LAKE TITICACA

October 19-October 20, 1999

Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world, sitting at 3,856 meters above sea level.  The lake cover about 8,OOO  square kilometers.  Trust me, it is huge.  In fact it looks like a big beautiful blue ocean....except from Puno.  Sixty percent of the lake is in Peru, while the other forty percent belongs to Bolivia.  We visited both the Peruvian and Bolivian parts of the lake.  We first visited the lake in Puno, Peru.

Linda, Mike, Rich and I took the night train from Cusco to Puno.  We decided to take a less expensive bus which the locals ride, as opposed to the tourist bus which cost three times more.  It was an adventure.  Poor Rich had local people leaning on him most of the night.  I had a fitful night of sleep due to the fact that our bus stopped all of the time and people would get on and off, making a lot of noise.  However, I know that we will get used to it.  it was just our first overnight bus ride in South America.  Linda and Mike were experts at the whole thing.  The bus arrived in Puno at 3:00 a.m., but we were allowed to stay on it until 5:30 a.m.  When we awoke, "Edgar"  talked us into signing up for a two day tour of the islands on Lake Titicaca with Inca Tours.  At 35 soles per person (approximately $10 per person) for boat ride, guide, overnight stay with a family and meals, it was a bargain!  The trip was an experience that we will never forget.

Our first stop on Lake Titicaca was at the floating Islands of Uros.  These tiny islands were made of reeds (kind of like straw) and had a few huts on them and typical Uros people trying to sell you everything from hand crafted wall hangings to friendship bracelets.  They were giving a hard sell, but we opted not to buy at that point.  In fact, it was kind of uncomfortable watching these people like it was a freak show or something.  However, they live off of tourism, so they do not mind being a freak show...as long as you buy something or pay 3 soles to ride their silly reed boat.

The boat ride got rough, but after a few hours we made it to our final destination for the day:  Amantani Island.  When we arrived Senora Mendoza was waiting for us.  She walked us up a very steep hill (which we are now used to) to her home.  This home was an adobe home made of dried mud bricks.  The Mendoza family opened their home for us to stay the night.  I was pleasantly surprised by our room which consisted of four beds and regular plaster walls.  There were old sewing machines which they covered with a manta to make a table on which we could eat our meals.  Flour Mendoza and her cousin talked with us for a while.  We taught them some English and told them who the President of the United States was.  Lunch finally came.  It was delicious and consisted of fried eggs, french fries and cuinoa (a peruvian grain) and, of course, sopa.  After lunch, we visited the ruins of Pacha Tata.  When we came back to our family's home, we were greeted by little Wilber (11 years old).  Wilber is a student at one of the island schools.  He does very well in school as was evidenced by the honor roll certificates on the walls.  Wilber was my favorite.  His smile melted my heart.  He was a very sweet and intelligent boy.  Dinner soon came and it was basically the same thing we ate for lunch.  I was getting pretty sick of fried food...but I tried to eat as much as I could.  At 8:00 we walked down to the Fiesta at the community building.  Inside, there was a band playing and people dancing.  The women and young girls were dressed in colorful skirts and embroidered shirts that were typical to Amantani Island.  Both Rich and I danced with the children.  The songs were very very long.  It was funny to watch Rich suffer through the songs.  It was a fun time and a wonderful and unique experience.  I think that the locals really enjoyed it too, as they stayed much later than we did.  

When Rich and I returned to the Mendoza family home, we saw the kitchen door open.  I was alarmed to find food everywhere, a wierd looking chicken picking at some food, and three guinea pigs running around eating the food as well.  In fact, one of the little rat like creatures had it's head in the soup that we had eaten just a few hours before.  Needless to say, I could not eat breakfast the next morning.

However, we were treated very well by the Mendoza family.  The children took every opportunity to talk with us.  Senora Mendoza went out of her way to cook us big meals and keep us happy.  These are people who do not have very much, yet they open their home to strangers, both to make friends with foreign tourists, and to earn a few soles, which they really need.  I was very sad to say goodbye, as I probably will never see this kind family again.  

View from our room at the home of the Mendoza family.

Some members of the Mendoza family pose for a picture in front of their home before we leave.  From  left to right:  Wilber (my buddy), Roger, Senora Mendoza and their youngest girl.  

COPACABANA, BOLIVIA

October 21, 1999

Copacabana, Bolivia is a beautiful beach town.  I was happy to arrive in this happy and bright town with clear ocean blue water.  Rich, Mike, Linda and I ate a fabulous breakfast which consisted of bread, pancakes or eggs, orange juice and cafe con leche at La Leyenda for around $2 usd.  per person.  After this, we decided to take a nice leisurely four and a half hour hike around Lake Titicaca to Yampupata.  It was a beautiful day and the scenery was incredible.  The lake was amazingly clear blue with little islands popping up here and there.  We stopped to talk to some of the locals along the dusty road that we were traveling on.  We also took a short cut along an old Inca trail.  Our plan was to take a boat over to the Isle de Sol once we arrived at Yampupata and then take a boat ride back to Copacabana.  Unfortunately, we arrived too late.  The boats were no longer leaving from the Isle de Sol.  We had two choices:  pay some drunk old man 90 bolivianos ($12 usd) to take us all the way back to Copacabana or walk back and hope that we see a bus or car along the way.  We decided to walk back, and no, we did not see a bus or car along the way.  The walk home took us four hours.  We did not arrive back until around 8:30 p.m.  It was after dark and we were dirty, tired and starving!  We returned to our favorite restaurant and had a delicious dinner.  After a hot shower at our hostal, we went to sleep.  However, I was in so much pain, it took a while before I finally drifted into a deep sleep.  

Here we are on the hike to Yampupata.  A you can see, we are smiling.  This would mean that we are on our hike to Yampupata, and not on the way back.

LA PAZ, BOLIVIA

October 22, 1999

Our little group of four arrived into La Paz around noon.  It was raining and pretty depressing.  However, we quickly found a hostal to lay down our very heavy and wet backpacks.  Soon after, we were off and exploring the city.  La Paz is a very large city which sits at close to 4,000 meters in the valley between large, beautiful mountains.  We had a fun day roaming around the city, eating great food, shopping for shampoo and other miscellaneous items and taking in all of the sights.  In the evening, we expanded our cultural horizons and saw a play at the The Municipal Theater.  The play was in Spanish.  It was very difficult to understand and pretty boring.  In fact, Linda and Mike dozed off for a while causing Rich and I to laugh, albeit silently, uncontrollably.  Still, we were glad that we did it.  After some hot chocolate and dessert we went home.  

October 23, 1999

After another very "paz"itive day in La Paz, I am a big fan of the world's highest capital.  Today we walked all over La Paz again just checking out the sights.  We considered going into a prison which allows inmates to live with their families.  When you get to the prison, there is only one little gate between you and the Bolivian convicts.  There are guards standing there, hopefully making sure that these prisoners do not make a break for it.  In order to enter the prison, you are supposed to tell the guard you are there to see a specific person.  We told the guard we were there to see "Thomas Garcia".   Thomas appeared in minutes.  He told us that we have to pay him 35 bolivianos each if we wanted to get into the prison under the guise that we are visiting him.  We just could not justify paying $6 or $7 just to see a prison.  (Note:  to give this some perspecitive, we were paying 35 bolivianos per night for our lodging, so this would be two nights stay.)  Actually, I believe that Rich was relieved that we were not going to enter the prison, because he was not very thrilled about the idea of us running around with inmates in a foreign prison.  I also was not very impressed, as I often get the opportunity to see inmates in jail in my job as a prosecutor.  Oh yeah, I do not have a job anymore.

After a fun morning of running around, Rich and I decided to walk up the hill to the bus station and purchase our tickets to return to Peru via Copacabana.  As we were walking, it began to rain and then hail.  These large chunks of hail were the size of small marbles and they blanketed the streets with ice.  It appeared as though a snow storm had hit La Paz.  Once the hail storm was over, we continued to walk to the bus station.  The streets were flooded and we had to take an alternative route.  Because of this diversion, we got really lost walking back.  Oh well.  

Our last night with Linda and Mike was a lot of fun.  We walked through the streets of La Paz and found a big college party on the streets.  People were dancing and drinking beer.  We decided to partake in the fun for a while.  After that, we walked up to Cerro Laikakota to get a view of the city and the snow capped Mt. Illimani.  The sun was going down, and the city looked beautiful.  We then walked down back into the city.  We found the swanky, modern part of La Paz, which while walking the streets at night, could have been mistaken for any city in America.  We had a wonderful meal at Pronto which consisted of wine, delicious appetizers and pasta.  The entire meal cost 220 bolivianos, which was very expensive for our budgets.  However, you may not think so when you calculate it in U.S. dollars and learn that it was less than $20 per couple.  We really had a great time with Linda and Mike (the Frenders).  Not just that night, but the last two weeks that we spent together.  They have been traveling for four months now, and they taught us alot about the rules of the road.  They are also very fun!  We laughed a lot during our time together.    

Continue with me as we travel to Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands.

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