Worth the Altitude Sickness

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Firstly, thanks to everyone that has sent messages and left comments. Please be aware that I usually only have a small amount of time to spend on the net checking my messages, so if I don't respond right now, I will when we get stuck in another hole like Nazca and have some spare time.

Saturday night, 7pm, we got into Puno, the main Peruvian port on the shore of Lake Titicaca. As soon as we got off the bus we could feel that we were at nearly 13000ft. It was a combination of the dry mouth, the foggy headache, and the amount of effort required to do anything that gave it away. That night consisted of getting a quick bite to eat at a nearby Italian Pizzeria and heading straight to bed.

Sunday morning we were up early, no thanks to the noisy traffic the night before and all thanks to the sun coming straight through the thin curtains. We had organised a tour out to the floating Uros Islands, so at about 9am we were picked up and taken down to the wharf. We had been told it was a half hour boat trip out there, so we thought they were a fair way off. We soon discovered that it took that long because the boat idled all the way. You could almost swim and walk back to Puno if the water was not so cold.

The islands were everything that I had expected. It is amazing how they could build these floating masses from reeds and actually live permanently on them. As we walked around we could see the 'ground' flex and roll slightly. Unfortunatley the guidebook was right when it said that they had become shockingly over commercialised, with the little stalls set up on each island selling souvenirs.

We took a reed boat ride from one island to another, which was very nice and relaxing. A small Uros girl had also jumped onboard and was trying to sell her drawings for 5 soles each. I don´t think anyone bought any, but one Spanish lady had a good old chat with her. They even had a school classroom on one of the larger islands for the kids.

At about noon we cruised back on the boat, feeling a bit tired from the effects of the sun and altitude.

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Photos

Cruising on one of the reed boats
It was a good break from the strong sun to sit,relax and enjoy the ride.

The Uros Banana
They actually eat the reeds, apparently they taste like bananas. I couldn't taste the similarity.

5 soles a drawing!!
She was very cute and all with her drawings, but not for 5 soles.

The ride out
It was a nice short cruise out to the islands. Apparently they use to be a lot further away, but were moved closer, presumably for us tourists.

Opening up the shops
I think this was one of the islands we visited. You can kind of see Puno on the far left in the background.

Lundy examining the local wares
Every stall seemed to sell the same thing. They're tough to bargain with this lot, I think they've had plenty of practice.