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After much deliberation, we decided to travel to South Peru with our new friends, Mike and Linda. The journey began with an overnight bus ride from Cusco to Puno, Peru, which sits on the shores of Lake Titicaca. Lake Titicaca, at 3,856 meters above sea level, is the highest navigable lake in the world. It is also the most beautiful lake in the world, in our opinion. From Puno, we traveled by small boat to see the Uros islands and continued for another four hours on to Amantani Island. There, we stayed with a local family and had an utterly amazing time. The following day we traveled by boat to Taquile Island and ultimately returned to Puno. Upon returning to Punu, we immediately sped away towards the Peru-Bolivian border in hopes of reaching Copacabana that evening. We did eventually reach the Peru-Bolivian border the following day and spent one wonderful day in Copacabana and two more exciting days in La Paz.
The small Uros Islands are man made of reeds. Walking on these islands is an experience in itself, as the surface is often unsteady, and at times, water seeps up from below. Here, the island people, which are part Uro and part Aymara, fish, hunt birds, eat lake plants and sell their goods to the thousands of tourists that stop to see their small islands every year.
Kelly, Mike, Linda and Rich stand in the look out tower of one of the Uros Islands, trying to spot land.
Not only the Islands are made of reeds, but the Uros also create boats made of reed. Here is a photo of a group of tourists (from our boat) floating to the next island at a snail's pace, at the low price of 3 soles. We thought this rather silly.
The small harbor at Amantani Island. Notice the villagers on the shores gathered to meet their guests and to take them to their homes,
Here is a photo of the Mendoza family home that we were fortunate enough to stay in while visiting Amantani Island.
Courtyard of the Mendoza family home.
Flour, Wilber amd Mrs. Mendoza come to our room to invite us to the village fiesta that evening. One thing that we noticed about the Mendoza family and the Amantani people in general, is that they are so happy, despite the fact that they live under conditions that we would describe as squalor, with no electricity or running water and living in adobe homes with bricks made of straw and mud.
Wilber was our favorite little Mendoza. At age 11, he was very intelligent and curious. He spent a lot of time with us. We will never forget Amantani Island or Wilber.
The view of beautiful ocean blue Lake Titicaca from the front door of our adobe room on Amantani Island. That was also unforgettable.
Here, two Taquile men stand at the main square with a young boy. One of the men is married, the other is single. We can tell by their chullos (hats). The man on the left is single, because the tip of his chullo is white. The man on the right is married because the tip of his chulo is red and colorful. Taquile has many such enduring textile traditions and, interestingly, only men on Taquile know how to knit.
Kelly stands at an arch on Taquile as we hike down the mountain to the port.
As we continued our hike to the port, we shared the path with many of the Taquile people and their animals.
A view of another boat heading back to Puno. Our boat was similar, but not nearly as crowded. During the four hour ride back to Puno, we hung out and slept on top of the boat, enjoying the magnificent scenery and the cool lake breezes.
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