After the visit to Taquile island, we took an hour's boat ride to Liquina peninsula, where we stayed a night with a local family at their home - 2 of us to each home. Our hostess, Ullaila (who we address as 'mama' as a sign of respect) is a 65-yr old grandmother, who lives with 2 of her grandchildren, Romelo (6) and Lady (11). Their other 3 siblings live with their parents in the same village. Their native tongue is Aymara, but they speak some Spanish as well - the younger ones are more fluent as they learn it at school.

The priority when we arrived was for the boys to get ready for their football match with the villagers. Unfortunately, my interest in the match waned after about 15 minutes, and I busied myself playing with a few of the children - they were delightful: friendly and cheerful.

Our mama cooked us a huge meal of vegetable soup, followed by rice with vegetable stew. It was a wonder that we still managed to fit into the traditional Liquina costumes that evening for a night of dance with the villagers.

The beds were basic, but comfortable enough - it was a thin mattress, laid over totora reeds, set on a hardened mud platform - and I had a very restful night's sleep. There was no running water, so we did not bother with showers that evening. The toilet is a hole in the ground, sheltered by 3 reed walls (only 4 ft high) without a roof - it was not the most private enclosure, as the open wall faced out to the open fields below!