Lake Titikaka

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After recovering from the Inca trail in Cusco, we boarded a bus to Puno on the shores of Lake Titikaka. The journey through small villages and farms was lovely but as soon as we entered Puno the loveliness vanished. While not unpleasant, the town was similar to port towns throughout the world in being grimly and industrial.

Waking up early the next morning we took a tour out to some of the Uros reed islands around Puno where small communities still live. Despite the fact that these islands seemed only to exist for us tourists it was still interesting to get a glimpse into how people evaded the advancing Inca's by building their own islands. The islands themselves, buildings on them and the boats they sailed were all made of reeds. Although the occasional corrugated iron roof could be seen under a layer of reeds. Each island had it's own watch tower which reminded me of the gaul village in the Asterix comic books.

Heading south from Puno we hugged the shoreline and crossed over the border from Peru into Bolivia. Then is was just a short trip down to the small town of Copacabana.

Another early morning and another boat trip. This time we were going to the rocky island of Isla de Sol. After arriving on the northern tip we walked the length of the island, past of ruins and terraced farmland. The snowy peaks of the surrounding mountains were always visible in the distance and because Lake Titikaka is so high the snow line seemed to be almost level with us.

Upon returning to Copacabana, the small town seemed busy compared to the tranquility of Isla de Sol.

On our last day in Copacabana the place really was busy. The church and streets were decorated with flowers and processions of people flowed to and from the church. Cars were covered in garlands and local eldars blessed them with incense and beer. Unfortunately our bus out of town hadn't been blessed but it still got us to where we were going.

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