The islands of Lake Titicaca

Our second day in Puno started bright and early with our own personal limousines arriving to pick us up at 8am. By limousines, I mean bicycles with two seats on the front (kind of like tuktuks but more open). Luckily, it was mostly downhill so I didn´t have to feel bad about some poor bloke huffing and puffing to get us up a hill. We went in convoy and the lead bike (the one in front of us) navigated the traffic by ringing his bell (it sounded just like those bells you had on bikes when you were a kid). We were in the second bike but one of the other blokes pushed in when we went round a corner. Our driver/cyclist was having none of that and with a burst of energy passed and cut off the other bloke. All was right with the world again.

Having had some history and legends from the guide (Lucho) and some time sitting up on top in the sun, we arrived at Taquile Island. A short walk up the hill still made we out of breath as we are still quite high (c.3900 metres) and had a fabulous al fresco lunch of quinoa soup followed by freshly caught trout. The view was better than any restuarant I have ever been to. We could see across the really blue lake to the snow capped mountains of Bolivia (where I´m now writing from).

After lunch we walked further up the hill to the market. Taquile Island is known for it´s weaving. Only the men do the weaving which is quite unusual. I spent a bit of money on woolly things - everything is so cheap (except the woven things which were expensive so I just admired them). Back down the hill (more bloody steps) and onto the boat again as we made our way to Amatani Island.

There were a bunch of women in tradtional dress waiting our arrival and, once we had been allocated we handed off our gifts - food and toys for the kids - and made our way to our allotted house. Handing off the gifts first was a really good idea as that meant we didn´t have to carry them up the hill! We were with Elsie and her two children Janet (16) and Rannie (10). Not sure if I´ve got the boy´s name right - it may have been Ronnie. We had quite a nice room with pink walls, a blue tarpaulin roof and a view to die for across the lake to the mountains.

Next, we were off up the hill (again) to watch a football match (really a rest stop) and then up to the top of the hill where there were ruins and a sunset/moonrise. I´ve dipped my face in freezing cold water in Scotland for eternal youth (hasn´t it worked well?) and kissed the blarney stone for the gift of the gab so walking three times round the ruin anticlockwise for a wise was an easy task. I stopped to take photos of the sunset and the moon on the lake along the way. They´re not nearly as good as the real thing.

It was dark by the time we went down the hill (my head torch came in use) for a hot chocoate (with Baileys) at the local bar/cafe/dairy and then back to our homestay for dinner. Elsie and her kids speak spanish so we were able to talk a bit but I think they were quite shy. We ate dinner in their kitchen at the table while they sat on stools or on the floor. It felt very awkward. Dinner was potato soup followed by potato stew and rice. Quite nice, but far too much.

To top off the night we were dressed in local costumes (they were so tight around the waist it was like wearing a corset) and down to the community hall for a dance. Quite hilarious, but we were shattered from the long day so were back home in bed by 10pm.

After breakfast (pancakes) we were back on the boat again. Nicky helped us pass the three hour trip with an impromptu Spanish lesson from her book and then we were at the Uros floating islands. Nowadays, they are just a tourist attraction. There main form of income (fish) was wiped out due to the introduction of trout to the lake (I think that´s what the story was anyway). The construction of the islands themselves was really interesting - they really do float and you can feel them move. We went for a short trip on one of their reed boats and I had a go at rowing it for a while.