Puno, Peru - Day 1

The floating villages on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca are a very staged tourist attraction. The Peruvians should just call it Disney World on reeds. Locals dressed in their native outfits, pose, smile and wave just like the “It’s a small world after all” ride. But like Disney World, the floating village has an innate ability to entertain and amaze anybody between the age of 5 and 80. The floating islands are like a 17th century science fair project. How many people can we fit onto a pile of floating plants? Can we build a house on it? How about a town? Oh let’s just see if we can LIVE on floating plants. Somewhere along this science fair project, the teacher forgot to tell the students that the science fair was over and that they can return to their land which is a 20 minute boat ride away.

Jumping up and down on the floating blocks of soil, climbing up lookout towers, and taking boat rides on straw bound together with string, is a fun learning experience. The locals string together blocks of floating soil (don’t ask me how it floats but I tried to push a block down in the water and it promptly popped back up like a cork) and then place piles and piles of reeds on them. When the reeds become waterlogged every two weeks or so, they are replaced with new ones. As such, a large part of the local’s activities not only include fishing and hunting birds but also prepare the future reeds for use. Although who knows, perhaps they live in mini mansions on the main land and just come to the floating islands that their ancestors previously inhabited from 9-5.

I got to my place around 8 pm and set about exploring Puno for a dinner spot. Following the suggestion of a local, I ended up finding a remarkably touristy, delectable delicious, and entertaining restaurant. They had folk dancing there and I got to try alpaca. The meat arrived perfectly cooked, medium rare, slightly charred and quivering atop a bed of cheesy grain which I can only equate to grits. The mass was more cheesy and stringy than grainy with a one needing to cut the starch that the meat rested on. Local organic vegetables accompanied the dish. Along with a local Andean soup and a delicious kingfish ceviche, the whole meal and dining experience set me back only $15 dollars. Gotta love Peru.

Puno, Peru - Day 1