As soon as we arrived in Peru, we noticed straight away that Bolivia had been extremely cheap! Everything in Peru is double the price of Bolivia, we used to have a 'menu of the day' for tea and it would cost us one pound fifty at the maximum in Bolivia, here it costs about a fiver! Whattt!?!

Anyway, the first place we visited in Peru was Puno, simply as a point to access Lake Titicaca, that really is all the town has to offer! We had booked a 2day/1 night trip to the Islands on Lake Titicaca, which we had also visited from Bolivia.

First of all we visited the floating reed Islands. It was absolutley bizarre because you can feel the island moving when you walk on it, but at the same time it feels very stable. We had joined a group of mainly Aussies, of different ages, who were doing s guided too, we all piled off the boat and took our seats for our demonstration. We were introduced to Anna, who lived on the island, she demonstrated to us how the islands were made, using reeds from the lake, repeatedly crossing them over as to kind of weave the base of the island. They also each the roots of the reeds, kind of like massive leeks! Anna then took us into her home and let me and Alice try her clothes and hats on, which was very exciting! Little did we know, as payment we would then be forced to buy things off her stall! I bought a little necklace that I really did not want! It was quite cool though because it had the Pachamama symbol on it- Pachamama is 'Mother Earth' and thats who the Indigenous people of the Andes worship for their crops and livestock etc! I did enjoy the experience, but it was so touristy and a little staged at times. The highlight of islands was when we went on a little boat ride, Anna and her mates rowed with these huge long reed oars and we sat on the top deck of the reed dragon boat! When Anna and Co had done a goodbye song and dance for us, we all piled back on the boat. As we were waving goodbye and pulling away from the reed island, we heard a massive crash on the side of the boat, and screams from the Aussies on the top deck! We had crashed right into the side of one of the boats we had just been on, it got shunted right out into the water, the tourists on board deffinately looked a little worse for wear! The driver of our boat thought it was hilarious and laughed his head off, suprisingly their's didn't!

We sailed for three and a half hours, the boat was really comfy and it was a nice crowd, me and Alice did a bit of sunbathing on the top of the boat to break the day up- such a hard life! We were making our way to the Amantani Islands on lake Titicaca. When we arrived, many people from the vilage had made their way down to the tiny dock, dressed in their traditional outifts!

We were allocated a host family for our stay on the island, they were introduced to us as our Mama and Papa! Mine and Alice's Mama and Papa were the organisers we think. We ended up calling them Mama and Papa the whole time because we couldn't say their names! We couldn't really communicate with them because they speak an Indigenous language called Quechua, and only a little spanish as we did. We had been given a page with some Quechua phrases on so we managed to learn 'this food is delicious' and 'thank you'over the course of our stay!

Our house was really cute, we had a really nice bedroom, which was obviously made for homestay guests, and below there was a courtyard and from there a kitchen and outisde toilet etc. We had two little sisters, called Lyanny and Marlene, who were 4 and 12. The four year old was so cute but really cheeky and had an attitude, which was hilarious! We had lunch when we got there which was delicious, our Mama had prepared it on the clay stove for us. After lunch we went into the garden and helped them harvest the potatoes in the field next door to their little house! They a little cow outside the door called Sandra that was really cute, I felt quite sorry for it though because it was tied up and couldn't walk anywhere!

We met back up with the group in the afternoon, the boys played football- which at altitude is not a good idea, the girls just sat and watched! We made our way up a mountain to watch the sunset over the lake, which was beautiful! Even though we had practically only just had lunch we went home and had another lovely meal- not used to this home cooked fare!

The locals had arranged a 'fiesta' for us in the Amantani village hall! We dressed up in our Mama's clothes, it was seriously the most exciting thing ever!!! We had to wear a long really heavy red skirt with a long sleeved white shirt tucked into it. The shirt had beautiful colourful embroidery all over the chest, as did the black shawls we had to wear. Around our waist we had these massive colourful belts, it was so tight we couldnt breathe. Unfortunately, footwear let me dowm- flip flops or walking boots?! I opted for the flip flops! We danced the night away to the sound of the cool local folk band. Our parents were by far the coolest there -starting all the dances, we were the last to leave, it was only ten o clock though!Hehe! As we walked back from the hall to our house, the sky was just the most beautiful thing I had ever seen! I know you will all find it hard to believe, but for once in my life- I WAS SPEECHLESS! I have never seen so many stares in my life. You could see the southern cross and so many other constellations. There was no light pollution whatsoever and the milkway was so clear!

We said our sad goodbyes the next morning after great night's sleep! It was such an amazing experienc to stay in a community that was so traditional and unmaterialistic! Our family were so warm and welcoming and it is definately an experience I will remember for the rest of my life!

Lots of love xxx