This will be my last post from Peru for now. We are quickly running out of time and now only have 3 weeks left for Bolivia before Jacquie and I split ways with Preeti and start to make our way back to Quito (65 hours in the bus).

After my last update, the three of us caught a night bus from Cusco to Puno and slept for a grand total of 3 and a half hours before arriving at 5 in the morning and heading to a hotel for another hour and a half of sleep. Then, at 8 we joined an overnight island hopping tour on the lake. Now, before I get into the details, here's a bit of background on the area. Puno is a town in Peru that lies on the edge of Lake Titicaca. Rumour has it that Lake Titicaca, at 3890 metres, is the highest navigable lake in the world, although my Bolivia guide book says otherwise (apparently there are higher lakes in Peru and Chili that can be navigated by boat). Either way, it's pretty damn high and as far as lakes go, pretty big too. It's 192 km long, 60 km wide, and 280 metres deep in its extremes. One of the islands on the lake, La Isla del Sol, is the legendary birth place of the Incas (we're going there on Friday) and it lies on the border of Peru and Bolivia. So far we have only visited the Peruvian side, and so that's what I'm going to talk about right now.

Now, I have to admit I was a bit apprehensive going into this tour. I've found that tours have a special knack for making things superficial and when the tour is centred around indigenous cultures, superficiality is something I really want to avoid. Either way, we arrived to Puno at 5am without much time to plan, and the tour seemed like the best way to see the islands, so we went for it. In all, the tour consisted of three parts: 1) a visit to the reed islands, 2) a visit to Isla Amantani where we would stay overnight in a home stay, and 3) a visit to Isla Taquile. There were about 20 some odd people on the tour as we island hopped in a slow, but nice boat with an English speaking guide. Actually, an interesting note about our guide is that not only did he speak English and Spanish fluently, he also spoke fluent Quechua (the local indigenous language). I was quite impressed, as it was the first person I have met who speaks all three, and I think that boded well for at least his connection with the islanders.

Now for the most part (and there are always exceptions) our tour group was quite good. The people seemed nice, respectful, and aware, and there weren't too many loud, obnoxious travels onboard. At the same time though, the nice thing about this tour is that we had the opportunity to break away from the group for a fair chunk of it. The tour started with a trip to the reed islands near Puno. Historically speaking, the ancestors of the inhabitants of these islands arrived to the area around 1300 BC, but were quickly kicked off the land by other expanding civilizations. Then, if I understood the guide correctly, the people moved onto the lake, living in reed boats and living as fishermen. Once the population had grown to a significant size, the need for a larger living area was recognized. It was then that this civilization began creating floating islands out of cut outs from the lake bottom and reeds (an abundant plant in the area). They have apparently been living on these islands ever since, with each island taking around 7 months to make and lasting about 15 years. The islands themselves are quite remarkable, considering they float a good 10 or 15 metres above the lake floor. Once again, historically speaking, the people were fishermen, trading with mainlanders for vegetables and other important foods. Nowadays, however, the whole thing is based on tourism. During the high season between 1500 and 2000 tourists come daily to visit the islands as the locals take them (us) around on their "typical/traditional" boats and let them (us) enter the islands, while the guide talks a little about their way of life. This part was by far the most superficial part of the whole tour (the rest was surprisingly good), but nonetheless, neat to see. An interesting note about the use of "modern" materials and the attempt to create a "traditional" feel for tourists: If you look at the placement of houses in and around the area, traditional style reed houses cover the main channel where tourist boats pass, while the houses in the back are all made from metal and other more durable materials. On a similar note, they seem to have adopted the use of plastic sheets in the boats (hidden under a layer of reed of course) to help them last longer (the boats are made from reed which will eventually rot. It seems to me that by using the plastic sheets around the centre of the boat, they only have to change the outside). All the changes seem to be completely practical and make sense, but it sort of puts this whole "we live in a traditional way, here's our way of life" type thing into perspective. Personally I'd just prefer to learn about how they're actually living right now, in the context of that past, but I guess that doesn't draw the tourists as much. Either way, of the 70 soles each of us we spent on the tour, only a sad 3 (approximately $1) went the communities. I guess with the number of tourists that pass through, their earnings go up, but at the same time I can't help but feel they get the butt end of the deal.

Despite the superficiality of the visit, it was still a really cool sight to see. The islands were remarkable and the scenery was gorgeous. I also picked up one of my best souvenirs so far. It was a picture coloured by one of the kids on the island. The kid who sold it to me was absolutely adorable and I figured it was too cool a souvenir to pass up, especially was it was only 1 sol (30 cents).

After the reed islands we took a 3 hour boat ride to Isla (island) Amantani where we met up with our host families. I was a bit worried this part of the trip would be especially superficial, as we spent the night with a "typical" family and ate "typical" food, while participating in "typical" dances and slept in a "typical" house. However, contrary to my worries, it wasn't bad at all. In fact, I found it to be a really neat and really genuine experience. The family we were with had two adorable boys (7 and 4 years old) and the lady was really welcoming (her husband had gone to the city in search of work because there's no work on the island). We ate lunch and dinner with them and slept in some rooms they had set aside for tourists. In the evening they put on a cultural dance.That part was fun, and thank god they didn't dance like they do where I was in Ecuador haha.They actually put some energy into the dance, which is always a plus.

The second day of the trip was pretty nice, although not too eventful. We spent a fair chunk of it hiking across a second Island, Taquile, and travelling on the boat, but all in all it ended up being quiet a nice day. The only bad thing was that Preeti got hit with a bit of altitude sickness, so she spent most of the time hanging around our host family's house and in the boat.

One interesting thing about the whole trip, however, is that I was constantly being reminded of the west coast.Lake Titicaca is huge as far as lakes go, and yet for the most part you always see mountains or islands in the distance, much like you do looking out onto the Georgia Straight. The climate of course, was completely different and the water was fresh, but it was still an interesting reminder of home. I must say though, because I'm so used to seeing the west coast oceans, Lake Titicaca, at least on the Peruvian side, wasn't quite as spectacular as I thought it would be. It was gorgeous of course, but given the fact that I've been spoiled with west coast scenery, it all seemed a bit normal?the type of thing where you spend a couple thousand dollars and travel half way across the world just to see something you have right in your back yard. Still worth it though, given that I'm already here and that the cultural experience of the tour was so positive.

Well, that's it for this post. Tomorrow morning we'll be leaving Peru and crossing the boarder into Bolivia. Actually, to be honest, I already am across the boarder.I wrote most all of this back in Peru, but ran out of time, so I didn't get a chance to post it. Either way, I figure it's best to post them separately. I'll try and mess with the dates so it at least appears like I posted it 4 or 5 days ago. Take care and thanks again for reading.

Taylor