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We had booked an overnight tour to see a few islands on Lake Titicaca. We were taken to the jetty where we discovered our tour was quite popular, there was about 30 people crowded into the small boat.
Our first stop was one of the Floating Uros Islands. These Islands are made from the reeds that grow in the lake. The Uro people, a Pre-Incan tribe, made their way into the lake to escape enemy tribes and hid amongst the reeds. They build their islands by placing piles of the spongy reeds on top of each other, which they do every two weeks.
Many of the Islands are now very touristy and most are in a central area in the middle of the reeds, but we visited one of the islands on the outskirts of the reeds. Here we were given an explanation of the construction of the islands, how the people used to live and how they live now and were offered a ride on their traditional boat (though we declined as they charged for the pleasure).
Fortunately, the waste of the Uros no longer finds its way into the lake. A local university provides containers that they come to empty and treat once a month. Good new for everyone eating the trout and kingfish! Our guide also informed us that the Uros people would most commonly reproduce with others on their own island, usually family members, though we have read otherwise.
Next we headed for Amantani Island, a land island about another 2 hours away on the boat. During the journey we enjoyed the sunshine on the roof of the boat and chatted to some Chileans and Mexicans practising our Spanish.
On arrival at Amantani Island our group was divided up in to smaller groups. We would all be staying with local families. Our group, the two of us plus 3 lovely Mexican ladies, would be staying with Luci and her family (her parents, brothers and her daughter). The island has about 10 communities who all rotate taking in tourists.
The islands inhabitants are mostly vegetarian. After showing us our rooms they served us a delicious meal, then our group all met up again to walk to the Temple of the Sun in the middle of the Island. This Inca temple was a reasonable walk up hill, through farming terraces and past numerous local women selling all sorts of knitted alpaca souvenirs.
The hilltop by the temple was packed with plenty of other tourists but it was a great spot to watch the sunset over lake Titicaca. Once it had disappeared for the day we returned to our hosts houses for dinner. We had been told we would attend a party that night, and straight after dinner we were dressed in traditional clothes for the party. Conveniently the party turned out to be at our house!
Others from our tour started turning up and the local music started playing. We had a bit of a demonstration on how to dance, which we loosely followed. Mostly we all just danced in a circle with the girls doing their best to make their skirts flare out. Dancing at 3,800m isn't the easiest so the party didn't last too long, but everyone had a great time.
After breakfast with our host families we were back on the boat headed for Taquile Island. This one is a little smaller, with only 2000 inhabitants compared to 4000 on Amantani Island. It took about an hour on the boat to reach.
We pulled into the jetty and it was about a 40 minute walk along a stone trail from there to the main square. We had some free time there to check out some artisan shops. We roamed a little and saw some lovely quaint little houses scattered over the hillside.
Next we went to a restaurant where they gave us a demonstration of how they make shampoo out of one of the local plants. A set lunch was on offer but we didn't want to fork out for it. So we carried on to the other side of the island to wait for the boat. There seemed to be as many restaurants as there were houses. It turned out the restaurants were allowed to open only periodically to ensure everyone had a fair chance. We have no idea how they made any money.
The pathway was lovely, leading to the very top of the island through some stone archways then back down to the water. As most of the group was having lunch we just waited on the boat nibbling on some snacks.
It took us about 3 hours to get from there back to Puno. On the way, some of the Chilean girls decided to jump in the freezing water. The rest of us just watched in amusement, it was already cold enough! We also took a different route back passing through the middle of the reeds and past the bulk of the floating islands. It was good to see these ones, all grouped together, but we could see how much more touristy they were!
We pulled back into port in the late afternoon and checked back into the hostel. That night we visited the same restaurant that had played the 80's tunes and to our delight they had the same one on again!
LAPFWT
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