Lago Titikaka

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So, after enduring the nightbus from Cusco, Richard, Maria and I arrived in Puno the Peruvian port of Puno at 4am on Saturday morning and discovered we had to forage for our own breakfast. Two fried eggs, bread rolls with butter and strawberry jam, tea, and a glass of freshly squeezed pineapple juice, we made our way to the port on the tour bus - only to discover that our Scottish friend Ally (from the City and Valle Sagrado tours) would be joining us for the weekend! We set sail at 8am with our enthusiastic guide Leo, who said every sentence twice - once in English and once in Spanish. We sailed across the at-first murky green waters of Lake Titicaca (the Puruvians prefer to spell it 'Titikaka' to avoid any confusion with the Spanish word for excrement).
First stop - Las Islas Flotantes (the floating islands) of the Uros people. We were made very welcome indeed and were presented with freshly made bread and reeds to eat, while we learned things like the islands are between 2.5 and 3 metres deep. We were then taken on one of the reed-boats to another island, where I climbed the rickety observation tower in the name of art.
Then we went on passed reeds into open lake and three hours later we landed on La Isla Amantani, our home for the night. After being assigned an Island Mother, Richard, Maria and I treked half-way up the very steep mountain in blistering heat to arrive at our island home. There, we were served a lunch of Incan soup followed by boiled potatoes, hard-boiled egg, and sliced tomato (one between three), all prepared over an open log fire in a small mud house that served as kitchen and dining room. The three of us sat on a low bench on one side of the table, while the family (one man, two young women and a three year old girl) watched us eat (apparently they ate earlier). T´was a little uncomfortable at first.
After lunch a hard walk to the top of the island (4200m) where we watched the sunset. Then down for dinner, which we ate in almost complete darkness, save the light from the fire and a lone candle - soup followed by boiled rice with a vegetable stew, rounded off with some Muña tea (even better than coca tea for the altitude, we´re told).
And then the best bit - we were given clothes to put on and taken to the local primary school, where the rest of the community gathered for a fiesta. We danced away, indoors and out, to the local band until we could barely stand from exhaustion, at which point we carefully crossed the mountain with the light of two small torches and a sky absolutely bursting with stars.
We slept well in our upper room (the floorboards of which permit conversation with the people downstairs), wrapped up under 4 alpaca blankets each.

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Photos

sampling the local cuisine
we´re eating the insides of the same reeds that are keeping us afloat (don´t worry, apparently that´s the done thing, we´re not just being a little short-sighted)

from the observation tower
quite a scary climb - the tower is made from the ubiquitous reeds, not the sturdiest of structures! So enjoy the photo!

our island mum
(who happens to be three years younger than me). We´re standing on the balcony part of the house, just outside the tourist bedroom. This was our view in the morning.

Comments

[Shanaz]

This comment is just to let you know that I still check out your blog. Though I must confess your entries have got pretty long so I've taken to reading the first few lines and then just looking at the pictures...! You're still looking unfeasibly gorgeous. Guess what - I'm going on jury service soon! Thought of you every time an MJ song came on at Alex's party at the weekend xxx

[Maeve]

Love how you try to sweet-talk your way out of having to read the whole blog entry! That´s exciting about the jury duty! Hope it doesn´t get in the way of your Spain trip though! Hope you danced for me at the party! ¡Hasta pronto! x

[Shanaz]

Waiting to hear from Mowgli
I see you're going to the jungle for a week. Looking forward to exciting jungle stories! xx