Lake Titicaca

Photos:

*Man in back of vegetable truck 
 *We landed in Juliaca (near Puno)  
*On our first flight out of Lima  
*On the ground in Juliaca  

*Soup with a chicken foot inside   
*On the boat and the floating islands of Uros (several photos)  

*On the street in Puno outside the chapel  
*In the chapel  
*The hotel lobby   
*Inside the National Theater   

The Adventure--Friday we had a meeting scheduled in Puno, which is a city on the shores of Lake Titicaca (elevation 12,500 feet above sea level). Our purpose in going there was to help coordinate a Food Production project that one of the wards wants to do in order to provide better nutrition for their families. On the way to the airport we learned that it is possible to sleep in the back of a vegetable truck on the freeway (look very carefully and you will see a man asleep on top of the sacks of vegetables underneath the netting).  (see photo)

We learned that the air is a little bit thinner at 12,500 feet so we had to try to slow down a little bit and stay hydrated. We got to Puno mid-afternoon so decided to grab a bite to eat. The first course was a delicious soup that is typical to the high Andes. After eating some of the broth Rob dished up what felt like a potato from the depths of the bowl. To his surprise it was not a potato. He learned that chicken feet add lots of flavor.

As we got to Puno a couple hours prior to our scheduled meeting we rented a boat on Lake Titicaca to see a little bit and get a better feel of the community there in Puno and the surroundings. With the time available before our meeting we figured it would be great to see the people who live on floating islands made from reeds that Rob remembered reading about years ago in National Geographic. The cost came to about $30 for the three of us so we figured it would probably be a small boat that would take us out and about for a quick tour. Turns out we rented a full sized tour boat for the three of us. It came with two crew members and had an upper deck for viewing.

In order to get to the floating islands, our boat passed through a narrow channel lined by reeds. These are the reeds they use to make the floating island.

The homes are built on "islands" made from bundles of reeds tied together, as are the boats in some of our photos.  The lake depth here is about 100 feet.  New reeds are placed on top of the old reeds to maintain island structure above water as the reeds on the bottom of the island decompose. These islands are essentially giant rafts on which the people live and build their homes.

When we got out to the floating islands the motor of our boat died and they couldn't get it running. We took an unplanned and unexpected visit onto one of the islands when we finally ran aground (or is it "afloat?) on one of the islands of the city of Uros which is literally a floating city. Luckily we landed right next to the grocery store, which is the green boat you can see in the photo at the end of this post, that goes from island to island selling produce and other food items to the residents. They had quite an assortment of food and snack items in the boat.

The residents were very nice and welcoming. In fact, one of them went to his backyard and came back with a small launch and offered to take us across the channel to another island where we could catch a ride back to Puno.

We got into his very small boat. Rob sat with at his feet on the bottom of the boat with Mary in front of him and Alex at the bow. The rain and lightning that had been visible in the distance approached us and it started to rain and the wind blew. Did I mention we had a meeting that started in an hour? 

When we arrived at the island across the channel we were taken to another boat that was headed back to Puno (boat #3) and climbed aboard just as the greatest intensity of the storm passed overhead. Glad to be under cover in the larger boat rather than in the open in the small boat driven by captain #2.

We made it back to Puno intact and we took the rainbow we saw as a good omen. After quickly grabbing a cab we headed to the chapel where we met with local leaders and members to discuss the food production project. We arrived ten minutes before the meeting was to start so all's well that ends well.

Here in Puno because of the altitude it can freeze any day of the year so they have difficulty growing gardens with any kind of predictable harvest. This project involves using small greenhouses which each family will build and then work as a family caring for it with the hope of being able to share not only the produce with others if they have a surplus, but more importantly the knowledge and skills that they will develop as they work to grow their gardens.

There is a video is of a similar project across Lake Titicaca in Bolivia. It can be found at:

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-05-29-bolivia-container-gardens?lang=eng

Some of the participants in a similar project in Bolivia are raising small animals (chickens and guinea pigs) as a source of eggs and protein for improved diet. The Church purchases the materials and supplies necessary to build the cages, greenhouses, containers, soil, seeds, tools to make the project feasible, and contracts with local people who have the appropriate skills to teach the participants what they need to know and do to be successful. At the end of the presentation, we took a photo with: Mary, Rob, Alex Príncipe, Bishop Cruz, Hna. Cruz (and yes, it was cold inside the church building).

"I (Rob) felt blessed by the Lord when asked to speak at the end of the meeting about the blessings of gardening as a family. I was able to share in a way more fluent than my natural abilities and express things in a way that was not entirely my own. The Spirit of the Lord was there testifying of the truths I taught of the blessings that can come into their lives as they work together as a family. Alex, our supervisor, who was with us, said afterward that he was surprised at how strong the Spirit was in the meeting. I replied that the principles we are teaching are true and they come from the Lord through His prophets so that is why the Spirit could testify as we spoke."

Alex, is a wonderful man with three small children. He has said many times already how grateful he is that we are here and what a great burden we have lifted from him. He was responsible for doing all the things that we are doing now along with everything else for the entire South America Northwest Area. Peru is keeping us going full time. I can’t imagine how he kept it up as well as he did. 

Because our meeting was in the evening and we couldn't get back to the airport in time for a flight back to Lima that night, we spent the night in Puno.We stayed at a lovely and very comfortable Hotel Andina Classic Tikarani in Puno. The lobby of the hotel had a nice fire going. We never imagined that a nice warm fire would be so inviting in September. After a (somewhat) restful evening (only somewhat restful because of the altitude) we left Puno at 6:00 a.m. Saturday for the cab ride back to the airport in Juliaca, about an hour away.

On Saturday night we were able to attend a performance of the Peruvian National Ballet. (Third row from the stage) They performed an original rendition of "Alice in Wonderland" that had an amazing assortment of musical genre, brilliantly colored costuming and well executed dancing. We had a delicious dessert crepe for dinner before the ballet. It was filled with two scoops of tropical ice cream, one of which was maracuyá (passion fruit). We took a photo just to make Tom and Rick wish they were here to eat it with us.