Puno and Lake Titicaca

Britt and Valerie both traveled to Lake Titicaca recently - though not together, unfortunately. Britt went via train from Cusco - an amazing ride - along with visiting family. Valerie went for work, since Lake Titicaca is the home of origin of the potato.
Lake Titicaca is 3,800 meters above sea level - the highest navigable lake in the world.
The cold, thin air, along with reflections from the incredibly blue water of the lake, make for amazing light and color effects.
The countryside is beautiful, with patchworks of various crops - including potato. But it is a harsh place, with high rates of poverty and a climate that never warms enough to go out without a jacket.

 The name Titicaca is a combination of two main indigenous languages of Peru, Quechua and Aymara, and means rock puma, because seen from the air it is said to look like a puma hunting a rabbit.

One of the favorite touristy things to do is to visit the floating islands on Lake Titicaca. These are made of reeds layered on top of each other, freshly replaced on a regular basis. The inhabitants are descended from people who fled the invading Incas and set up homes and livelihoods in this very rough environment. They have small farms with livestock and create small souvenirs to sell to tourists. Some now have power thanks to solar panels installed by the government, but it is a tough lifestyle, particularly in winter when temperatures drop below freezing.
The houses and boats are also made of reeds. For a small fee, you can ride on a reed boat, decorated and outfitted for tourists.

Puno is a bustling city on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca. This is a photo of the Cathedral facade in Puno.

May is the month for the native potato harvest. Valerie went to Puno to take part in the harvest of improved native potato varieties developed to provide greater yields and greater resistance to frost, floods, and disease. There was also a field day with farmers to conduct a "participatory varietal selection". Farmers identified their preferred characteristics (e.g., size, shape, color, resistance to conditions and diseases, and more), and then rated those. They then assessed improved varieties harvested from a crop planted last year for various qualities, including taste, texture, look, quality, and more. Their votes and preferences were collected through a simple method, with brown paper bags in front of each variety or labelled with preferred characteristics. Each farmer had 6 votes, 3 for their top choice, 2 for the next, and 1 for the third choice. Men were given corn kernels as their voting chips with lima beans for the women, in order to capture gender preferences. Information on taste testing was collected by hand according to a survey. It was a fascinating process.  Their reactions to the taste test were similar to those you see among wine tasters - catching subtle differences in perfume, texture, smoothness, and such that most of the rest of us would miss.