Floating at 3820m

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After a great time in Chile except for one incident with a vanishing bag, we headed to Peru. We had booked a bus ticket from Tacna, which is just inside the Peruvian border to Puno, a small port on the edge of lake Titicaca. First we had to get to Tacna via a 'colectivo', which is a big old american car which would have looked at home being driven by Huggy Bear on the set of Starsky & Hutch. The Colectivo waits until it has enough people and then sets off accross the border. We were lucky to avoid the waiting around as the company we had booked our bus through (Zesal) had organised for the colectivo to pick us up from our hostel.

Crossing the border was the easiest crossing we have had to date. The colectivo driver had all of the paperwork already filled out for us, and was really helpfull (even if we didn't understand a word he said)! At this point we thought it was all to good to be true, and expected the bus to be a traditional bone shaker full of pigs and chickens, or even worse no bus at all. On arrival in Tacna we were greeted by a guy from the bus company who offered us tea, coffee and free internet while we waited. He then drove us to a spanking new bus, put our bags in the hold, and showed us to our seat. All this for US$15 each, What service!

We had met an Irish guy on the bus, and the tree of us were the only 'Gringo's' on board. We had just settled into our seats when a woman started to hand out puffer jackets. Well this did seem a little odd, but we figured it could get cold at night and perhaps they were all part of this excellent service we had been recieving. In our best Spanish we thanked her for the jackets and wraped ourselves up for the journey. After a while of being dressed up like three michelin men, and the bus being as hot and stuffy as the dance tent at Glastonbury festival, we started to question the jackets usefulness. It was only when we got to the first check point and police officers were inspecting everyones goods that we realised we were actually smuggling them through for her so she didn't have to pay any tax! Well, they made good pillows for the rest of the journey, and when we finnaly arived in puno we handed them back with a smile, dribble and all!

Our stop in Puno was only for a couple of days, so we decided to book a tour for the following day, of some of lake Titicaca, at 3820m the highest fresh water lake in the world. The rest of the day was spent wandering around a very tourist orientated town (not that we're complaing, after all we are tourists.) which reminded us of some of the places we had visited in India and Nepal although it seems alot more modern and clean.

The next day we boarded a boat to take us to 'Islas Flotantes' home to the Uros people, one of the 'floating islands' where everything is made out of the the reeds which grow on the lake. When I say everything I mean the houses, the gifts, the food, and even the actual island itself. It takes on average one year to complete an island, which has to be maintained regulary by putting new reeds on the surface. The island we visited was completely run on tourism so that all of the other islands are left alone. Around 300 people live on this island and there's even a school. After being persueded (forced) by the locals to part with some cash for some handycrafts we boarded a boat made out of, well reeds of course, and headed over to another part of the island so we could part with some more money for some more local handycrafts.

After the floating island we jumped back on our boat (not made of reeds) and set off for another island called 'Isla Taquile'. We spent the afternoon watching the locals demonstrate their culture, and passion for knitting. The men have to knit their own hats, the colour of which denotes their marital status. Red and white stripes means single, and a pattern means they are married. The hats themselves, of which they are very proud of can best be discribed as 'Wee willy winkie' style night hats. It does make for a strange sight in the strong Peruvin sunshine. After having a good feed and a walk around the rest of the island we jumped back on the boat to Puno for a few 'Cerveza's' and a good nights rest before our bus journey to Cuzco the next morning.

B&R

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