Lake Titicaca: Visit to the Uros and Amantani islands DAY 8

Finally, LAKE TITICACA! I dreamed about it since I was little. I had a teacher who liked to evoke the name of this lake because she triggered laughter each time. To this memory that I have been carrying since the age of 7-8 years, are grafted images of distant peoples, whose way of life, seams, costumes reflect their traditional culture.

I so imagined living a unique experience, I sublimated this place so much that I inevitably fell from a height and even from a very high height! I will explain to you later ...

LAKE TITICACA Tour

Puno - Uros floating islands - Amantani Island

Floating islands of the "Uros"

When we approach the islands (3 m), we see that the Uros are already there on the shores, ready, aligned, well organized to welcome these visitors full of money…

And here we are on a “compulsory” journey:

• demonstration of the cultivation and use of totoras (reeds they use to make their islands);
• visit to a home;
• songs;
• crossing by canoe.

Everything is planned and you have to follow the group! I had read on blogs that it's a bit DISNEYLAND and I confirm. I didn't at all appreciate the way we asked for money to cross 10 meters or stood for half an hour in front of 3 stalls selling handicrafts at exorbitant prices.

But you can't go to Peru without going to the TITICACA lake. I say to myself, it does not matter, we will surely find a little more authenticity on the island of AMANTANI ...

AMANTANI Island

Our program mentioned an arrival at AMANTANI around 12 noon for lunch with the family who welcomed us and departure at 16 p.m. for theascent of mount PACHATATA in order to be at the top for the sunset. Then return to the family to share dinner with them and RV in the heart of the island to party and dance with the whole village. Everything seemed perfect to me!

Stay with locals in AMANTANI

When you land on the island, a dozen women in traditional costumes await you. Each takes a couple or a group and leaves for their house. We follow a lady of about fifty who has not deigned to speak to us and even less to smile at us.

Arriving at the house at 14:30 p.m., she leaves us to fend for ourselves without saying a word to us. His daughter, a slightly more talkative teenager, shows us our room which the four of us will share. We see the hour pass and no sign of a meal. We offer our help for the preparation which will be categorically refused.

At 15:30 pm, we are put in a dark room to have a very meager meal for 4. We therefore eat without the family and find it very strange.

16:00 p.m. - Ascent of PACHATATA at 4 m to enjoy the sunset: WOW !!! It is simply magnificent.

We descend at night which is dangerous because of the unevenness and the stony ground in the dark. I tell myself that I should have taken a lamp… Tired, I have only one desire: to eat with our host family and finally go to bed.

On the return from Pachatata

That's it, we will be able to rest, what a pleasure to find this little room!

What ? but no, it's not possible… We can't believe it! We find that our bags have been opened and that some things are missing. I am flabbergasted, sad and angry. We find that the stolen items are worthless. They even took away what we had bought on purpose for them as gifts (cookies, oil, rice). Goodbye our shampoo, rubber bands, perfume, soap.

I understand that they need everything and that they have nothing on this island but I cannot allow such behavior. I, who was so enthusiastic about the idea of ​​staying with locals to be able to discuss their way of life, to live a different human experience, I take a stab in the back.

We will see our host for an explanation. She denies and does not follow up on our dissatisfaction. So we decide not to have dinner with them. Difficult decision to make after the frugal lunch and the hike that made us hungry.

In the early morning, the head of the family came to apologize by saying that it is his daughter who is guilty and that she wrote us a little note to be forgiven. He hands us a pocket with the leftover cookies, stolen peanuts ... and the word below:

There it is!

Why did I decide to tell you about this bad experience?

Quite simply because we must denounce these behaviors. We must talk about it that this happens less and less with other tourists. But above all because, for me, the most rewarding part of a trip is the human interaction much more than the monuments or the landscapes! However, this lack of respect, sharing, communication has spoiled the precious moments spent on AMANTANI and this incident will inevitably pollute my memory of this island.

The next day, we meet other French people who have stayed with the locals for whom everything had gone very well. I console myself by distancing myself that we were the exception that proves the rule… and that we must especially not generalize.

Discover now the rest of our excursion on the TITICACA lake :

DAY 9 Lake Titicaca: Amantani; Taquile - Puno