Lake Titicaca

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Next stop was Lake Titicaca. We had a day free to explore Puno, the city on the edge of the lake. And as luck would have it we arrived on the anniversary of the city and so there was a huge parade through the streets of the town from lunchtime through to about 7pm. It was fantastic, Puno is the folklore capital of Peru and has over 300 different dances each with a different costume, and we got to see all of them as they danced through the streets. Then in the evening i climbed Condor Hill (4,200 m.a.s.l and 613 steps!) to get a view across the city and the lake, which was pretty impressive as a thunder storm broke out across the lake (but luckily bypassed the city).

The next day we went off to visit the islands. First we saw Taquile, about 3 hours boat ride from Puno. The people here live a very traditional lifestyle and are famous for their textiles. We then continued onto our next island (which i can't spell!), which was to be our homestay for the night. We were allocated a family and were to live with them in their homes, i had Mama Blanca and Papa Pepe and their 3 little children. First of all we watched a local v tourist footie game and then climbed another high mountain (again 4,200 m.a.s.l) to watch the sunset. In the evening we had dinner with our families in their kitchen and then got dressed up in their traditional dress and went to a dance. Which was great fun but exhausting!

The next day we had breakfast with our families and then said goodbye and began the boat journey back to Puno, calling in at the floating reed islands on the way. These were fascinating, but a little too touristy for my liking...

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Comments

[Sarah Patterson]

Wow, love the fact that you got to stay with your own peruvian family and experience some of the culture. How cool :-) xxx