One of the downsides of Peru is that it has had tourists for a long, long time so they are very clued up on about how to milk us! Because of this, one of the only real options to take to see Lake Titicaca is to go on a homestay programme and so we visited the islands on one of these overnight stays.
We were picked up early morning, taken to the port and on to a boat headed for a tiny Uros island. Once there, the two women showed us in to their straw houses, we went on a straw boat and they showed us how they made their island out of…. straw! Although touristy (they sang ‘row, row row your boat’ to us in Spanish), it was interesting. We learnt how the families keep chickens on the islands for food and eat some of the reeds surrounding them. They sent their children off to another, larger straw island daily for school and are all sadly very prone to arthritus because of the damp straw that they walk on constantly, barefoot. The sight of their feet in the cold made me shiver!
I spent a while wondering if these people did actually live full time on the island as they claimed (it was SO small). I wasn’t sure, but after we were allowed to look around we saw cooking utensils, a TV, a fire… wow, a life so different to ours.
Next stop was Amanti island, where we were staying for the night. Time to meet our homestay ‘mums’! We all lined up awkwardly opposite the mums (and one dad) whilst our names were called in pairs. We went back to our family house while our not-very-friendly mum made us lunch and dinner and then dressed us in traditional clothing to go to a village dance.
It was a beautiful island with fantastic views, but the set up was just really cringe-worthy. I don’t actually blame the mums, but ours was not having a great time hosting us. We asked her how often she welcomed guests, and she said they have a 4 months slot before the hosting is passed on to another village. It must be an odd experience for them. Her house had been adapted with a western toilet, although no running water obviously. She wasn’t interested in conversation with us but tried many, many times to sell us her handicrafts. We did reluctantly buy some but she still continued trying to sell us more. An awkward stay but who knows, maybe that’s a reflection on our efforts as well as hers!
The dancing however was a great evening which saved the whole experience for us (along with our homestay Dad who was lovely!); I looked TERRIBLE in the traditional outfit they gave us but we did see a puma on the way home!
All in all, a fun experience but a strange and tourist-ified one. As ‘Island Mum’ told us, this scheme one of the only ways they have to make money on this island… so watch them milk it as much as possible.
The Mums waved us off the next morning when we headed across the water to Taquile, a much more built up island than the previous one. The tour here was great; we saw a lot of (authentic!) locals, beautiful scenery and then were treated to a lovely lunch by a nice family.
Despite my moaning about this being OTT, we did have a great time. Although some of the authenticity was shielded by the preparation made for the tourists we did learn a lot and we had a great guide that got involved in everything, including the dancing (!).
Puno was our last stop in Peru. After six weeks of great hikes and great food this concluded our time here. In contrast, we headed to the much less touristy Bolivia.
TOUR | Book via any of the agents in Puno town; they all use the same company but prices quoted different vastly! We paid 85 PEN / £18.60 each (plus 10 PEN / £2.20 for the gringo boat on Los Uros island) but visited a few agents and haggled a little on price. Includes lunch and dinner on day one, and breakfast and lunch on day two. Bargain!
