Next day we travel to Peru the local way. Enough with the
tourist buses, we take taxis and micros this time. The price is about the same,
but the ride is much more interesting and uncomfortable. The lady sitting next
to me shares all her food with me and I get to taste many strange things
wrapped up in different leaves. Puno is the city on the Peruvian side, not very
interesting in itself but again convenient for catching a boat to the islands.
I want to go the next day. The easiest way is to buy a round trip to Uros,
Amantani and Taquile and stay overnight on Amantani at a homestay.
Uros are floating islands on which people actually live. The
local guide explains how the islands are created. First they carve out a block
of mold, then they plant it with grass so the island is actually alive.
Finally, they cover it with more grass and plant their houses on top. I visit
one of the inhabitants of the island and he shows me the inside of his house.
They have electricity since two weeks now, thanks to the solar panels. In his
house live 5 people and they earn their living making traditional handicrafts.
All is very beautiful. The children go to school one and a half hour away in
small boats. The man tells me the worst problem with living on this island is
the cold wind, but he couldn’t imagine himself living elsewhere.
Amantani is a real island with some interesting things to
see. We settle into our homestays and eat a simple but nice lunch. Anton, Giro
and I then go for a swim in the lake. It can’t be that cold, right? It can!
Then we follow the locals up the hillside to the two sanctuaries: Pachamama and
Pachatata. Pachamama is mother earth. She is the one to pray to if you want
good crops and good harvests. Pachatata is obviously a male (her husband?).
Each sanctuary is on its own mountaintop, giving us a beautiful view of the
sunset. At eight o’clock I’m in bed. What an exhausting day.
At 2 am I wake up, vomiting and with diarrhea. I stumble out
of my bed and down the stairs. Of course there is no running water, I have to
go down to the end of the garden to fill the water bucket. I am very cold and
try to lie down but constantly have to run down the stairs. The grandmother
wakes up around five. I ask her if she can make me a cup of tea. She first has
to gather the wood, then light the stove and heat the water. In the meantime I
feel weaker and weaker. Finally it is time to go to the boat. I am not looking
forward to another boat ride, especially with only a basic toilet… The captain
of the boat is worried; I can see it on his face. He wants to bring me ashore,
but is responsible for other tourists who are going to visit Taquile, another
island. I cannot move and my face is first white, then green according to one
of the passengers. The captain then decides that it is his mission to cure me
before returning to Puno. You wouldn’t believe all the tricks he tried on me to
make me feel better. Water, tea, water with rehydration salts, a pill (I don’t
know what it was), alcohol flower water under my armpits, under my nose, leaves
disposed on my belly, soaked in salt water and with a pullover tied around me,
some newspaper supposed to prevent me from vomiting, a foot massage… I was
quite happy when Puno appeared in the horizon. God knows what he would have
done next. He was so frustrated that I didn’t feel better that he even paid my
taxi to my hotel. What an experience! Two days in bed wasn’t quite how I had
imagined my first days in Peru ,
but at least I have a great story to tell YOU.
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