Day 75

The immense lake Titicaca (he he titi) at a height of 3820m above sea level is accredited with all manner of memorable trivia. Generations of schoolchildren have been taught that this is the highest lake with passenger boat services in the world, while it is also south Americas Largest lake and the largest lake in the world above 2000m at over 170km in length and 60km breadth. But it is no the statistics that make this lake such a magical place to visit.

Lonely Planets guide to Peru 5th Edition

I was forced to do the unthinkable, getting caught by the Two very Attractive blond Swedish girls in the process.

Anyone who has read the blog from the beginning might note that this is the first direct quote out of the lonely planet for a while, there are several reasons for this, the main being a kept forgetting the guide book when I went to the internet cafes... oh well.

And so it was, another poxy early morning with a 0600 wake up alarm.. Yay.

Hot shower done, we actually managed to grab a quick breakfast before we got picked up by the tour company, although I did have to stick the bread with the cheese in my coat pocket as the bus turned up at exactly the same time as the bread did.

Boarding the bus we found we were first and a 30 minute round robin to pick up the other passengers later, we were on out way in earnest to the port where we were to pick up our boat.

Passing a part of the lake with pedlos for hire, which looked a disturbing shade o green with all the rancid algae that grew on it we eventually arrived at the port.

With only our day bags carrying our supplies for the next two days; including sleeping bags; we boarded to a sea of other people with huge backpacks suit cases and even a couple of military kit bags. We had once again left our bags in storage covered in the Pak safes we were given as a leaving gift for them.

On the boat the guide introduced himself, Juan, he spoke in English and Spanish, most of the time barely leaving a breath between the two languages which made it a little hard to follow and told us the days itinerary, two hours later we turned up at our first stop: Los Uros.

Los Flotates or Los Uros are the man made floating islands that cover the shoreline of lake Titicaca, and are the areas main tourist attraction. Originally created several hundred years ago as a way to escape the aggressive Incan civilisation, they used to float freely around the lake, now however they are all grouped together and tethered in place, made sole from reeds the largest of these islands had a school and a church.

However on arriving at the islands, any preconceptions about them were blown away, although a truly unusual and un erringly fun experience, they are; and this is an understatement; seriously, Seriously touristy. Which was rather disappointing, as was the fact we saw TVS and Solar panels in some of the huts.

Whilst not wanting to deny anyone the luxuries of the 21st century I enjoy so much, I think that a balance needs to be found, as after spending a few minutes on the island, you could have easily been at some man made event at Alton Towers.

A quick talk on how the islands are made and the history of them later, we were shown how deep the water was by way of a brick and rope being dropped through a deliberately left hole in the centre of the island, and were given some reed to eat. The bottom of the reed contains a white spongy very moist flesh, which apparently is supposed to me safe to eat (well see what the doc says when I give a stool sample when I get back)

After that we took on of the traditional elaborately decorated reed boats to the main island, passing a couple of four year olds rowing across the lake on their own.. Loving the health and safety laws out here.

The main island boasting a Post office bar and snack shops as well.. Yep that’s right at least 20 Artisan stores.. Yay.

The next stop on out tour was to the Island of Amanati and to meet the family we would be spending the night with, and as we neared the shores of this mountain sticking out of the water is was like been thrown back in time several hundred years, untouched pristine countryside illuminated by the boiling hot sun, reflecting off the white washed houses and reflected in the small but numerous waterfalls we encountered on the way in it was beautiful, and with electricity being something that shoots out the sky in a thunder storm devoid of any man made noise and machinery.

We landed and began our arduous ascent up some stinking hills to where a large group of locals in traditional dress where waiting for us.

Split into pairs we were all detailed off a family and we walked away with a slightly chubby smiling 40 odd year old bloke right to the top of the hill, infact there was only one other couple who had to walk further (the French Couple from the Colca Canyon trip) arriving at the home we were shown to our room, above the storage room (what we would call a garage) with four single beds and a candle.. Hey it was clean and dry, bonus

We were immediately taken for Lunch where in a small room with an open fire the Lunch was prepared, a bowl of soup consisting mainly of Yuka and a type of grain with looks like small washers - a staple for the islanders we quaffed it down and then had the main course of potatoes looking things with more vegetables, having spun one of my purple spuds on the floor when trying to eat it, the little girl burst into laughter and I hurriedly put my finger to my lips with a smile, she turned to her mother and said a few word’s to which the mother laughed.

Now ordinarily I may have been able to at least get the gist of what was being said in Spanish, thing is, they don’t speak Spanish, they Speak Quechua along with Ayamara the original language of the Region, spoken by Pre Incans and Incans alike, Spanish was brought it with the blood thirsty Conquistadors. There are still an estimated 2 Million Quechua and Ayamara speakers, which although interesting didn’t mean a thing to us except it was harder than normal for us to communicate, and we pretty much reverted to hand signals smiles and facial expressions, which by all accounts is actually quite effective.

After that we all met in the town centre (a concrete football pitch and small town hall) to meet back up with our guide and start our ascent further up the island to the Temple of Pachamama literally meaning mother Earth, where once a year a festival with a Llama sacrifice is held, on the other side of the saddle was Pachatata (father Earth) both ancient temples both needing some serious repair works to them, but the temples and the views they provided us with were, quite simple breathtaking. Though I fear I may have incurred the wrath of at least one ancient god as at the summit I was over come with the over powering urge to urinate, and with no toilet or Banos in sight, I was forced to do the unthinkable, getting caught by the Two very Attractive blond Swedish girls in the process.

After the sun starting to wane, we headed down the mountain back to our respective new homes with our new "Mom and Dad" I cant remember their names, but I didn’t know what they were when they told me something along the lines of Stuartghinfoghttnddlssssos and Lielllgnhdysysaanas so hmmph.

We lit the candle in our room and handed over the gift of very gratefully received fruit we had got for them and settled down until at 1800 we had dinner, another traditional meal, full of the weird rice stuff and more stage Andean potatoes. Dinner done (with happy days more Chicha) we settled in for the night, only to have a knock at the door at 2000hrs.

"Mom" came in and threw me a poncho and Caz a shit load of Garments; we were going to a party. Donning the traditional dress of the locals, pictures say it all we headed down to the town hall, where the only generator in the Village powered up a few strip lights and the party was already in full swing with about 50 gringos and there Moms and Dads dancing away all in traditional dress, the bad was traditional in every way, that is apart from the Pan pipe player who obviously fancied himself a bit of a rock star as he was wearing shades. We would later discover this was due to the fact he was stoned of his head and trying to hide the red eye.

Beer in Hand we watched everyone make complete fools of themselves until Mom Grabbed me up to dance, the evening carried on from there, more beer and more dancing, it was actually really fun with everyone giving in the fight and just dancing... badly, the atmosphere was electric and at about 2300 when it wound up we walked back up the windy hill now a veritable mud slide with all the hard rain that was falling to collapse into bed, for a well deserved nice sleep, punctuated only when the Thunder and lightening got excessively loud.