Day 7 - Lake Titikaka
After a night of waking feeling a bit breathless we wondered if we would be OK. We went down to breakfast and it was obviously rush hour at 6.30 so we had to share a table. As it turned out we had a nice chat with a couple from California and the breakfast buffet was pretty good, once we'd worked out how to get tea.
Having dressed and packed our backpacks for a cold experience, we were picked up at 8am by our guide and driven down to the hotel boat dock which we can see from our room!
We had our own boat for the day and set off for the floating islands of Uros, which are very close to shore and can be seen from the other side of the hotel. Outside on the boat was very cold so we put on our big fleeces, only to find when we disembarked that we needed to take them off again. We turned left as only half the community is on tourist duty each day. With around 50 boats per day in high season, tourism is what keeps this way of life going.
We were greeted by Leia the president of the island, a very imposing lady who was definitely in charge. It was fascinating to watch a demonstration of how they make and anchor the island, which needs replacing every 3 weeks. They cook outdoors to make sure that they don't set fire to the reeds, breakfast was boiled potatoes and boiled coots eggs. After the island-making demo, we were invited into the house and dressed up in the local costumes. The TV is powered by solar panels but the room is tiny with room for a double bed, double seat ad TV stand. We got to see the embroidery but declined to buy any, as we know when we got it home it would just go in the loft.
Little Christina, who is around 2½, the same age as James, spent the time we were there looking at us and giggling. When we got the chance to be transported to the main island on a local boat Christina came too, climbing onto the top deck with us. The main island is where tourists stay in very basic huts and is the local tourist market with more retail opportunities.
Then it was back on our boat for the hour long trip to the second biggest real island Isla Tequila. We were offered 3 routes to lunch and decided on the longest, which turned out to be the least steep, up to the main plaza. It was very reminiscent of the Greek islands, except for the colourfully dressed locals we met on the way. It was a lovely walk warm walk, if very slow, taking account of the altitude, almost 4000m above sea level, but we were both fine and enjoyed ourselves. It is odd going in and out of the shade as the sunny parts were like a lovely warm, but not too hot, summers day and the shade was decidedly chilly.
The islanders have solar panels and schools, but no cycles, pack animals or cars to help carry, so lots of the locals were carrying huge baskets up very steep hills. We explored the community market at the main square, then went down a very steep hill to our lunch stop, where we had local vegetable soup with bread and salsa followed by either trout or omelette with cold veg, rice and chips, a peculiarly Peruvian combination.
After lunch it was back to the boat dock, but we had a bit of a wait as our boat had been called away on a medical emergency and we waited for a replacement, which fortunately had all our gear on it.
The journey back to the hotel was about an hour. We spent most of it inside but put our big fleeces on and went outside to see life among the reed beds as we neared the end, where the bus was waiting to take us all of 100 yards, saving us a very short climb!
Having dressed and packed our backpacks for a cold experience, we were picked up at 8am by our guide and driven down to the hotel boat dock which we can see from our room!
We had our own boat for the day and set off for the floating islands of Uros, which are very close to shore and can be seen from the other side of the hotel. Outside on the boat was very cold so we put on our big fleeces, only to find when we disembarked that we needed to take them off again. We turned left as only half the community is on tourist duty each day. With around 50 boats per day in high season, tourism is what keeps this way of life going.
We were greeted by Leia the president of the island, a very imposing lady who was definitely in charge. It was fascinating to watch a demonstration of how they make and anchor the island, which needs replacing every 3 weeks. They cook outdoors to make sure that they don't set fire to the reeds, breakfast was boiled potatoes and boiled coots eggs. After the island-making demo, we were invited into the house and dressed up in the local costumes. The TV is powered by solar panels but the room is tiny with room for a double bed, double seat ad TV stand. We got to see the embroidery but declined to buy any, as we know when we got it home it would just go in the loft.
Little Christina, who is around 2½, the same age as James, spent the time we were there looking at us and giggling. When we got the chance to be transported to the main island on a local boat Christina came too, climbing onto the top deck with us. The main island is where tourists stay in very basic huts and is the local tourist market with more retail opportunities.
Then it was back on our boat for the hour long trip to the second biggest real island Isla Tequila. We were offered 3 routes to lunch and decided on the longest, which turned out to be the least steep, up to the main plaza. It was very reminiscent of the Greek islands, except for the colourfully dressed locals we met on the way. It was a lovely walk warm walk, if very slow, taking account of the altitude, almost 4000m above sea level, but we were both fine and enjoyed ourselves. It is odd going in and out of the shade as the sunny parts were like a lovely warm, but not too hot, summers day and the shade was decidedly chilly.
The islanders have solar panels and schools, but no cycles, pack animals or cars to help carry, so lots of the locals were carrying huge baskets up very steep hills. We explored the community market at the main square, then went down a very steep hill to our lunch stop, where we had local vegetable soup with bread and salsa followed by either trout or omelette with cold veg, rice and chips, a peculiarly Peruvian combination.
After lunch it was back to the boat dock, but we had a bit of a wait as our boat had been called away on a medical emergency and we waited for a replacement, which fortunately had all our gear on it.
The journey back to the hotel was about an hour. We spent most of it inside but put our big fleeces on and went outside to see life among the reed beds as we neared the end, where the bus was waiting to take us all of 100 yards, saving us a very short climb!
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