Marian Johns' Journal of the Desert
Explorers trip to Peru in 2002
Images by John Page unless otherwise noted
Day 9, September
12, Thursday
Puno See Map
Sept. 12,
Thursday – The dining room where we had breakfast was like a glass
penthouse – 
with views of all the neighboring roof tops and Lake
Titicaca off in the distance.
We decided that we had better go ahead and take the boat trip out to the Uros Floating Islands without the other four, because we weren’t sure how long it would take them to get here from Arequipa. It had taken us between six and seven hours. Also, it looked like there was be a possibility of rain. If we waited for them, we might not get a chance to go at all. The hotel arranged for a bus to pick us up and take us down to the docks. That was a wise decision because otherwise it would have been quite a long walk.
We had a knowledgeable guide who gave us lots of information about the lake, the islands, and the Uros people.
They make the island with reeds – layers and layers of them. The
lake is very shallow in this area, and the reeds grow in abundance. When
the floating island reeds decay underneath, fresh ones are added on top.
Walking around feels rather strange – sort of spongy. With so many
tourists wanting to visit their islands, the residents have understandably
become tourist oriented. The Indian ladies make and sell souvenirs –
don’t know what the men do. Well, some of the men ferry tourists (like
me) around on their reed boats. I took a ride on one of these boats from
one island to another for three soles (90 cents). 
I read that some of the
Uros people now prefer to live in Puno, but still go out to the islands
every day to sell souvenirs to the tourists. And being a tourist, I bought
a pretty alpaca sweater with geometric designs knitted mostly in shades of
blue for only ~$9 US. I also bought an embroidered wall hanging and a
mobile made of tiny reed boats and colorful pompoms.
Back in Puno, we returned to the hotel and then walked to the pedestrian mall. Found a nice restaurant where the tourist menu for 12 soles (~ $3.50) was a super-good deal. I had a salad – avocado (called palto here) stuffed with chopped veggies (potatoes, carrots, green beans, onions) in a mayonnaise sauce, and soup – asparagus soup for me again, and a main dish – trout with fried papas (potatoes), sliced tomatoes, dessert – I had flan, and a drink – Coke for me. Asparagus is a major crop in Peru and it is exported to the US. All in all, it was one of the best meals I have had so far, and so reasonably priced!
After lunch, we walked farther on to the plaza and cathedral, after waiting for a procession of political advocates marching down the mall. When I got back to the hotel, I took a nap, and Charlayne took a walk by herself – not such a good idea, but luckily she didn’t get mugged - or worse. About 1:30, while I was napping, our fellow travelers arrived from Arequipa. They decided not to go on an afternoon boat trip. We had a late dinner, but I only ordered a bowl of vegetable soup. I wasn’t quite over my bout with the trots and I had had that big lunch, so I wasn’t too hungry.
