{"id":23383,"date":"2023-09-13T00:01:09","date_gmt":"2023-09-13T07:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/?p=23383"},"modified":"2023-08-31T10:48:24","modified_gmt":"2023-08-31T17:48:24","slug":"life-as-a-digital-nomad-peru-part-3-lake-titicaca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2023\/09\/13\/life-as-a-digital-nomad-peru-part-3-lake-titicaca\/","title":{"rendered":"Life as a Digital Nomad: Peru Part 3 (Lake Titicaca)"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Mike Huber<\/h6>\n

No trip to Peru can be complete without a journey to Lake Titicaca.\u00a0 It is the largest alpine lake on the planet at an elevation of 12,500 feet, and the lifestyle of those who live on the lake is beyond fascinating.\u00a0 This huge lake is nestled in a giant basin between two of the Andean mountain ranges and extends across the border to Bolivia.\u00a0 \u00a0And yes, it has a funny name. There was no way I was going to miss this place even though it was quite a distance from my home base in Cusco.<\/p>\n

\"\" Having planned to use all my vacation time while in Peru, it wasn\u2019t too difficult to load up on my work early in the week and take a four-day weekend to knock out Lake Titicaca (did I mention it has a funny name?).\u00a0 Allowing four days would provide me with enough time to take a leisurely tour bus to this region of Peru, get some hikes and tourist attractions in along the way, and then return on an overnight bus on Sunday.\u00a0 This would assure (hopefully) that I would make it to work on time Monday morning.\u00a0 Instilling project management principles usually results in a successful outcome.\u00a0 To me the planning of a project or a vacation followed the same rigid processes.\u00a0 Of course, the vacation ones always had a few surprises along the way that I would have to adjust to, but that\u2019s part of the fun.<\/p>\n

The bus ride was filled with incredible beauty with stops at local markets and panoramic mountain views that had me saying to myself \u201cwow, I am in the Andes!\u201d over and over again.\u00a0 Out of all the bus rides I\u2019d been on, this was by far the most pleasant.\u00a0 I was used to the altitude, there were no Kirk Cameron movies, and I had made a special tea to enhance the ride (PM me for details on that, but it will probably bleed into another article). The entire ride was an extremely joyful 8 hours where I had an opportunity to meet two wonderful girls from Japan (we are still friends to this day).<\/p>\n

Feeling beyond happy but tired, we finally pulled into the lakeside city of Pulmo, Peru.\u00a0 This first day here would be relaxing and adjusting to the world I had just entered.\u00a0 There was a giant golden condor statue on a steep hill above the city, which provided a sense of calm. There was a large market that made for great people watching while having some coca tea and even a coca beer.\u00a0 The beer was like a prehistoric provided a buzz and amp at the same time.\u00a0 It almost reminded me of my Jager bomb days in Boston.\u00a0 Thankfully for the people of Pulmo I didn\u2019t take it that far.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The next day I joined a boat tour that took us to many of the man-made islands.\u00a0 These islands were floating and made of dried totora, a type of papyrus the local population harvested from the lake marshes.\u00a0 The people are known as the Ura.\u00a0 The islands are fairly large, some of them over an acre or more in size.\u00a0 There were stores, restaurants, and cafes on some of the islands.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The islands were surprisingly stable and didn\u2019t rock as we stepped onto them.\u00a0 When talking to one of the Ura (and speaking as well as I could in Spanish), I asked how they made the islands once they gathered the papyrus.\u00a0 It was a constant cycle of drying the papyrus, bundling them, and tying them to the upper part of the island.\u00a0 He showed me a hole cut into the center of one of the islands. It looked like a hole you would ice fish through and it was about 3 feet wide.\u00a0 The hole was large enough to see the bottom reeds starting to decay and back into the water.\u00a0 It was a constant process to keep their \u201cland\u201d from being swallowed by the lake.\u00a0 Many of the Ura, not much more than a mile offshore, hardly ever returned to the mainland shores of Pulmo.\u00a0 They much preferred their isolated yet tightly knit community on the lake where life was simple.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The city of Pulmo was so different from both the Amazon jungle and where I lived in Cusco.\u00a0 The more I explored Peru the more diverse and mystical it became.\u00a0 Sunday was a relaxing day with more coca beer and local foods with my new Japanese friends.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As the sun began to set it was time to find my way back to the bus depot and board the redeye that would return me to Cusco.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t take too long for me to peacefully fall asleep on the bus.\u00a0 I didn’t wake up until the bus entered Cusco.\u00a0 It was a short taxi ride to my home and just in time to lead my first conference call of the day.\u00a0 Still bleary-eyed and having a buzz from the weekend (and the coca beer) my workday progressed as though the trip was just a dream.\u00a0 It was an adventure I wanted to share with my co-workers, but they wouldn\u2019t understand as they were still under the assumption I was living in my condo in Boston. Throughout the day I wondered if and when I would ever return to Boston.<\/p>\n

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