Puno and Lake Titicacca

After a long drive we arrived in Puno to visit Lake Titicacca and spend the night with a local family. On the way to Puno we had stopped at some more Inca ruins called Sillustani. The ruins were of Inca burial towers and they were set in a stunning and peaceful location overlooking a lake.

The next day we headed off on our boat trip of Lake Titicacca and the Island Amantani. On arrival at the port to board the boat we stocked up on gifts to give to our family. We bought candles (as there is no electricity in the houses on the Island) rice, sugar , fruit pens and paper for the children, and pasta. Then we boarded the boat to sail to our first stop the Uros Reed Islands. Lake Titicacca is really beautiful and also HUGE!! The Reed Islands are as the name suggests, Islands made out of reeds that the local poeple live on. We were taken on a boat made from the reeds as well on a little trip while the local children sang to us.  Then we sailed on for about 3 hrs to get to the Amantani Island where we met our families. On arrival we were greeted with a welcome dance before we were divided up between the local families. Andrei and i were staying with a lovely lady called Marie Lus. It was hard to know how to act at first, and obviously we had to speak in Spanish, which was a test, but soon we relaxed  and began to enjoy the experience. The house Marie Lus lived in was actually not as basic as i imagined and our room was really nice. We were not able to shower and the loo was at the end of the garden, but that was fine. We had lunch, very carbohydrate based, and then played with her little girl for an hour of so before another football match was to be played!

After the footie we walked up the mountain on the island to watch the sun set! I thought that the hill walking was over but oh no! it was a pretty hard climb but the view at the top was great. We watched the sun set over the mountains surrounding the lake. Then we headed back to our houses and had a rest before dinner. Again another very carb based meal, but tasty. Then we were off to the local hall on the Island for a local dance. We were dressed up in traditional dress before leaving (i have to say i liked my outft!) so all laughed at one another suitably when we saw each other! The dancing was fun, very long dances and not complicated moves. By about 10,30 we were so tired though that we headed home to bed.

Despite the lack of heater we had a great nights sleep and were not cold at all! We had brekkie (lovely home made pancakes) and said goodbye to our host families and then got back on the boat to sail to another Island called Taquille. Here we did another hike up a hill, (we were all getting tired of hills now! ) and then wandered around the town. We had lunch and then sailed back to Puno taking in the last views of the lake before we moved on to La Paz and Bolivia the next day.