The simple life on Lago Titikaka!

Sonya´s house
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Hi guys,

Having finally recovered from our trek (took a few days...) we took the bus to Lake Titicaca on the Peru- Bolivia border.  The  main reason for this stop off was to visit some of the islands that lie on the lake - the highest navigable lake in the world which is massive!

We booked a 2 day tour of three of the islands on the lake - The Uros, Amantani and Taquille. First stop was The floating islands of Uros. Very Bizarre! Totally man made out of reeds!? They take some 8 months  to build and only last about 15 years. As well as the islands themselves everything on the islands were made of reeds -  huts, tables, chairs beds, ladders and the boats to ferry you between the different islands. We had a tour guide that told us about life on the islands and it was like going back in time. Families with up to 6 kids living in one room, cooking on a fire, eating fish from the lake and the reeds...apparently good for your teeth! unfortunately though they dont seem to have found out how to make  air freshner out of reeds which is a bit of a shame cause there was a rather pungent smell of rotting fish in the huts! The people live on these islands in a totally self sufficient way, only getting money from the toursists that hop on the islands to have a nose round at this totally different way of life.

Los Uros
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A three hour boat ride (on a mortorised boat rather than one made of reeds) took us to the island of Amantani  where we would be spending the night with a local family. Our host for the evening, ´Sonya´met us at the port and took us back to her house. Walking up the hill passing only a few chickens and old men en-route, we opened the gate leading up to her house (which was held on by the rubber soles of an old pair of shoes) walked past the  outdoor toilet and through the aluminium door leading to her coutyard. Lunch was served in the ´kitchen´area, a small dark room with a mud floor and a fire in the corner. She made us some veg soup and some fried cheese and rice. Again, it was amazing to think that people still live in this way...it was like going back to the middle ages... The family had a couple of rooms (very spartan) that they rented out to tourists, then had another which stored potatoes, one that contained the grandmother who seemed to spend all day stoking another fire, and another room where the family of 6 slept. They had no electricity and the only water was from an outdoor tap on the veg patch! They had a few mangy looking sheep in a pen in the yard. Sonya made hats and scarves to sell to tourists and her husband worked the land. They seemed happy enough but just really hit home how much we take for granted at home...ie flooring, heating, water, sanitation, light... But also how our plans for a self sufficient little homestead are a little more elaborate than Sonya´s and her family´s.

Andy and Char amantani style!
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After abit of a wander around the island we had another dinner of veg soup and veg and rice and Sonya and her husband dressed us up in traditional amantani dress and took us to a fiesta in the village hall!

Andy donned a long woolen poncho and a bobble hat, and I had the honour of wearing a white embroidered blouse, with a red skirt (several layers wide) and a black shawl on my head...very becoming!

Was a strange evening...a pan pipe band set up one end of the hall, then a few locals dragged some tourists (including me and andy) around the room in an oaky cokey sort of way for several hours. The dance didn´t change much, just direction and occasional ´oranges and lemons´ arches.

Next day we said good bye to our hosts and left the island time forgot. It was definitely an unforgettable experience.

The boat then took us to Taquille where the men attract the women by throwing small stones at them, deciphering between those single and those already married by the size of the wollen pom pom attached to the woman´s headress. If a stone is thrown, the woman then has three days to ´fall in love´(!?) and move in with his fimaily for 5 years (known as ´proof of the love´) within which she must produce some children (the more the better - more than three offspring guarentees you ruler staus on the island!?), if no children are born, so the man doesn´t have to marry the poor woman. If they do marry she is forever to walk 2 meters behind him!? Progress apparently - as 10 years ago it was 5 meters!

After some lunch on this island we headed back to mainland, to Puno, where we  stayed a few days just  chilling. On the saturday night we were lucky to see the locals perform a dress rehearsal of their annual fiesta in February...dancing in the street, brass bands, fireworks etc. We then got the bus to Bolivia!

Will update you soon.

Much love Andy and Char xxxx