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LAKE TITICACA
Well, after the fun of northern and central Peru it was time to head south. We took bus from Cusco to the city of Puno on the north-west end of Lake Titicaca (the Peruvian side). First views of outskirts of city were not promising but initial views of the lake were great to see as we had both heard so much about this lake over the years. It holds all sorts of records such as largest lake in S. America, highest lake in the world with passenger ferry service (who thinks up these things?). Upon arrival at the bus termninal we were, as is usual in Peru, accosted by a travel agent type lady who promised to find us a hotel, book tours etc. etc. We do not take too well to this hard-sell approach but she caught us at a weak moment (clever lady) and duly took us to a hotel and booked a boat tour for us AND booked our bus tickets south into Bolivia (commission signs were lighting up in her eyes!!).
Next morning we rose early and were taken to the port. Huge numbers of small tourists boats were waiting and huge numbers of tourists (like usd) obiediently turned up. Boat took us out through reeds and then we saw them, the famour floating islands of Lake Titicaca. These are man-made lakes make from thick reeds that grow in the lake in the shallower areas. Some of the islands were several hundred metres long and are about two or three metres thick of reeds. When the bottom reeds rot away the occupants simply put more on top.
We spent about an hour on two of these islands meeting the indigenous occupants. They have built houses and even a restaurant and school on one of them. Ground feels a bit squidgy and you think you are about to disappear through into the lake at any moment. We bought some nice looking tourist stuff on the islands (helping out local economies etc) and then headed back to boat for next stage of trip.
This involved a further 2 and a half hours in a small boat heading out into the larger lake to the "real" island of Taquile. We had arranged to spend two half days and a night here experiencing their unique lifestyle. We arrived mid-morning and trudged up a steep track to the central square of the main village. Here our group reassembled and we were given a brief explanation of life on the island. In a nutshell, the folks here are closely related to indigenous peoples and are very separate and different to the folks on the mainland. They are mostly self sufficient and have unique customs. The chaps all wear finely knitted briçht coloured hats, the colours of which signify their martital status!! Brightly coloured hats which are mostly red mean they are married while ones with a white end to them (they are floppy hats like that of Father Chrhristmas) mean they are single. Also, any marriages of local people can only happen on the 1st May each year, so if you miss that date you must wait a year. Great stuff!!
After a fairly ordinary "local" lunch, the rest of our tour group headed back to boat to return to Puno. We stayed to find out that our lunch venue was also our home for the night. Room was OK but as island had no running water or sewer network, it was always going to be a bit basic. We took an afternoon stroll and saw another inca-type ruin then returned to base before dark. This was important as the island has no street lights and regularly, tourists get caught out and cannot find their "home" in the night after dark and end up roughing it! Dinner was, again, ordinary basic island food of fish, rice and a few dried chip-things.
Next morning things started to go a bit funny in the digestion regions. M felt OK but the food had obviously got the better of me. V bad stomach and the onset of a fever too. Nevertheless, we were on the island for only half a day more so we were not going to miss it. Of we went for walk to the south of island which was truely stunning, no cars, bikes, just people, cows and sheep. Regaularly we passed men (mostly) heading in the opposite direction knitting their appropriate marital hats! Guys take note, knitting is COOL!
Although walk was stunning, it was a bit marred for me by stomach cramps / fever etc. but we cracked on though. Spent a while sitting on sunny beach then finished the loop to return to our home. On way I was "caught short" in a bad way so ducked behind a large rock in the middle of nowhere (sorry about this bit it is worth telling), only to be stumbled across by an old lady and her niece who insisted on stopping and having a 10 minute conversation with me in Spanish despite the fact that I was quite seriously and painfully occupied (they just don´t care over here you see).
Back at base we collected kit and headed to small port for boat. Return journey to Punoi by boat was desperate; I felt close to death and small boat (sans loo!, that´s French by the way) rocked away for 3 hours while chigging at walking pace back to mainland (I think lack of speed was to conserve fuel, therefore money, which is fair enough).
Another night in Puno and sick Jez did not improve. Bus next day took us south to Copocabana in Bolivia, a nice lakeside town. We decided to crack on to La Paz though.
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