Lake Titicaca, Peru...

Right well we didn´t get to go to Sopocachi... I`m not going to dwell on it i´ll just quickly say that as soon as I got better, Danny got horribly ill, so much so that we had to have the Bolivian doctor come round to the hostel. But, a few antibiotics later and he is fine, so all good.

The next day we set off for Puno in Peru. The bus stopping at the border town on Desagudero for entry and exit stamps which as usual was a bit of a faff, first we made our way through the throngs to Bolivian immigration, then over to an enormous queue on the Peruvian side before those of us who had been on the same bus realised we had no idea how we were supposed to find it again. Luckily a while later the bus turned up, with the whole process taking about two hours before we were back on our way. We arrived at Puno in the afternoon and checked into the Qoni Wasi hostel and then had a great lunch on the balcony in the sunshine at a restaurant called Balconys of Puno, our first proper meal since sicknesses. We chatted lots to our Peruvian waiter and then headed off to book a trip to Lake Titicaca for the next day.

The transfer to the port picked us up at 6.50am this morning so it was a very early start, then we made our way onto the motor boat (reclining seats inside and a deck at the top), and headed for our first stop, the man-made Uros floating islands. It is very bizarre to be floating through the sapphire blue waters of the lake and then suddenly see 60 small islands made of totora reeds, covered in little houses and teepees made of reeds, full of people cooking on, weaving with, and eating the reeds, while others float past in boats made of reeds. We disembarked on a little island with 6 families on it and it was very odd to walk on at first, really springy. The president of the island (each island has a president and mayor) then gave us a demonstration of how they create the islands, and anchor them so they don´t float into the Bolivian side of the lake, as none of the islanders have passports! He also said if they don´t like their neighbours they can move their islands, or for big parties or weddings join two islands together for dancing. The floating islands are inhabited by Aymara speaking indigenous people (they also speak Spanish) who wear elaborate, bright costumes and, the women also showed us their embroideries dedicated to Pachamama or Mother Earth, and let us take a peek inside their tiny houses made of reeds. I couldn't help but think they must get very cold at night! And it's so strange once you've left that all the islanders still there, that that life is their day to day reality.

With that we set off for the two hour journey to the permanent island of Taquile, inhabited by indigenous Quechuas. The island is like something out of a fairytale, or lord of the rings, with the men and women all wearing the traditional dress they have worn for centuries, the women with a black cloak over their head complete with big bright pom poms if they are married, and smaller ones if they are single. The men weave their own hats and wear a particular type of red, patterned hat if they are married, and with a white section if single. The children also wear hats made in the shape of an inca flower. First we headed up a stony path (very tough when you´re on the world´s highest navigable lake at 3810 metres) to a local family's house at the top, where they treated us to music and a demonstration of traditional dance, and then lunch, which consisted of the best soup i´ve ever tasted (made with quinoa), as well as trout from the lake and a cup of pepperminty Murya tea made from a herb that grows on the island and is said to combat altitude sickness. Next we headed up further to the main square, the Plaza de Armas where the local children sold us brightly coloured bracelets and we took in the beautiful view. It`s interesting that the islanders life expectancy is 80-85 as they live very healthy lives and only eat meat on special occasions. Finally we walked along the island to the port by the sparkly blue lake and headed back on the boat for the 3 hour journey to Puno.