June 29: Suasi Island - Arequipa

We slept well in our woodstove-heated room. I think it was the best night's sleep I'd had since arriving in Peru. Since the hotel is completely solar-powered, and there are no cars on the island, you can enjoy perfect quiet.

After breakfast, we took a walk around the island, from one end to the other, enjoying the views from the hillsides, and one particularly nice beach. Once again, we saw some of the wild vicuñas that live on the island. I think the herd has a total of 9 or 10 specimens.

When we returned to the hotel lobby, Oscar introduced us to the owner of the island, Marta. She walked us to the cultural center and library that she had set up and gave us a guided tour of the center, which explains the flora, fauna, and history of the island, as well as the efforts she has made to populate the island with native plants and animals. She has been replacing the invasive and non-native eucalyptus trees with native plants and trees, and has introduced the vicuñas, alpacas and viscachas to the island. The viscacha is an Andean rabbit that has a tail like a squirrel. Unfortunately, we never saw one, not on Suasi nor anywhere else.

Our departure from the island was just before lunch, about 11:30. The tour company we used to book the hotel had arranged for a private car to pick us up on the northeast shore of the lake, at a little landing just a ten-minute zodiac ride from the island. Antonio was on hand to send us off. When we reached the shore, the driver (César) and the van were waiting for us. This side of Lake Titicaca is the most remote and least populated part of the lake. César explained that the road was in very bad shape and that we'd have to travel very slowly and carefully. Actually, the road was a nightmare. Several times during the trip César had to get out of the van to check the tires, and once he had to stop to remove large rocks from the road. Still, the scenery was quite nice.

On Suasi Island, Oscar explained that this road is used twice a week by black marketeers from the city of Juliaca. They use a caravan of large trucks that stretches for miles, bringing the contraband from Bolivia to Juliaca. They travel heavily armed and no one interferes with them. The border crossing on that side of the lake has no checkpoint. Oscar also explained that Juliaca is one of the major smuggling centers of South America. He also said it is probably the ugliest city on the continent as well, and when we drove through the city later in the day to get to the airport, we saw what he was talking about. It's like a wild, lawless frontier town. Many of the buildings are makeshift mud brick structures and most streets are not paved. In fact, the streets have debris piled up on either side. But I guess you can get a fairly authentic-looking Rolex knock-off there.

Our flight from Juliaca to Arequipa was short - only 24 minutes in the air according to Jim's calculations. When we landed it was dusk, but you could still make out the huge volcanoes that loom over the city. These mountains are between 19,000 and 20,000 feet. The taxi driver dropped us off at our hotel, the Libertador, a short taxi ride from the center of town in a parklike setting called the Selva Alegre. Since it was already dark, we decided to stay in the hotel for dinner and retire early.