Puno, Peru

We don’t know for sure how long the Uros people have been living on floating, artificial islands on lake Titicaca, but we do know they pre-date the inca civilization which rose in 1450.  The Uros people have built 54 floating islands out of the totora reed, which they also use to eat, to build their homes, and construct their boats.  Every 15 days they add a new layer of the reed to compensate for the reeds decaying off the bottom and after about 20 years they have to start over and build a new island.

            Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world at an elevation of nearly 4000 m above sea level.  It is nestled in the Andes mountains on the border of Peru and Bolivia.  

“Puno is a quiet, safe city,” we were told by our tour guide.  Of course after being woken up no later than 4:30 AM by multiple marching bands and fireworks I can only agree with the latter based on my experience.  We happened to have stumbled upon the first night of the Virgen de la Candelaria celebration: one of the largest festivals in South America.  The next night we went out and joined in the festivities.  Hundreds of bands paraded around the streets with thousands of costumed dancers dancing to their band.  We later found out that communities from all over the region organized groups of over a 1000 people to compete in the music and dance competition which is part of the festival.  Our tour guide the next day explained that her community (about 2 hours from Puno) had over 150 musicians and 1000 dancers that had practiced for months in preparation for the festival.  Some groups had brass bands, while others had drums and zamponas (panpipes) only: All the groups were costume coordinated, well organized, and enthusiastic dancers.  

            The safety precautions taken with the fireworks, or rather the lack there of, was a show in itself.  Giant fireworks were set off in the middle of the huge crowd and occasionally and errant firework would send the crowd running.  Sparks showered the crowd in the bleachers with giant fountain like fireworks set off above the crowd.  The fireworks and the marching bands continued pretty much all night.  Of course, this was only the first day of 18 days of celebration.

            I have since left Peru and I am now at the La Paz airport in Bolivia to fly to Cochabamba.