It´s a Trap!!: Lago Titicaca (and Arequipa)

We split our last week in Peru between two cities - Puno (on the banks of Lake Titicaca) and Arequipa.

The Tourist Trap:

Arriving in Puno, we grabbed an early dinner and slept for about 10 hours (trek recovery, continued). Well, Kaitlyn and I slept. Holly came down with a horrible cold/flu (aka Peruvian Montezuma´s Revenge) and has been unable to do anything, including sleep. She checked into a fancy 4 star hotel (for a whole 40$, splurge!) to just hole up in bed,  but this also means that she successfully evaded the tourist trap! Kaitlyn and I were trying to decide how long to wait until we take her to the doctor. Not sure what is more scary - Holly being sick (insert catastrophic thinking), or trying to get around a health care system in a foreign country/language.

Grenadilla!

While Kaitlyn was still sleeping. I wandered Puno, taking in some of the earlier morning sights, dropped off my trek laundry (necessity), and wrote some postcards over a breakfast of Andean corn pancakes, avocado and tomato, and black coffee. While I am not trying all the fun foods in Peru due to the vegetarian identity, I am loving the fruit juices (jugo de mango y jugo de pina are my favorites). Dishes that I have not tried: alpaca and/or llama steak, frog juice (frog parts, blended with water and some spices?), or cuy (guinea pig). There are many new interesting fruits, and all the fruit is so fresh. We took it easy all day, exploring Puno, sitting at the harbor, churros and jugos . 

Kaitlyn on the boat to Uros

And then we booked a trip to the floating islands (Islas Uros). This experience was ridiculous in every single tourist trap way possible. Luckily it was only about $7.50. We were picked up from our hotel and got on a boat at the harbor. The guide was supposed to be bilingual Spanish/English. There was a group of 5 of us and I was the only one who was not pretty fluent in Spanish. Granted, I understand a fair amount of Spanish, but it takes so much concentration, I get tired after about 15 minutes. The guide would randomly translate single words into English, "por que, because, por que" and then continue on in Spanish, so I stopped paying attention. Twenty minute boat ride out to the islands and then the guide essentially dropped us off on one of the islands and disappeared. Three families lived on the island and they explained how they built the islands (again, speaking native tongue, which was translated into Spanish), invited us into their one room homes, asked us questions about ourselves and shared about them (name, age, marital status, occupation), invited us to try on their clothes (? this is where I start to get pretty uncomfortable), and then because they knew our names, continually asked us to buy things from them.

demonstration of how islands are built

It was interesting to hear about how the islands are built; other than this, I just wanted out. But my general sense of Puno is that it is more metropolitan and less tourist-y than the other places weve been. Theres much less harrassment in the streets to buy things or eat at this restaurant, people essentially stare at the gringo skin or just ignore. I prefer this treatment. Puno seems much more genuinely Peru, which is overall appealing to me. 

Boats used in Uros Islands

I have heard that going to Copacabana and La Paz, Bolivia across the lake is really awesome, but we did not have the time nor the budget (US citizens need a visa - $130 - to visit Bolivia) to do this. So maybe next time! I really did enjoy Puno and the Lake was beautiful, but the Uros Islands were not for me. 

Arequipa:
We have been traveling around South America, planning as we go. We find a place to sleep, complete our planned activities, and begin to plan our next step. This has worked out really well for the most part. Unfortunately, because of this, we missed out on the main reason people travel to Arequipa - Colcha Canyon. We have been told that going to Arequipa and not seeing Colcha Canyon, is essentially going to Cuzco and not seeing Machu Picchu. We assumed that Colcha Canyon would be a day trip from Arequipa. This is correct if you wanted to be picked up at 2am. This was either not appealing or possible, depending on which of the three of us you ask. So we lounged around Arequipa, drinking jugos and relaxing, which was actually wonderful.

Holly playing the tourist in Arequipa

Enjoying jugos on a rooftop balcony

Main Square of Arequipa

Our last night in the hostel, Holly was having some worried dreams about traveling to Brazil the next day. She woke up the entire room with "Oh  (profanity!!!), GUYS!! someone stole my passport!!!!" I calmly sat up and said, "Holly, are you actually awake?" Unfortunately, everyone else in the room did not know her history of sleep talking. Most people checked their gear to make sure computers/phone, etc.  were still there. Her response: "oh nope, everything is fine, sorry"



And on that note, Holly and I sadly left Kaitlyn in Peru, and jetted across the continent, with dreams of beach vacations dancing in our head.