2 day tour on Lake Titicaca - Uros/Amantani/Taquile

tour guide picked me up from the hostel at 8am.. then we headed to the bus and went by some other hotels to gather the group. then about 3 minute drive to the port. at the port we were given 5 minutes to buy a present to the host family (food: rice, sugar, fruits etc.) and to gather water. our group was about 25 people. then we headed on to the boat and took off... well kinda took off.. the boat was a wreck and the engine kept dying out :) .. but somehow they got it going again

First stop was Uros - the floating islands... check the pictures for more descriptions (yeap i´ll try to add the descriptions right away as well) but the islands are literally floating.. and people are living on them... it is crazy.. everything is made out of the tall grass (i have no idea how pilliroog is in english) that grows in the lake. there are about 40-50 islands and we visited 2 of them. on the first island there lived 5 families i believe. some islands are bigger and there are even restaurants on them. at some point the prime minister of Japan visited the floating islands.. and even stayed the night at one... and he donated 30 solar panels to the Uros people. and our guide was even jokingly saying that who knows maybe they get internet soon :D ... but yes, those people live there all their life for many reasons:
- this is their culture and custom
- they get money from tourism
- they don´t have to pay rent
But there are also many problems there.. for one the kids learn to walk at a very late age.. because they have nowhere to walk and the "ground" is very unsteady.. also kids younger than 4 years often fall in the lake and drown.
What was kinda funny was the fact that each island has a president :D

After visiting the floating islands we got back to the boat and headed to island Amantani. it was a sloow ride of 2,5 hours.. the scenery was great but there is only that much you can stare at the water and mountains around it :D finally we got there.. we were taken to our host families as we were staying with them overnight... we were paired up, each family took 2, sometimes 3 people with them... well.. their living conditions are very very basic. there is electricity on the island but it is not always available so no-one uses it. we had lunch at the family house and then gathered in the town again to visit the temple on the top of the mountain/island. it was about 40 minute climb/hike.. the temple itself is open only once a year and only shaman´s and priests/important people can go in there... so we walked around it... and watched the sunset. it was pretty... then hurried down again as it gets dark quick... at the meeting point we parted to our families again and had dinner.

at 8pm we were dressed up in their national clothes and there was a party for us :D by that time it was pitch dark .. oh the stars were gorgeous... ok.. but the party.. there was a local band and all of us were wearing the national clothes.. which did not fit of course and were dragged on top of our own clothes so we could not really breathe or move :D .. but oh well it was fun nonetheless. the party was just gathering in their community house.. which was one empty concrete room... there was one oil lamp and local band of 5 people. the locals of course came as well and then we danced, the dances did not really have any steps so it was just simply moving around. well it was fun. between the dances we went outside to wonder at the night sky and to stare at the lightning across the lake, in Bolivia.

then back to the houses and to sleep. i did not get much sleep as the bed was just soo dusty.. each time i turned i started coughing as the dust all flew up :( .. it was pretty bad.. but we all got through the night... breakfast at 7.. pancakes, bread and tea... leaving the island at 8am.. heading to Island Taquile... it was about 1h boat ride.

Taquile island is great.. they have their own culture there which is being sponsored by many European countries. community there works very well.. for an example most of the restaurants are held by many families and they all split the costs and profit as well. seemed like a very nice and friendly place. they also had an interesting project there: island people were introduced to digital cameras, they learned how to use them and then they took many many pictures.. i went to see the exhibition of the photos... it was great. on the island we walked from one end to the other and stopped at the main square and had lunch as well. at 1pm we headed back to Puno.. it was 4h boat ride in windy and rainy weather... loong.. i slept for 2 hours luckily.

i just checked into the hotel again and just came to update the blog. in 1h we are going out to dinner with some people from the tour.... i have some stories to tell about all the people i met again :)

as i said there were about 25 of us:
- an older couple from Spain.. they were pretty much the only ones who knew where Estonia is :D
- an older couple from Belgium
- 2 teenagers, brother and sister, from Germany who live in Brussels as their parents work there
- 1 "local" girl from Lima
- 2 girls from Asia
- 3 people from Canada
- 8 people from Israel... they all met here in South-America... there were 4 pairs of them.. 4 girls and 4 guys... and now they travel all together. In Israel the boys go to the army for 3 years and girls for 2 years... army is right after high school.. so when they are 18.. then after army everybody takes a looong trip (6 months to 1 year) around the world .. or then in South-America :D ... and after that they attend university.
- 1 lady from Croatia... i stayed at the host family with her.. very interesting person.. we had some serious spiritual soul searching conversations going on in the afternoon.. perhaps i´ll go and visit her next year in Croatia
- and then some other people who i can´t remember.. oh one guy from somewhere and 2 guys from Paris

... but now i´ll get to the pictures and they i gotta head out to the restaurant! i´m leaving to Arequipa tomorrow (Monday) at 2pm by bus... take care!