Puno

Guess what? I'm in Peru!! After a long day of travel on Friday, I landed in Lima at 12:45ish local time (which is an hour behind EST due to daylight savings, which I probably should have realised but didn't), slept briefly, and took off the next morning at 7:15 for Juliaca. After landing in Juliaca, I got a car to my hotel in Puno. That afternoon I visited Sillustani on a tour. Sillustani is a peninsula on Lake Titicaca where traditional funeral towers (chullpas) have been built since the pre-Inca period. It was an incredible visit, but the little bit of hiking required was rough given the altitude sickness (soroche). Luckily, all that I've experienced is some shortness of breath, and a minor headache, which is much better than I anticipated. The picture above is one that I took of a chullpa at Sillustani. Afterwards, I visited the Cathedral and a museum, and went for dinner. My first cena in Peru was alpaca in quinoa sauce. It was interesting. Alpaca isn't my favourite meat, but it was worth experiencing.

Early this morning I left from the port of Puno to go on a tour of some of the many islands on Lake Titicaca. First, we visited the floating islands of Uros, which was incredible. The approximately 200 Uros islands are built from the roots of reeds and reeds themselves, and then anchored to the bottom of the lake. It was a very cool experience, and the people were very welcoming. Afterwards, we continued our tour and visited the island of Taquile where approximately 4000 people live. The people speak mainly Quechua, but many also speak Spanish, and are work mostly in agriculture and some fishing. In both cases, it was interesting to see how they lived, but I'm not sure what to make of the accentuated "authenticity" and "traditions". It felt like a front for tourism, and I would have liked to have had the chance to talk to some of the people and ask more questions.

I'm feeling slightly awkward as a tourist so far on my visit. I really am unsure of how to engage with many of the people I meet. Firstly, I've encountered some problems with the language. Yesterday, when I was feeling kind of groggy, it felt like I couldn't speak or understand English, nevermind Spanish. Today was better, but it is still an obstacle. Being a tourist is unsettling outside of the language barrier as well. Engaging with anyone so far has really made me aware of my positionality as a white tourist, and so far I have found the experience a bit paralyzing. People treat me as a tourist, as is to be expected, but I'm not really sure how to go about changing that. The fact of the matter is, right now I am a tourist, but I am really bad at acting like one. In not wanting to act purely like a tourist, but not being sure of how to avoid it, my response has been to lock up, and not engage with those around me as much as I would like. I hope to turn this around on the next leg of my trip to Cusco, and try to engage more with everything and everyone around me despite issues with the language and uncomfortableness with the position I am in.

I leave Puno by train at 8:00am tomorrow, and will be in Cusco after that. I don't think the hostel/hotel I'm staying in has internet, so there may be a bit of a delay before my next post. Until then, I miss everyone back home and really wish that you could be here with me!