Our Weekend in Lake Titicaca

This past weekend we travelled 10 hours by bus to Lake Titicaca. The trip usually takes 6 hours, but we decided to take a tourist bus that stopped at ruins along the way. Jackie didn't miss a thing on the ride.

Here's a picture of the Incan Wall, which surrounded Cuzco - the capital of the Incan Empire.

Here we are at the pass - 4,300 meters high

We spent two days on Lake Titicaca travelling to 4 islands, two of which are floating. There are 60+ Uros islands made of reeds and anchored to the bottom like a boat. They have been in existence for 10,000 years and the people on the island speak Aymara.

They are not as primitive as you think though. Did you notice the solar panel in the picture? Some of these houses have tv's and electricity.

Here's a picture of how they make the islands. I definitely thought this was something Hannah, Corrine, and Kristina would like have fun playing with.

They've upgraded the boats too. They used to only be made of reeds, but now they use plastic bottles on the bottom, which make the boats last 2 years instead of 6 months.

Here's the luxury accomodations on the island - its certainly not the Ritz, but its only $10 a night, but you are responsible for catching your own breakfast.

There are 6+ families on an island. If there's a fight, they can cut the island in half and go on there own way.

That night, we stayed on Amantini Island (one made out of dirt and rocks, not reeds) with a very nice family - although it seemed a bit like Little House on the Prairie. The family had no electricity and this is their kitchen and their first family picture. We're planning to send it on to them once we track down a frame.

During the night, they had a party for us and made us dress up in their clothes, which was a little hokie.

Here's Jackie showing our Puno Mother how to dance.

The entire island lives off of potatoes, rice, quinoa, and corn. After the weekend, I know that I'll never be a vegetarian.

We brought the children some clothes and taught them a few card games (Recuerda or Memory and Guerra or War). Here's a picture of the sunrise on the island.

The next day, we travelled to another island (Taquile) and travelled the Lake. On the 3 hour trip back, we took a nap. When we awoke, we realized everyone decided to join us including el Capitain. Since the Lake was empty and he seemed to be driving straight, we let him sleep for another half hour until we were getting too close to land.

We took a 6 hour overnight bus back. Hearing that the bus rides are usually cold, we bundled up. However, the heater by our feets ended up being the only one for the bus. Our seats ended up being about 110 degrees while the rest of the people on the bus were cold.