the islands of Lake Titicaca

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My final stop in Peru was the town of Puno where I booked a 2 day tour to visit some of the islands of Lake Titicaca. My first stop was on the unique Islas Flotantes (floating islands) which were very bizarre indeed! The islands are built by layering the reeds which grow on the lake. There are new ones layered each week as the bottom ones are continually rotting away. This means that it is a weird experience walking on the islands as the ground is really springy- I was a bit scared that my feet would fall through, but luckily not!

Only 5 families are allowed to live on each island. If another one moves on they just divide the island in 2 and cut it in half! Each side then works to make their island bigger! The people who live on the island dress in beautiful brightly coloured traditional clothes, and make money by selling their crafts to the tourists. The men go out in the boats fishing and to the markets on the mainland once a week, but the women never leave.

The second island I visited was Amantani where I was to stay the night with a local family. The islanders spoke the indigenous language of Quechua and just basic spanish, so there was only basic conversation and lots of sign language. I was very lucky to have a family whose home had electricity- the toilet left a lot to be desired though!

I was also impressed by the sight of our female host walking around the island, knitting as she went- very impressive!

The island was beautiful, though at 3800m above sea level the walk to a view point to see the sunset was literally breath-taking!

That night was one of the most bizarre experience of my trip. As one of my friends put it "Was that a really good cultural experience, or a Peruvian Disneyland?". After dinner my homestay family gathered myself and the other 3 guests together and dressed up in their traditional clothes!!! The boys got away with just a poncho, but the girls wore brightly coloured skirts, white blouses, embroidered shawls and a material belt that was pulled as tight as a corset!

We were all then led to the village hall for an hour of dancing with the locals. Very strange indeed seeing all the tourists dressed up with their host families! Really fun, but I'm sure that the locals must get so fed up of doing it several times a week. Was really fun to get dressed up though, you know how I love fancy dress!

The next day we visited another island called Taquile which was also beautiful. The men wear different types of hat depending on whether they are married or single. I was impressed to hear that they knit them themselves- cool!

And that was my final stop in Peru. Next stop, Bolivia!

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Photos

Boats made of reeds
They only last 3 months!

My homestay house
I felt like a giant!

My first homestay meal
Fried cheese and small potatoes. Quite nice actually!

Our family
Yes I know I look like some sort of overgrown human!

Comments

[Hannah]

Wow you've grown!! And if you can have fried cheese, why not scrambled cheese... xxx

[anonymous]

it was disneyland - sorry.

[Georgie (Catherine's friend)]

Disney but why not?
Hey, we did the same trip as you when in Puno. It was very amusing but how they keep smiling and dancing night after night I don't know. I have v similar pics and so does my friend Gemma! Started looking at your blog as we might do Galapagos and Ecuador with Cack but now I'm getting engrossed and reading the rest too. Enjoy yourself!