everything, but I realized for people with altitude problem, it can be too much. Also note that day we didn't have lunch. I think I did get chocolate at the stop in Lagunillas Lake. Sugar level is always a concern of mind :D I guess for people having issues with altitude, they may not have appetite so no lunch was okay but you really need to keep yourself strong. Anyways there's 2 Chinese girls in the bus with us and staying in the same hotel and they didn't go for the Lake Tititaca tour, even though it became free. I guess they couldn't take it anymore. Gioia herself wasn't feeling great so it's kinda good of her to power through. Puno is at the highest altitude of all the places we stayed in and Lake Tititaca is a lake at the highest altitude in the world. The tour started by taking a normal boat to one of the man-made island in the lake. This man-made or floating island is made by the local people using layers of reeds called totora. The people made their own small island enough to fit their family. The island we arrived in was quite small, maybe for like 10-15 people. The island chief was explaining how the island is made. The totora is like a giant spring onion. You can eat the end part of it. To me it tasted like a juicy benkoang which is the Indonesian word for jicama. It was kinda interesting to learn how the island is made and they do have to do maintenance on it from time to time. Then we were invited to enter their huts which is just 1 room for everything - sleeping, watching tv, etc. It's not a luxurious life. Then outside the family was selling hand-made souvenirs. The knitting works are extraordinary. They're so beautiful, but I just have no need for them and no space :( There's a lot of knitted things being sold everywhere in Peru and I think Peruvian can just knit very fast - it makes you want to learn from them.

After that we took their traditional decorated boat to go around a bit. The boat had 2 levels and I was sitting at the top. There's like another small boat with engine tied to this traditional boat to get us around. If not I think the way to get around is to paddle. You can see the boat in the picture below, the one in yellow. The boat has like a cat figure on it. Side note: it's funny that in Peru there's a lot of stray dogs but you hardly see cats. We wondered if it's really because of the dogs, there's no cat. Also I say stray but I guess it's more like a community dog? People don't seem to mind them and as Gioia pointed out, they looked well fed.

As you can see above, my picture sucks. I just have myself to blame. So after the short ride in that traditional boat, we got into our other boat and went to this other small island where you can get your passport stamped with Lake Tititaca picture. Considering Indonesian passport is not that great, I didn't do it since I didn't want my passport be more problematic. Gioia did though, well she holds a Singapore passport. Then it was the boat ride back to Puno. The sun was setting and from the boat I saw that the dark clouds over Puno were very dramatic.

For pictures from that day, please go here. The pictures are not good and quite a few were heavily photoshopped with filters and all. When we arrived back at the dock, the sun had totally set. The town looked kinda nice with lights coming from buildings. We straight away went to dinner at a restaurant near the hotel. Restaurant was at the second floor and we had to climb like a flight of stairs. I knew Gioia was already tired and I asked if she would be okay, she said yes. Even for me, I still felt a bit breathless on arriving on the second floor. Since we hadn't eaten much that day, I had pasta. Since Gioia was struggling physically, she just had quinoa soup which she said was good. Then it's a walk back to the hotel. Unlike other rooms we had before, the rooms in Puno had heaters because Puno was much colder. The bed even had 2 blankets and I slept under them with the heater on. That day was not the most ideal day, but I guess we could be thankful that we made it.

:) eKa @ 9:11:00 PM •