Lake Titticacca

My past weekend consisted of an 8 hour bus ride to Lake Titicacca to see the odd floating islands and take a road trip to Puno. Normally, I am not one for road trips, but I feel like anything goes on this trip. My whole life is upside down, but it is something that I inexplicably enjoy. Our weekend getaway to Lake Titicacca made me want to drive across the United States and stop in every state along the way. I want to see and touch everything I possibly can!

My adventure began at 8am Friday morning, when we boarded the buses and embarked for Puno. Like a little girl in middle school, I , of course, scouted out a seat in the back of the bus. I slept for the first half of the trip, in attempt to regain the sleep I skimped out on the night before. For the remaining four hours of the bus ride, the "cool kids" in the back played asshole and drank the traditional Pisco Sour, which is much like Peru's version of tequila. The whole ride was a blast... or at least it was for us. And thanks to a few obnoxious rules, I think the people at the front of the bus may have thought we had teretz.

We finally made it to Puno around 5, ate dinner, had a couple cocktails and called it an early night. In the morning we took a boat to the floating islands, which had to be one of the strangest things I have ever encountered. There is a population of semi-Indigenous people, who live on floating islands which are man made from straw. Their houses are made from straw, their beds are made from straw, their boats are made from straw, everything is made of straw!! The only reason why I classify these people as semi-Indigenous is because I saw that they had a tv in their house. I'm curious as to whether these people are still content with their lives or if they are inevitably stuck on those islands thanks to tourism.

Luckily, we weren't spending the night on the floating islands. We boated for another 3 hours across Lake Titticacca to a more civilized island. Of course, we stopped along the way to jump into the world's highest navigable lake. It was awesomely painful. As soon as I jumped off the boat, I swam as fast as I could to the edge and flopped on deck like a fish out of water. Just how cold the water was, I couldn't tell you because my body went numb, but as some sort of an indicator, it ended up snowing later that night.

We spent our night on the island dancing with the natives and drinking "Macho tea," which is a deliciously spiked tea. We woke up the next morning, only to return back to Cuzco. A short adventure for the long travel time, but the uncanny of it all definitely made it a fun and remarkable trip.