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We entered Bolivia at the beginning of April. Before we crossed we stopped in the Peruvian town of Puno which is near the border with Bolivia on Lake Titicaca, the highest "navigable" lake in the world. There we visited the Floating Islands, a community that builds and lives on floating reed islands out in the middle of the lake. Their community has lived like this for hundreds of years. They initially took to the lake to escape the persecution of another local indigenous group. They make large islands out of blocks cut out of the root mass of a reed plant that grows on the lake. These blocks serve as the foundation, floating beneath the water, and then they are covered with layers of the dried reeds. Each year a new layer of reeds needs to be added to make up for the reeds on the bottom that gradually decompose. It was very interesting to see, but it was also clear that the island life there is not very easy. Their only source of income is from fishing and tourism and many of the children who grow up there decide to go to high school on the mainland and decide to stay there to get more reliable jobs and more comfortable lifestyles. It was interesting to see a different way of life.
From Puno we crossed into Bolivia and spent a night near Copacabana, a small touristy town on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca. We took an hour long boat ride out to a island called the Isla del Sol. According to an Incan creation story the creator god created the sun and brought life to the world on/near this island. We visited the ruins of the sun temple that sits on the shore of the island. Isla del Sol is a beautiful island with hiking trails and several communities with small restaurants and hostels. Like so many other communities in the Andes, this one had carved countless terraces into the rocky hills to create space for rows of beans, quinoa, and potatoes.
After spending the night in a quaint hostel with a beautiful view of Lake Titicaca we hid from a rainy morning in a few different restaurants, getting as many tea refills as we could before heading back to Copacabana by boat. Then it was off to La Paz, the worlds highest capitol!
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