lake is hardly a word Kim and I used to describe Lake Titicaca at all while we were on it, we felt as is we were out in the middle of the ocean, as all we could see was the point where water meets horizon. there was something magical about this place, I still couldn´t describe what it is. This is a lake located on the border of Boliva and Peru and it sits 3,812m above sea level making it the highest commercially navigable lake in the world. By volume of water it is also the largest lake in South America.
As we had both been struck down with quite severe food posioning it was lovely to be out in the fresh air and away from the toilet, out stingy hotel had even refused to give us toilet paper in the end, bastards!
Our journey on the lake began mid morning and first stop was the floating island of the uros people. There are 42 seperate islands in this community and the islands are made from the reeds that grow in abundance in the shallows of the lake. It takes seven layers of reeds, criss crossed over one another and the roots that form the base are anchored to the floor of the lake, and each island can therefore be moved if the need arose. Originally the uros people moved onto the lake to avoid the conflict between Collas and Inca tribes and have remained, now relying on tourism to survive, and with the number of visitors easily number 100 each day, I imagine they would do rather well.
We learnt how the islands were constructed, and saw their homes and boats, all of which are also made from these reeds. AND you can also eat them, talk about all rounder. We got to ride in the boat across to a second island, this one had an inbuilt trout farm and a free roaming chicken. The locals make lots of handicrafts to sell to their visitors, again, from the reeds and these are also traded on the mainland for fresh fruit and vegetables, as none of these can be grown on the islands.
Next stop was the island of Amantani, where we were to spend the night with a local family in a homestay situation. The island is only small, about 15 square km, and has a population of only 800 or so. No cars, no electricity, no eating meat, except once a year when they do so to celebrate some kind of religious festival but it is a beautiful island and used mostly for agriculture, sheep and alpacas roam freely on the hills and the women are never idle, always knitting as they walk from one destination to the other. The men are not so productive, sitting and chewing coca leaves, which Kim tried and gagged on, but had to keep chewing so he didn´t look like a girl! We hiked up to the top of one of the two hills where sacred ruins remain. At the top of Pachamama (Mother Earth), we watched the sun set before heading back down for dinner with our family, soup, and then a potato stew and rice. It was a VERY cold night and we had the worst toilet I have EVER lain eyes on to deal with as well, I won´t go into details, but lets just say there was poo everywhere and hovering was a necessity. The next morning we had some kind of fried grain doughnut for breakfast and then headed off on the boat to our last island destination, Taquile.
This hilly island is narrow and long, and was used as a prison during the Spanish Colony and well into the beginning of the 20th century. In 1970 it became property of the Taquile people, and now roughly 3000 people inhabit the island. The people are most renowned in the area for their high-quality, colourful textiles. The main town in the island, also called Taquile, operates as a textile cooperative shop, and everyone is involved and takes a share of the profits. Even the men knit and sew! We walked the length of the island, me again last as my knee still causing me grief, but lots of pretty flowers to stop and take pictures of which drive kim slightly mad as it made me even slower, but we are on holiday, no rush hey! After checking out the textile shop we headed uphill for a local lunch of local trout and then made our way down some 500+ steps and back to the boat which took us back to Puno.
Our lake visit was a fabulous experience, if anything just to see how people who have what we would call nothing, can still be happy and still smile and seem perfectly at ease with their place in this world, even if they do demand payment for photos!
After we returned we headed out for a nice proper meal and 12 hours later, ended up with funny tummies again, so it was another 2 days on the toilet before we headed off for our next destination, Boliva, a place we were advised against visiting due to the current political crisis, but we decided to be those stupid Australians and go anyway, thankfully because it turned out to be our favourite destination yet.
