Las Islas Flotantes & Isla Taquile, Lake Titicaca

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The bus to Puno was only 6 hours and since I had already taken a 7-hour bus ride to Huancayo, I thought it would be ok.... but everytime I seem to forget how tiring it is.... and unfortunately the scenery wasn´t all too great.... The minute we left the centre of Cusco, all the way to Puno, the poverty of the people is just horrendous... and I couldn´t help but notice the rubbish lying everywhere, which is such a pity coz the landscape is great....

Puno is not a pretty town, I had already read this somewhere so I didn´t have any expectations.... but still I was shocked to see people live in unfinished houses....

Arrived in Puno at about 1700, headed straight to the travel agency (Allways Travel, a eco-friendly tour agency) and booked our trip to the Uros Floating Islands and Taquile island for the following day. It was going to be a long Sunday... we were going to be picked up at 0630...and the tour ended at 1700.... ouch

It felt good to be close to water..... and the Uros floating islands are truly exceptional. The Uros originally created these artificial islands, made from totora reeds to escape the Inca, who dominated the mainland at the time. Although the site is mainly a tourist attraction nowadays, it's incredible to see how these people used to live and still do today....

The guide was great, really knowledgeable (notwithstandsing a really funny English accent) and once we got to the floating islands, he got us to taste the reeds (yes, they are edible and taste ok) and even explained how the islands are built and sustained over the years... the reeds at the bottom of the islands rot away fairly quickly, so every so often new reeds are constantly added to the top to compensate. It felt really weird walking on the islanads, I was nearly expecting to just sink into the water at any moment.... hehe

On Santa Maria island, I met Giovanna.... a 19-year old that lives off the money she makes selling her crafts... she introduced me to her parents, walked me to her hut and showed me her handiwork.... real sweet...

Taquile island is 2 hours away from the floating islands and once we left the bay and sailed out into the open lake, the colour of the water was incredible.... didn´t seem like we were on a lake at at all but in open sea....

The views from Taquile are stunning and the atmosphere on the island is peaceful and serene. The inhabitants live mainly off tourism, selling their crafts... and still walk around in their traditional costumes... the kids are a bit pushy trying to sell all sorts of stuff but they are so adorable that you don´t really mind....

At the end of the day (a real hot one too), I was exhausted, and that evening just ate dinner as fast as I could and went straight to bed... the next day another long bus ride to Arequipa awaited us...

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