Lake Titicaca

What a beautiful lake! Lake Titicaca is 284m deep and 3200 square miles, with half the lake in Peru and the other half in Bolivia.  We decided to take a lake tour on Saturday that involved a 3 hour boat ride with islands and ice capped mountain views, and we stopped off at a few islands as well.

The first islands we visitied are called the floating islands, there are about 47-50 of them with about 600 Uros Indian inabitants. They first made these islands to escape the Incas, but they continue living on them today. They make islands that about 4-5 families live on out of reeds that grow in lake Titicaca. They were really strange to walk on, my feet sunk a bit as I walked across, and you could feel the island moving with the waves. Houses were made out of the same reeds, and the Uros showed us how they cook, fish, and earn a living. Every month another layer of 5-6 inches of reeds has to be added, so most of their time is spent keeping up the islands and making boats or homes out of the reeds.

After the floating islands, we went to another island, Taquile. It was much larger than the folating islands and had mountains, stores and restuarants to visit. The indigenous group that lives there is quite intersting. All the men on the island are constantly knitting, and the main source of income for them is textiles. It was strange to see all the men walking around and knitting, because in Cuzco it was something only the women did. The dress of the island was very specific as well. The women wore black headscarees and full skirts with 4-8 layers the colors of the layers signified if someone was married or single. The men wore these long caps that also had significance depending on the colors. My favorite thing was the belts the men wore. Instead of a wedding ring, you could tell if the men were married by the type of belt they wore. The married men had really colorful belts that were woven out of their wives hair! I asked the guide if they only dress like this for tourists. He told me that sometimes the younger generation would wear jeans and sneakers, but they would still wear the hats and belts. He said that since it is such a strong tradition of the island, not wearing them reflects poorly on their families. Aside for the interesting cultre, the panoramic views on the lake were increadible. I just wanted to sit there and read all day long.

At night, we came back to the mainland after a long day. All of us were tired of sleeping in hostels and taking lukewarm showers, so we were feeling a bit....high maintainance ;) and moved to a really nice hotel. The other place we were going to stay was only 7 dollars per night, but it was freezing cold and most things were broken in the room. So this morning, we woke up in our cozy beds, took hot showers, looked out onto the plaza from our patio, and had a nice warm breakfast in the hotel. For one night, it was totally worth it.  

Tonight Linsdey is headed back to Cuzco, and it seems I will be taking a 6 hour boat ride across lake Titicaca to Bolivia. I have to go down to the docks this morning to figure out how and when I can cross, so that is my goal for today. It will be a nice ride, but it is just going to take a lot longer and be more expensive (the first class bus tickets only cost about 20 US dollars for the entire trip!). 

Lord willing, my next update will be from Hospitals of Hope in Bolivia and Linsdey will be at home in Elgin.  

Love and miss you all!

Heidi