the islands of Titicaca

I´m a bit sunburned and windburned after nearly two days on a boat travelling around the beautiful Lago Titicaca. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and from what I hear, we were lucky.

We set off yesterday towards the floating islands of Uros. These man-made islands are charming made from the strong grass reeds that grow in the shallow part of the lake near the shore. The people who live in Uros travel to and from the adjacent islands on boats made from the same reeds. And the reeds also make a tasty snack, sort of like celery.

From there, we set out on a (*sings*) "three hour tour" to the island of Amantani. I had no idea what I was in store for when they said I´d be staying with a local family because there are no hotels. They passed me off to mi familia when we arrived, and the little Quechua woman, Florencia, brought me to her small hut made of stone and mud with chickens running in and out of the tiny cocina where we chopped up potatoes and cooked yummy quinoa vegetable soup. The people on the island only speak Quechua and a tiny bit of Spanish, so communication was really challenging for me. Mostly Florencia´s daughters and I all just smiled and laughed a lot with each other.

Then I met up with the rest of my tour group and we set out on a hike which turned out to be really challenging.... considering we were at 4000+ meters and it was completely uphill. We must have climbed a good 500 meters or so, and somehow made it to the top of the island just in time to see the sunset which was absolutely divine with sunbeams stretching through the fluffy clouds. From this spot we were able to see all the way to Bolivia.

Heading back downhill I managed to get somewhat lost with the group of French travellers, who were such trouble makers and so fun. I amazingly found the way back to mi casa. Florencia´s oldest daughter, Gladias, dressed me up in the traditional dress and her older brother brought me to the fiesta in town with the rest of my tour group. We danced around the room in circles and laughed over how exhausted we all were after that hike and here we were dancing.

Today we got up super early, made a stop at another island called Taquile for a quick lunch, and now here I am in Puno again.

These last couple of days have been the most culturally diverse of my trip so far. It was interesting to really experience life on the island from the inside. The people I met on the island were so sweet and happy, staring at that magnificent lake all day, it´s easy to see why. Their lives are so simple, and it´s quite beautiful. I worry about the tourists always visiting them like this though. Already the children hardly old enough to speak, hold out their tiny hands expecting money.

Tomorrow I´m crossing the border into Bolivia to hang out at Copacabana. I´m looking forward to not doing anything for a couple of days. I feel like I´ve been constantly moving from one thing to the next, and I´m ready for a break. And what better place than... At the Copa! Copacabana!!