Titkaka Lake

Day 9 Titikaka Lake

We were told to be ready at 8.00 am for pick up. Around the corner stood five cycle taxis to take us to the harbour. When we reach the harbour our boat was ready to leave, our group had our own boat. 

First stop was an Uru floating island. They didn't pick the closest most touristy ones, so we had to go for almost two hours before we reached our island. 

They told us how these islands are built and how they live there. Imagine living on a 200m2 reed island floating in Titikaka Lake your entire life. It was very interesting to see though. We also got to go for a short trip on one of their reed boats. 

After the visit, we continued another hour and a half to the island Taquile. Here we had lunch overlooking the lake and the Bolivian mountains. The people on this island, 2000 inhabitants, are very good at handicraft. The men are knitting and the women sawing and weaving. The things they make are amazing. One very important item is their hats. The colour of your hat tells all about you, if you are single or married for example. The men making this hats have a competition of who is making the best one. The one holding water the longest is the winning one. They are so tightly knitted it is incredible.

On this island we got to test our fitness in the altitude again. A walk straight up from the harbour was rather difficult when it comes to breathing. Going down we took a different path, and going downhill is always easier.

The boat took us to our final destination for the day. A small village on the tip of the peninsula of Puno. This was to be our home for the night. We were to spend the night with a local family. 

First we met and greeted our family, then there was a football game, tourists against locals. We were three tourist groups here today. The locals won most of it. And my group is the least sporty group ever. 

It was now time for some local dance, not only were the locals to dance for us, we had to dress up in their costumes and dance with them. During the dance session the rain came, and turned into hale. But of course we had to finish the dancing before we could shelter. 

It was a rather heavy rain so. We stood there waiting for it to ease a bit so that we could go home to our families. 

Me and my German roomie ended up in a family with 7 children, the two youngest, a pair of twins, were only two weeks old.

It was a bit acquired to be guests in there home. We couldn't communicate very well, and it felt like both sides felt that way even if the family is used to have people staying there. They have even built a room with en suite, that is in better standard than their own home. 

For the first hour we sat in hour room having three of the kids running around us like maniacs showing their toys and wanting to play with us.

Luckily we got called for dinner. In the kitchen they had set the table only for us two. The rest of the family ate in shifts in the corner of the little room. Not very comfortable. Food was good though.

After dinner they asked if we were tired and I said yes, I couldn't stand sitting there looking at them any longer. 

So it became an early night. Outside the storm was really hard, thunder and rain. It is a bit cold, but I think I'll keep warm.