We came to visit the body of water with the funny name and the floating islands made of reeds. At 12,500 feet above sea level, Lake Titicaca is the world’s highest navigable lake, and one of the world’s most beautiful. The lake is home to the Islas Uros , man-made islands made of reeds growing in the water.
This high up, the air is dry and bitterly cold; the sky an intense shade of cornflower blue. Despite the frigid air, the sun is fierce and sunscreen is a necessity, even for someone with dark and resilient skin like me. The scenery is sharp, striking, and a shockingly brutal study of contrasts. The lake and miraculous floating islands, quite simply, feel unreal. I realize it’s views like these that keep me coming back to Latin America.
When a representative from the National Geographic Channel wrote me asking if I’d be interested in writing a blog post detailing an inspiring moment from my travels through the Americas, I didn’t hesitate to reply with a resounding yes. You see, they are premiering a new miniseries entitled “Untamed Americas”. The series’ main purpose is to feature the beauty, nature, and extreme landscapes of North, Central, and South America: all the way from Canada, through to Costa Rica, and down to Chile. They are running a blog carnival of sorts, asking various travel bloggers to share their awe-inspiring encounters with the Americas; the resulting posts will be featured simultaneously on the bloggers’ personal websites and Nat Geo.
Somehow, before I even finished reading the email, I knew I would write something about Peru. In my two weeks shuttling around the country, I discovered just how much Peru is a country of contrasts. Because Peru doesn’t just have the amazing lake and magical man-made islands I mentioned in my intro. Peru is ridiculously diverse. In this one country I got my colonial city fix in Lima and Cuzco, I beheld the jungle ruins of Machu Picchu, and got sand in every imaginable orifice in the Peruvian desert.
So while the name “Titicaca” may have once incited a giggle from me, its mind-blowing landscapes now prompt a long, low whistle of incredulity.
How did we get here? Liebling and I arrived in Puno, the city on the shores of Titicaca, before dawn, after a 6-hour night bus ride from Cuzco. Even at 5 am the bus terminal was loud and jumping, as eager-for-business taxi drivers looked for their next customers, and sleepy-eyed passengers tried to figure out where to go next. We loaded a taxi with our well-worn back packs and half-slept during the 10 minute ride to our hotel. Once there, we sipped on coca tea (made from the coca leaf and designed to help with altitude sickness, which is an issue at such a high elevation), ate breakfast, and chatted with other travellers in the hotel lobby as we waited for the rest of the city to wake up.
When it was sufficiently bright outside and the din of the street could be heard from inside the lobby, we made our way down to the pier so we could see what we came to Puno for. The lake was resplendent, and bright sun bore down on us. We paid for two tickets for a boat tour to the Uros Islands and soon found ourselves in the vessel skimming along Titicaca.
We got off the boat and were met by the Uru people, the ancient, pre-Incan civilization from whom the islands get their name. Our tour guide, himself of Uru descent, told us how the islands are constructed. The strong, pliable tortora reeds that grow in the water are interwoven and weighted down with pins and anchors. So simple, yet so foreign, particularly to a girl like me- I’m more used to foundations made of cement and brick. The ground felt spongy and porous underfoot.
But even more striking were the people. Their brown skin and bright clothes. The women and children with their long black braids, covered by wide brimmed hats. So, so, SO stunning.
Here’s the thing: it bothers me that a lot of people skip over Latin America in their travels and don’t get to see these things. They say it’s too dangerous, too poor, and too desperate to be worth travelling to. But there is so much to see here that they are missing out. I lived in Mexico for a year and didn’t get shot; I’ve travelled solo in Latin America and didn’t get pickpocketed or raped or swindled (funnily enough, I hear more people saying those things have happened to them in Europe). I’ve seen more beautiful things than I can count after trips through Guatemala, Honduras, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay.
Latin America has so much to offer, but inaccuracy and ignorance often gets in the way. And so some people never end up going. My only hope is that my pictures and words inspire you to take the plunge.
Do you think Latin America is dangerous or that it gets a bad rap? If you’ve never been before, what’s stopping you from going? Are there certain countries in Latin America that you want (or don’t want) to go to? Why?
Untamed Americas premieres Sunday June 10 & Monday June 11 at 9PM et/pt on the Nat Geo Channel- be sure to watch it if you can.
52 Comments
I can’t wait to get to Latin America and even though some countries get a bad rap I don’t ever believe the hype. I do my own research and then weight up the risks etc. Did you hear that the shooting in Toronto last weekend might potentially hurt tourism? Yes it is shocking but needs to be taken in context, for the size and amount of people in TO the crime is actually very very low. Hate when media sensationalises things. By the way love the header.
Wha?! I haven’t been keeping up with Toronto news- had no idea about a shooting! Shame that it could potentially hurt tourism, but this is the same sort of thing that’s been happening to places in Latin America for years and years! I agree that we must learn to take these bits of information into context before deeming a place dangerous.
Wow, i’ve followed and read your blog for over a year without making a comment. This post however, changes that. I just started traveling with a friend and our list is currently filled up with Latin America countries and the Caribbean. A few reasons we chose this is not only because we are poor graduate student who can’t afford a European trip from America, but also because we come from countries that are rich in culture and very diverse (Nigeria and Jamaica respectively). I would absolutely love to use every single holiday I can salvage while in grad sch on this parts of the world. Thank you for writing this post and thank you for being an inspiration.
Thanks so much for coming out of the woodwork and commenting, Adeola! It really means so much to me! I’m glad you were inspired by this post, and if you have any more questions please don’t hesitate to write me!
Hi I love your blog and have to admit I’m a bit jealous of all the travelling you do I would love to do the same but am afraid of travelling on my own and most of my friends aren’t big on travelling my question is how do you do it? anyway till I get the confidence I will travel vicariously through you, also please check out my blog and recommend it to others its new and I’m finding it hard to get readers
Thanks keep up the post!!!!
Honestly, research is the best way to prepare yourself for solo travel! It’s always good to know the risks. Also, try connecting with other female solo travellers who have been to the places you’d like to go to so you can get the skinny on the destination!
I obviously don’t think Latin America is too dangerous 🙂
The colors in all of these photos are amazing, thanks for sharing! Lake Titicaca is on my shortlist of places to get to soon.
This is why I love your blog! You open the world of Latin America up to the masses and dispell myths that Latin America is unliveable/backward, etc.!
Okay, yes, I am intimidated by the perceived lawlessness of Latin America. Yes, I’ve had friends cutting through Guatemala in the back of trucks driven by gun-toting locals. But really, honestly, I think I’ve always been most afraid of dysentery. I’ve been to places where even people who’re from there don’t drink the water, but usually because it might be radioactive. When it’s amoebas floating around causing illness I just shrivel up and bury my head.
I’m also pretty sure you’re blessed with a charisma that opens to door to good fortune and fond memories. My charisma invites junkies and lowlifes and other nightmarish characters.
If you’re afraid of dysentery, you have more reason to be afraid of SE Asia… LOL! We should travel together so that my sunshiney, Pollyanna personality can open the doors of goodwill to you.. 😉
I’m there, wherever, just as soon as I find my rich benefactor to fund my wanderings. No boats.
What a wonderful post! The pictures are gorgeous and the way you write about your experience in Peru makes it so vivid I can’t but be tempted to visit the country. It is not really on my (very limited) travel list for the moment but Latin America is definitely among the regions of the world I would like to visit at some point.
Well, luckily it’s not going anywhere so no need to hurry 🙂
I love that you love South America. I can tell you that it is dangerous and it can get ugly BUT you have to be a really smart traveller. I’m sure that you are but there are many foreigners that get in trouble because they trust people too much. Also, the big cameras around the neck call for unwanted attention. The best is to blend in, don’t look too much like a tourist, don’t carry all of your money with you, do your research before traveling, and be careful. The only place that I was pick pocketed was in Paris (they didn’t get anything). I grew up in Colombia, travel there all the time, and I’ve never been robbed. I know many people that have and I try to learn from what happens to them… sometimes i think it’s bad luck and it could happen anytime anywhere.
BTW, great pictures!!!!!!!!! 🙂
I agree that you need to have your wits about you! I’ve never been pickpocketed but I know of a number of people who did in Paris (go figure)!
Great post and gorgeous photos, Oneika! It sounds like we both enjoyed the Uros and learning about the culture on the islands!
Thanks, Lady! Pity we couldn’t have gone together! I could have held your air sickness bag for you.. lol.
As adventurous as I consider myself to be, and after a short visit to Venezuela (which is beautiful landscape-wise) I admit there are parts of Latin America I’ve hesitated about! But not Peru – if anything I’m dying to go and seeing your post confirms that. Thanks for sharing!
Glad you liked! Like anywhere, there are some places in Latin America that you need to exercise caution in. But the region is vast and more often than not the cities give no reason for a female traveller to feel unsafe.
I do think Latin America gets a bad rap through all the negative propoganda but because of bloggers such as yourself I think that is changing. I would love to visit Latin America (its on my list) but I want to go with someone who speaks relatively fluent Spanish. A few of the Latin American countries on my list: Panama, Brazil, Costa Rica, Chile, Argentina, and Cuba.
As always, beautiful words and pictures!!!
You know, even without Spanish you wouldn’t have a hard time getting around! The level of English is pretty good in the places I’ve been to, and there are so many tourists from different countries there that you never feel alone. Glad you liked the post!
It really angers me how many people are scared of Latin America and it’s for ridiculous reasons. When I showed up in Mexico I knew zero Spanish and I travelled for 14 months, alone, without any issues.
Mexico gets the worst end of the stick and most cities are safer than US cities….oh well, more tacos for me.
I totally agree with you! I feel like there’s a lot of bandwagon jumping and fear-mongering by major television networks who are quick to portray Latin America, particularly Mexico, as crime-laden, poverty-stricken cesspools. A few negative incidents with tourists in certain areas of the country are blown out of proportion and before you know it, the whole land mass is a no-go. So sad, but as you say, more tacos for us!
Great stuff and excellent pictures, thanks!
Big cities in Latin America are as dangerous as anywhere else. Once you get out from them you find a totally different picture so no worries!
I loved this post and the photos are wonderful! I’m sooo itching to get to Latin America, to live at least for a year or so, and your post has definitely added fuel to my desire to get there! Thanks for sharing!
These pictures look so surreal. The clouds are amazing!
I think Latin America is wonderful. Is it the safest place in the world? No. But if you are informed and take the normal precautions (the same ones you should take to visit places like Rome or Barcelona), you probably will not have any issues. Having my backpack stolen the first day of my trip was totally worth an awesome 1.5 years of travel after that 🙂
You are the perfect example of how to experience South America and your blog is a fantastic resource! People seem to believe that a single female travelling solo can’t hack Latin America, which is ridiculous!
Before I went to Peru a physician whom I visited said that I shouldn’t go and that I could risk being kidnapped. I am glad I didn’t heed his warning. That was in 2004. Since then, I have been to Panama and Colombia and plan to return to S.A to see more. When people asked me about visiting Colombia (with concern) I tell them “don’t go.” Yes, because, those are the ones who spoil it and if they do not have the curiosity to visit, they should stay home. Great post, chica.
I’ve been reading a lot of posts about South America lately in preparation for my big adventure, but this one has made me especially excited. The photos of Lake Titicaca are stunning. I just want to get on that plane NOW!
So excited for your adventure!
Peru may be dangerous, really. I met people who were robbed and some of my blog-friends were kidnapped there. Anyway it’s very interesting country and Urus are very nice 🙂 http://celinaglobetrotter.blogspot.com/2011/09/celina-is-visiting-titicaca-lake.html
I understand that one has to exercise caution but I still think that the danger in Latin America is generally exaggerated:/
I absolutely LOVE these photos, and you two look so cute together in front of Machu Picchu! I dpn’t think LA is very dangerous but I’ve been putting it off because I’m a vegetarian, but I understand that it’s easy to do that there…lovely photos!
Thanks Charu! You can definitely survive in L.American even if vegetarian, so don’t let that stop you!
Travellaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa !
Hey Neikita i’m just dropping a few lines about this very interesting article of yours (as always): i totally agree with what you said about Latin America not being as dangerous as people think it is, YET, I think it does take a few skills not to attract danger and it is also related to the way you look. See me as a latino-looking half-french half-arab 1 m 87-dude and you as a sista, we are less likely to attract peligro than your average gringo- looking traveller such as somebody who’s got fair hair and blue eyes. Plus, you gotta know how to dress and stuff when travelling in developping countries, as you were saying in one your previous articles.
But, it s not just about the way you look. It also has to do with your behaviour, your ability to suss danger and rip-offs, your degree of street-smartness and your verbal (i.e. being willing to speak the local knowledge as your were discussing in your previous articles ) AND non-verbal communication.
So, in conlusion, i’d say yes, Latin America is not dangerous but it depends for whom !
Sab
I think you’re right Sab, it depends on what you look like and how you act. I usually try to blend in as best as possible….which means I don’t like to wear tshirts, fanny packs, baseball caps and tennis shoes….look like a serious tourist! I prefer to map out things..or use the gps on my phone instead of walking around with a huge map (but sometimes I do). And I don’t walk around with my camera around my neck. But my looks help me blend in as well in most places I go….I have what my Dad used to call “an international look.” Even more so what helped me blend in is my language….speaking Spanish in the Dominican Republic as well as having light brown skin helped me to blend in… loved it. Even in Morocco, I blended in. My French and Arabic aren’t that good (plan to fix that), but if I kept it short to greetings and pleasantries, I could usually get by pretty easily.
Prior to my first trip to Latin America (was going to Dominican Republic) my whole family was against it….It was part of a Sociology course at my college. We had a normal semester class followed by a 3 week field study… I remember my grandfather saying “””Oh, your class is going to the Dominican Republic, but YOU’RE NOT!” …once I finally got there…we were even forbidden from doing certain things…like walking down the street alone..it was all about the buddy system down there, but I definitely lost my buddy and explored some of the streets of Santo Domingo on my own…and I can’t say I felt threatened or afraid any bit of that time. No one in my class was hurt or attacked, even the times when I was on my own in DR not with the college program (I stayed 2 weeks after the program ended, and then returned with my sis 2 yrs after that)…there wasn’t anything to be afraid of. The worst that would happen is getting hit on (although I hate it)….that happens back at home…and it wasnt like the time I’ve been hit on and followed both in the US and Spain.
I feel like Latin America is given a bad rep as well as some other regions. I remember in Spain, I told my roomie I was going to Morocco, and she was afraid for me….she said she’d never go to places like that…far too dangerous! I’m like WHAT???? It’s so close, and it’s such a gorgeousssssssssssss gorgeoussssssssss diverse country!!!!!!!
These pictures are absolutely gorgeous. I think (US) media makes it seem as if every country outside of Europe and North America is dangerous and backwards. I’ve been to Mexico, lived in Costa Rica for a year, and while there visited Nicaragua and Panama. I was only robbed once, in CR, which is ironically enough, supposed to be the “safest: of the Latin American countries. Truth is crime happens everywhere, esp. in the US. I think we are just a nation that is particularly xenophobic (I can’t speak for Canada), which is spurred by the media’s portrayal of any country that isn’t western or predominantly white. Oh well, won’t stop me.
I agree that U.S. media in general is invested in making these places look primitive and dangerous! Xenophobia is real.
I just found your blog through Nomadic Matt and as I’m planning a trip to Peru this summer thought I’d check out your posts! Your photos are beautiful and I’m glad you seemed to really enjoy your trip. I’ve never been to South America but spent a year traveling and working throughout Central America. As a red-headed girl with light blue/green eyes I got a lot of stares (especially in Mexico) and a lot of “ojos claros” comments. I was travelling solo and never really felt unsafe (well except in Tegucigalpa, but passed through with no incidents).
I love Latin America and have since brought 3 friends and my boyfriend down there to experience it – my boyfriend liked our first trip so much it was his idea to go to Peru. The media makes things out to be much worse than they are, I’m just glad my dad encouraged me to ‘just go for it’ 3 years ago. 🙂
Happy Travels.
Thanks for sharing this post, your pictures are amazing! As my second time living in South America (first in Brazil, and now as a teacher at an int’l school in Colombia), I have witnessed a lot of backlash from my family for moving to this continent. I even had a friend that asked me if I could spend my summer break traveling with her to Dubai as if South America didn’t have hundreds if not thousands of gems to discover while here. Most people I know also have a perception that it is poor, drug infested, and filled with criminals. I travelled in Colombia solo about 2 years ago and felt very safe. If I was ever lost, no one tried to get over on me but I found that everyone was super helpful. But I also did have to keep my wits about me the entire time. The one time I did get robbed on my travels, I happened to be in Spain. But usually no one back home equates Spain with pickpocketing and robbery. Peru is on my travel list for my next break! I wish so many people could actually see how amazing it is here. It is perhaps my favorite continent.
I was just telling my friend about that.
Wonderful views on that!
I didn’t know that.
I was just telling my friend about that.
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