Two Days on Lake Titicaca and Lima - Last Blog!

Soon, Karen, Erika and I were on a boat ride towards the floating island of Uros. With our guide Esteban, we learned more about the lake and the people who call it home.  After about an hour, our first stop was Uros, the unique floating islands.  Here, about 50 reed islands exist and although they are quite commercial now, they were originally built centuries ago so the Aymara-speaking people could quietly live their own life without intrusion.  The lives of the Uros are completely interwoven with the reeds which are constantly replenished from the top since the reeds rot away from below.

Esteban showing us that even though we'll travel by boat for a few hours, we will only see a small part of the lake!

The reeds are about 2 meters (6ish feet) deep!

The chief showing us how they maintain the islands

Karen working hard to row the reed boat

We then floated to Amantani Island where we met our host mother Flora and she walked us back to her home for lunch. We met her husband and Lillian, her 19 year old daughter and her 8 month old son Tiago who had the cutest, chubbiest cheeks. 

Tiago was very intrigued by his new international friend Chase (Erika's nephew of the same age)

Abuela carrying little Tiago

Soon the middle daughter 16 year old Betsy arrived home from school and while walking to the Plaza to meet the rest of the group, we met the youngest girl, 10 year old Madeline. Later I spoke with Betsy and she was very excited to leave the island but said she loved growing up here.  

At the plaza, we started walking up and up to the highest point on the island at well over 13,000 feet. Pachamama is  a ceremonial center on the highest part of the island which is only used once a year for the largest island festival and there are a few other ruins from the Tiwanaku culture.  Now most of the land is used for agriculture. Still, the sunset from this high vantage point was beautiful!

We returned for dinner and then it was time for the big show.  We could tell Flora wasn't too excited for the nights festivities but she dutifully wrapped us up in traditional dress and we joined the rest of the tours at the local dance hall. I thoroughly enjoyed the local music but the dancing was a little cheesy.  We made the best of it and let Flora leave early so that seemed to make her happy.  Plus, we wanted to get in to our warm beds since life at 12,500 feet gets cold at night!

The next day, we had a lovely breakfast and Flora walked us back to the dock.  She very sweetly bid us a fond farewell, calling us one of her many daughters out there in the world.  We soon arrived to the Taquile island which has been inhabited for many thousands of years (per Lonely Planet).  The Quechua-speaking islanders made a living through beautiful weaving and are known for their floppy hats which delineate the married and single inhabitants. 

The scenery reminded us of the Mediterranean, just a bit cooler though! 

Sorry ladies, red and to the right means married.  

We enjoyed a delicious fish lunch while overlooking the beautiful blue lake.  Supposedly 60% of Lake Titicaca is Peruvian and 40% is Bolivian but Esteban told us that Bolivians probably swap those percentages in their favor.

We napped in the sun on the way home and enjoyed a lovely dinner at our bnb.  The next day, we returned to Lima and were thankful for the comfort of Miguel and Balvi's home after a bus, plane and crazy taxi ride.  We enjoyed pedicures, pasta and wine to celebrate our last night of this incredible journey together!  

Had to buy some last minute mangos, granite fruit and some other fruits I can't remember now!  So yummy!

The next day, we treated Miguel to a local lunch in appreciation and soon were back at the airport, awaiting our flights home!  What a fun, fabulous, whirlwind, beautiful, crazy, hectic, heart-filling adventure!  Thanks for following along.  Excited for the next adventures back in Colorado!