Choose Your Experience

Why do we travel if we don't want an experience? If all we want is a brief peek from a tour bus and a recited spiel from Buddy the Guide; why not stay home, save money, cruise YouTube? If we're going to do it; book off work, get our typhoid shot, board a plane and potentially get diarrhea - then we say DO it. Have YOUR experience. Not half of one and not someone else’s. Lake Titicaca connects Peru and Bolivia at a breathless height, is the largest lake in South America, and the highest lake in the world. It’s home to an indigenous people who operate small communities on its 86 tiny Uros islands made of reeds: the buoyant roots tethered tightly together, and stalks layered two feet high to form a spongey ground. Everything is made of reeds including the houses and the handcrafts sold to camera snapping tourists on drive-by visits. Every 5 minutes, tour boats leave Puno and head out on hurried courses, stopping briefly on the islands and moving on. We decide to spend the night. We arrange with the head of a local family to stay in a small hut on a straw mattress. This is it. It's freezing and our heads ache from altitude but the view is unreal. The brilliant sun sets over 85 islands adorned with colourful houses, the blue lake shimmers, and when we climb a small mirador we see an ocean of reeds. It's so quiet that the lone bird in the distance can be heard as if he flies overhead. Maybe it's the headache or the strength of the sun but just a moment with this view and we wipe tears from our eyes. We sip coca tea and eat fresh fried trucha and are joined by Miguel, an exuberant kid who shows us his magic tricks. We kick the football then sit silently by the water staring up at the endless constellations. Perhaps if we stretched our arms long enough we could just graze the Southern Cross with our fingertips. Puno glitters in the distance. We're floating on a tiny pile of reeds in the middle of a giant lake and we can't get enough. In the morning we take the row boat out and Miguel jumps in: he’s a master sailor and instructs us how to row, calling out corrections as he steers. Soon the parade of tour boats arrive. We bid farewell to Miguel, he kisses us on the cheek and runs off. This little boy gave us a truly unique experience. Maybe he wasn't able to tell us "fun facts" and maybe his row boat couldn't sail us far but to us we had found a true "friend/amigo" and the best guide for miles. Choose your guides. Choose your itineraries. Choose your experience.