Flying Solo; A Bird's Eye View

Flying Solo; A Bird’s Eye View

For the first time (aside from mere transportation), I traveled by myself. Though I may travel a little more than the average Mississippian, I do not consider myself a world traveler by any means – especially after meeting the Australians. But what I do believe is that recently I grew a little more towards one.

Traveling tends to strip one of their comforts, their familiarities, their rocks, their homes, and maybe even a bit of their sanity. These things may merely be material, though. How about relationships? Bonds? Memories? Comfort? A voice? A set of familiar eyes that understand your same level of confusion after hearing a woman speak Quechua? These things can easily be carried with you. Beside you. These things, along with many more, are embodied in a friend or lover or family member (or all three if you’re into that sort of thing?). Having that one person with you while traveling can make all the difference in the world.  It does make all the difference in the world. How you act. How you listen. Where you walk. Why you walk. When you walk. If you walk? I mean, think about it. If the only person you have to consult with when making decisions is yourself. If the only person you have to share a marvelous sunset with is a complete stranger who speaks a foreign tongue. If you are now walking down a strange alley by accident, who do you turn to? You. It all comes down to you. The thing is… I liked it. It was only about 4 days that I was by myself, but I did. I liked it a lot. Matter a fact, as I type this blog, I am sitting in a small, adobe, reed thatched café with no one else aside from the super server.

I traveled to Puno, Lake Titicaca, Amantani, Taquile, Sillustani and Choquito all on my own accord. Twas lovely. I suppose that you’d like a recap, would ya? Ok. Here it goes.

Thursday July, 5^th, I traveled to the city of Puno, Peru; a city made famous by Lake Titicaca. Not that crazy over Puno. It's ok. The surrounding small towns and the lake is what makes this place. I knew I started work Monday, so I figured I needed to start touring a little early. Ugh. I kind of hate that word. Touring. I was a tourist. But at least not the conventional one? No one can ever guess my nationality? Anyway. After a long bus ride from Arequipa filled with gorgeous views but even more yawns, I arrived that afternoon. I had a little trouble finding my hostel, but once I did, I immediately deemed it a cool place. Like every hostel that I have chosen, it was geared towards backpackers. An afternoon café, a brief walk and a few conversations were had. That night, I settled into my dorm style room, which was only occupied by one other backpacker who happened to be from Patagonia. Sweet. Did I mention that Puno gets cold? The whole being 12,500 feet above sea level coupled with winter bred one hell of a cold night. It was in the low 20’s the first night I arrived. Talk about setting the tone early. Oh yeah! No heater. But hey! The beds were super warm? Just made it hard to get up the next morning.The tea was good. Cocoa tea.

Friday, with the help of the hostel owner whose name is Leo, I meandered down to the harbor around 7:30 a.m. to hop on a boat to the islands of Lake Titicaca. I had no desire to travel to Las Islas Uros, but I wound up getting a tour that saw them anyway. Damn’t. The boat service went to Uros, Amantani, Taquile and back to port. 

Las Islas Uros… I’ll let you do the research, because the historical aspect is way cool. Visiting them is another story. I would not suggest visiting them. I mean, it was the EPIDEMY of a tourist trap. First, pay five Soles to step on the tiny island to basically look at the huts (that they don’t even live in according to the people of Puno) that they called their homes, take a picture and then buy their crappy, little, “artesan” thingys. You can tell that I am not that fond of this memory. Thing was, I was not the only person visiting this place that instantly realized how entirely fabricated the entire image was. Nearly everyone on the same ferry looked around in amazement; not at this pretend life, but in the realization that it was, indeed, pretend. So here a few pictures. But… Whatever. Amantani was more better.

After Uros, we set sail! Nah… Not really sail. That would have been much better. To be honest, probably faster too? What was I talking about? Oh yeah! Amantani! The island of Amantani lies on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca, which houses a very unique culture of islanders who speak Quechua and Aymara – both Incan languages – as their primary language(s) and Spanish as their secondary. The island was absolutely, in every way, beautiful. The moment we pulled into port, waves of serenity came washing over me that cleansed all of my doubt, my fears, my negativity, my stress and my inhibitions only to be replaced with a sense of tranquility. Man, that was a nice feeling. To stay on this island means to stay with a family. No exceptions. I was not complaining. It was cheap. It was nice. It was warm. It was real. I hiked up to the house (all of the hiking was up, not down) with my new family and was fed a delicious, large lunch. Yes, I was happy. Afterwards, I hiked up to the top of the island (of course) to visit two pre-Incan ceremonial sites. Yes, pre. There was no one else there. It was 14,000 feet above sea level. I could see the Bolivian mountains in the distance. Huge snow-capped Andes smiling at me from across the lake. The lake was blue. The grass waved at me with every passing wind. At that moment… words fail. Pictures fail. All fails but feeling. And what a feeling it was. Eventually, my new German friend hiked up to join along with several of the other Frenchies, the Brits, and an Irishwoman. We shared this experience together. It was nice. Hell, even getting lost on the way back down was nice!

Later that night, I wore traditional Amantani clothes and danced traditional Amantani dances. It was someone’s birthday? For whatever it was, I was grateful. Ever had dinner by candle light? Of course you have. How about because there aren’t any lights? And that is your only source of light? Some people from the coast have, that be for true (Katrina reference). Tangent aside, it only added to realness of this island.

The following morning after a great breakfast with fresh tea clipped from the garden, we left for the port to head to the other island of Taquile.

Taquile, like Amantani, is home to several Pre-Incan sites along with an indigenous population that has been pretty well reserved. For example, one of the traditions was (and still is) if you were a single man, you wear a sack-hat of red and white, whereas a married man wore a red with blue stripped sack-hat. ALSO! Depending on which direction the hat was folded for the single man declared if he was looking for a relationship, looking for an “adventure,” or not interested. HOW CONVENIENT IS THAT! Talk about putting your intentions straight out there. Though we were only on this island for several hours, it was quite fun. By that time I was beginning to really find my niche with my new travel companions. 

I met a woman from Ireland who lived and taught in Spain. She was passing through and met the love of her life. She was originally headed for Australia, but never made it. That was 35 years ago. Granted the love story was great, but you can only imagine my reaction when she told me she was only TESOL certified and teaching full-time at a language institute in Alicante, Spain. I’M TESOL CERTIFIED. I have some experience? I have some references? Then she proceeded to tell me that a lot of European nations, especially the ones that are hurting the most (the coolest ones – Greece, Spain, etc.) have TONS of opportunities to teach English and easily make enough money to live. We talked of these things over Huajsapata, which is a strong, warm, spiced wine with a shot of grape brandy mixed in. Needless to say, I was very excited when we finished having our conversation. Possibilities. Lots of possibilities. Too many. It is kind of confusing.

Tangent absolved! We returned to Puno and all had dinner together. This is where the previous conversation was held. We exchanged information. I wrote my name on a napkin. People still have trouble with my last name. It’s ok. Great food and drink coupled with an equal level of great conversation is a pretty damn good night in my book. That’s where it went. In my book. I don’t plan on losing it.

The next day I visited the village of Chocuito, which is located outside of Puno. There was not one other pale face. SCORE! The village was small with a great view of the lake. I visited a fertility temple, the plaza and had lunch. No one rushed me. No one argued with my lunch choice. It was fried trout, if you want to know. No one was there. One of my favorite pictures was taken here. I also visited an Incan fertility temple. I mean, they weren’t hiding what they were trying to accomplish. Hell, I instantly felt fertile the moment I walked through the door. Nah, not really. It was pretty funny though?

Sillustani is not a town, but more of a tomb. Well, they are tombs. Lots of them. Huge towers on the top of a hillside overlooking the lake. There are Pre-Incan and Incan tombs alike. The bigger they are, the more important the person was. Even in death the rich were trying to show off. Regardless, it was pretty nice. The views to the lake were gorgeous. There were several different tours viewing the same area as I was, which severely impeded my attempt to raise the dead, but I sure as hell gave it my best. Shouting Incan incantations at the tombs attracted a few visitors including the only other American. Matt was his name. Ok, so the incantation thing may have been a bit fabricated, but I did meet a guy named Matt. He was from North Carolina. Fellow Southerner! Wound up having dinner that night together where he offered to buy my dinner. Coming on to me or just an extremely nice guy? Nah, he was a very cool dude.

So there is it is: Las Islas Uros, Amantani, Taquile, Choquito and Sillustani. Saw some sights, hiked some hikes and made some friends. Yes, I enjoyed it very much, but that doesn’t really give it justice. I found the entire experience quite liberating. I did it on my own? And I enjoyed it? A lot! Traveling by your lonesome. It is the ultimate freedom. Man, I have a feeling those 4ish days are going to change the way I travel a lot in the future. Good thing I have another 3 weeks of it before I return back to the U.S. to really see what it is made of.

I’m afraid to tell you that because I am publishing this blog so late that my words have lost their luster. Buy me a few drinks when I get back, and I will gladly revisit this in full-depth (most likely whether you ask about it or not).

Next blog: Arica, Chile and Tacna, Peru.

Jonathon