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We had a surprise waiting for us outside the hostel this morning - cyclists ready to pedal us to the port. So after a bumpy ride, we jumped off the bikes and onto our boat to take us across Lake Titicaca - the highest navigable lake in the world. Considering Puno is at an attitude of 3900m, it was pretty high, and massive. Puts Lake Taupo to shame.
Our first stop was to the famous floating island of Uros. They are built on floating blocks of reeds, and then cut reeds put on top to keep the ground dry. They get a new layer of reeds every 15 days or so, so this little community is kept really busy. All the huts on the islands are also made out if reeds, and believe it or not, they also eat them! They tasted really bland, but they contain a lot if calcium, and these people had extremely white teeth as a result of eating them! We were greeted by 6 indigenous women dressed in bright skirts singing some Quechua songs and they then picked us out to take back to the hut. My "mamma" was called Olga, and looked exactly like an Olga. After taking the piss out of me for being so tall, she dressed me up in clothes similar to hers which made her laugh even more. Stoked she found it funny cos I felt like such a kook.
The mayor of the island showed us how they made the islands, and the ladies sung some more beautiful Quechua songs while we boarded a reed boat to sail around the lake. The next stop was to the island of Amanati, where we would spend the night with a host family. Our new mums for the night were called Herma and Nelly, a 41 year old mum and 15 year old daughter. They didn't speak any english so my Spanish skills were tested, but we managed to communicate well enough. They made me a delicious lunch with at least 5 different types of potatoes, cheese, quinoa soup (which was so delicious) and my new favourite drink - muña tea, which is just a few leaves of the muña tree in hot water. It tastes a bit minty and sweet.
After lunch we met up with some of the locals who were keen on a gringos vs locals football match. Now I suck at football at sea level, but try playing at 4000m above sea level and you can imagine the gringos got our arses handed to us by a bunch of kids. Still it was so much fun, and eventually we had to resort to physically holding the kids back just so we could get the ball.
One hour and 4 heart attacks later, we headed further up the island to the Pachatata (father earth) look out. We were so lucky that at the same time we were there, some locals were preparing an offering in the main temple of Pachatata. We couldn't watch what they were doing initially (they were sacrificing a sheep) but after the serious stuff we were allowed to watch while they danced around singing and flying colourful flags to some lovely drums and pan flutes playing. We then sat on the side of the mountain and watch the sun set over Lake Titicaca - could life get any better?
Later that night after dinner, our mummas dressed us up again in some extremely colourful traditional outfits and sent us to the 'discotecha'. It was a hall full of locals and tourists all dancing to the happiest music I've ever heard. We all held hands and ran around the room, it was so easy and loads of fun. Of course we had to stop and catch our breath every few minutes, but Herma and Nelly wouldn't let us rest for long, they were a crack up!
By about 11pm we were all knackered and headed back up to the house for some much needed sleep. We were warm enough with about 8 woollen blankets on us, which i was grateful for, being -12 degrees outside!!
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