Entry into Peru was quick and easy as we made our way to Puno which is on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca.Puno is quite a large city, with narrow bustling streets and loads of tuk-tuks heading in all directions! We only had two days here before we head on to Cuzco, so decided to do a day tour to see the Lake Titicaca Uros Floating Islands, which are about an hour by boat from Puno. Our tour group was very multicultural with Canadians, Americans, Irish, Italians, French, Brazilians and Peruvians, which made for an interesting day just chatting with the mix of travelers and holiday makers.

The Uros Floating Islands are completely unique and this is the only place in the world you will see them. The communities that created the islands centuries ago were rebels who refused to recognize the Inca and Spanish conquests and therefore set up their own land creating floating islands using the reeds on Lake Titicaca.They could be completely self sufficient, using the reeds to create their homes and boats, they could then fish in the lake, catch birds to eat and for eggs and even eat the reeds. We had a taste of the reeds, they didn't taste of much but water! Nowadays the islands even have electricity, lights, TV and radio thanks to the solar panels that are set up on each island!

There are about 50 floating islands in total and 30 of these islands are open every day for tourists, some even have tourists to stay the night. These communities now make all their money from tourism, allowing tour companies to bring boats of tourists to have a look at their islands, several islanders explain, in English!, how the islands were formed, they showed us around their homes, tried to sell us some of their handicrafts and then took us for a ride in one of their reed boats to a market on another one of the islands. On the whole the Uros Floating Islands were interesting but it was very touristy and felt set up. What particularly made us cringe was when we were in the reed boat about to leave the island and the islanders sang to us a Peruvian song, fine, however they then sang my bonnie lies over the ocean, followed by alloute and finished by saying hasta la vista baby!!!!

The tour continued to the island of Taquile, which was about 3 hours from Puno. We didn't think we were going to make it as our boat kept conking out along the way! About 2000 people live on Taquile, in six different communities that are spread across the island and separated by stone walls. The locals all dress very distinctively and depending on the type of hat they wear and the size of the bobble on their hat you can tell whether that man or woman is single, married or a head of the community! We were constantly told that all the people on the island were locals and that they dress like they did every day and that it was not for the tourists benefit, although we met one guy who lived in Puno and was studying tourism! What was interesting on the island were the terraces that are used to grow all the crops, are from pre Inca times, which is pretty damn old! We walked from one side of the island to the other where we met our boat.

Unfortunately our boat actually had died this time and it was beginning to look like we were going to be stranded on the island for the night! Luckily a local let our tour company use his boat to get us back, but it meant that it was dark for the journey back to Puno, which was a bit scary considering they had to navigate through the reed islands!!

The other big news that you will all have heard about is the massive earthquake that took place yesterday. It was mainly in Pisco and Ica, which is about 400 miles away from Puno, so did not directly affect us, however the news out here is pretty harrowing to watch, with all the dead and injured and the two towns have just been completely flattened. One of the saddest stories is a church that collapsed during mass killing about 200 people outright. We were planning to go to Pisco and Ica in about 10 days time but are now obviously going to change our plans.

Tomorrow we catch an 8 hour bus to Cuzco, where we plan to have a few nights partying to celebrate my birthday and we are staying in Loki, the party hostel, so that should not be too much of a problem! Then on Monday we start the Inca Trail!!!!

Hope everyone is well!

Lots of Love

Sarah and Andrew xxx