Good nights sleep and already feeling better (hurrah!). Took a Tuk Tuk ride (the tricycle ones) to the harbour, quite funny, ended up racing each other and a couple of of them had music blaring out, so with the rest of the rush hour traffic, was a bit like whacky races!! Not sure I've mentioned it, but they have alot of VW Beatles here, the old style, not the new plastic version, interesting car of choice!! Stopped to get toys, pencils and food for our home stay families (we are advised not to give sweets or money), then took the boat across the lake to the floating islands. The lake itself is in both Peru and Bolivia, with 60% being owned by Peru (so they tell you, I'm sure if you asked a Bolivian, they'd say they had the majority share!) The floating islands themselves are out of this world, not what I expected at all (I had fully researched them before going....obviously?!?) There are about 60 islands in total, our particular island, Wiñay Totora, is home to 6 families (about 25 people). We first had a talk on how they make the islands using the root systems of reeds and then a layering process to provide a solid base, takes about a year to build an island and they last 25, not a bad return on investment. Obviously over the years technology and now tourism has changed the way the people live. They now use solar panels, and it seems they are permanently on display for the hundreds of visitors. The one thing that really stands out is the colours of the women's clothing against the straw coloured backdrop of the islands. Pinks, reds, purples, greens, amongst others, you really can't help but smile. On each of the islands they have chickens and catch fish from the lake to eat, with pigs housed on separate floating islands. Was also happy to see two resident cats!! Lovely the fact that everyone helps each other out on the different islands, and rather than paying money, they exchange favours (does that sound wrong??), so a real community feel. Got the opportunity to see inside one of the houses, and then got dressed in traditional clothing (joy), most intriguing are the hats the women wear which tend to be 3 sizes too small and just perch on their head. Not sure why, look a bit stupid and of no real benefit to the wearer. I bet they started off as a bit of a piss take and then just stuck!!!! Walked round the rest of the island, then took a ride on a reed boat, I say ride, we seemed to go to the middle of the lake and bob about for a bit whilst people had a go rowing, then went back! Nice boat though. Really glad we came to visit, a fantastic place, no wonder it was made a National park in 1978!

Go back on the boat to travel to our next stop, Tequina Island. On the way more info on local life in the islands, mainly based around the persecution of single people (may sound a little excessive, but as a singleton myself, was quite annoyed at the plight of the unloved). It seems not only can single people not vote or be elected (only married men are elected, so a double whammy for single girls), but they are not even allowed to attend meetings to discusss the politics and economy of the island. Married and single people also dress differently, with single woman wearing bright coloured skirts and big Pom poms in their hair, whilst married women wear black skirts and smaller Pom poms. I prefer the former to be honest, may not have a bloke, but look a lot prettier!!! Men wear different coloured hats, with the singles wearing red hats, whilst married men wear white, which are also of a better quality (take about 2 months to weave rather than the red hats, which take 1). Married men also have brightly coloured hand, sorry, man bags, which apparently they show off to each other at certain festivities such as weddings. Never heard of blokes having a "bag off" before, but whatever works for them!! From a very early age boys and girls learn to weave and a good "catch" for a girl, is a man who can weave. In fact when a man is trying to woo a potentional match, she will ask him how well he can weave. She will test his ability by pouring liquid into his hat and if it leaks through quickly he has no hope and has to go back and learn to weave better. None of this, "it's not you, it's me" rubbish, if your hats leaks it's a NO. On other islands they woo the ladies by buying them cd or DVD players and stereos, and all compete to be the one with the biggest.........speakers.

Marriage on the islands has changed over the years, couples used to have to live together for 3 years before marriage so they really knew each other. Now they marry after only 2 months and surprise surprise, there are alot more people getting divorced. Only issue being that as it is so frowned upon, divorcees tend to leave the island, which is impacting the population. Marriage itself is a big event, best month is August as this is the month of Mother Earth, who is extremely important to Andean people. Wedding festivities generally go on for about a week. Sounds good to me!!

Got to the island and took a walk up to the Plaza, at about 3900 metres, so a good first practice run for the Inca Trail. Everyone seemed to find it ok, which is a good sign! At the plaza, there were a few shops, the odd old dude in local dress charging tourists a fortune to take a picture, and a big building which had Women's knitting and Men's knitting entrances! Couldn't tell the difference to be honest, funniest part was one man who had chosen to sit and knit under the ladies sign, I'm sure it was more to do with his ability to read than a stand for equal rights! Amazing views of the lake from the Plaza, with the snow capped mountains of Bolivia in the distance.

After lunch, next stop was our home stay island, Laquina. We were greeted by the locals and taken to the school, with a band playing along the way (no pan pipes, good start). First things first, we were invited (pushed), into a game of football with the locals. Actually it was brilliant fun, I even scored a goal, and we won (that's my story and I'm sticking to it!). We then met our mamas, or in our case papa, Alfonso. (In my head, The Fonz), and once again, dressed in traditional clothing (with an even smaller hat than before). We watched a traditional dance and then, you guessed it, all had to do the dance together. Jo and Simon would have loved it!!! Wasn't too bad, as the whole group were dancing didn't feel as exposed as I did in India, with just me and a belly dancer (and to think I actually volunteered to do that!). After the dance we all went our seperate ways with our respective mamas and papas (theres an idea for a baby store in there somewhere, must make a note of it.....). Our room was quite nice, on first sitting down, my mattress felt like memory foam, I know it wasn't, but nice to dream! Got introduced to our mama, Julia, and gave our presents, first faux pas, we'd split our money 50/50 on food and kids toys, they have kids but none at home, doh! Meal was good, vegetable and quinoa soup (not any better here), followed by a carb bonanza of rice, potatoes and what can only be described as spaghetti hoops without the sauce! Pretty good though, I love a good carb fest. Coca tea and mint (delicious) was followed by us trying, and pretty much failing to communicate. They spoke Aymara and Spanish, of which we had a few basic words for the former and my, not so handy in a homestay situation, Spanish phrasebook. In the end I resorted to drawing animals to get some type of conversation, quite amusing, as not only did Julia tell us the name of the animal in Spanish, but also indulged us with demonstrating the noises they make. As it goes, her impression of an annoying donkey was very accurate, it started braying at about 3am. Helped wash up (asking "Can I help" in Aymara got a yes, but no further instruction, so basically I went and sat beside Julia who had started and began to rinse dishes). We then sat for 10 minutes, in one of those situations where no one talks, but occasionally looks and smiles uncomfortably at one another, before Julia suggested we may be tired (using the generic sign for bed, hands by face eyes closed), which we weren't, but were thankful of an escape route, I would guarantee they were too. So, to bed at 7.50pm!!! Pretty good nights sleep, only one trip to the toilet (bit of a bizarre set up, brand new facilities, not plumbed in, but very clean, however the most awful smell, if I were American, I would describe it as funky!!) .......