We arrived into Puno late at night and suffice to say that it was pretty much a dump. Buildings were crumbling, there was rubbish strewn all over the streets, and whole place had a seedy sort of feel to it. To top it all off, our taxi driver was completely incompetent, and despite telling us that he knew where our hostel was, drove around the city almost four times, before he finally admitted that he had no clue! Instead, we ended up in a small hostel, which was comfortable and warm, and we drifted off to sleep pretty sharpish. In the morning we headed down to the docks in a ticker taxi (kind of like a rickshaw), to catch a boat out to the Uros Islands, more commonly known as the Floating Islands of Lake Titicaca. On the brief ride to the docks, we got to see yet more of Puno, and to be perfectly honest it was better in the dark when you couldn't quite see just how horrible it was! Still, the area around the docks was a bit nicer, and we stood haggling for a bit, until we got a place on a boat that was leaving for the islands in ten minutes time. The journey to the islands isn't very far and you can see them within a few minutes of being on the water. You could also see some weird green algae stuff that seemed to float on top of the gentle waves, almost like a big grass carpet - very strange. Lake Titicaca's skies are vast and infinite, and the deep blue colour is reflected perfectly in the placid mirror-like water below. The lake itself is the world's highest large-altitude body of water, straddling the Bolivian and Peruvian borders, and although we only saw a small part of it, it was still stunning! When we reached the islands, we were simply in awe. We only visited two of the thirty-odd islands, but everything, and we mean EVERYTHING, was made out of buoyant totora reeds. When we stepped onto the island, it was like walking on a bouncy castle as everything was kind of springy, but even with the added 15 or so passengers, the island continued to float as if it were rooted to the ground and not simply floating!! We sat in a small circle, while our guide and some island inhabitants explained how the islands and their people had come to be, and proved (by way of a brick, a long length of rope and a hole in the island floor) that we were really floating on the water. The Uros had built the islands in an effort to isolate themselves from neighbouring tribes who were becoming aggressive. The Uros had discovered that the reeds growing on the edges of Lake Titicaca floated, and proceeded to construct the islands, by cross-hatching layer upon layer, until it was at least a metre thick. They were then able to live out in the water, away from the mainland and their attackers. The islands continuely rot from below due to the water, and so the islanders renew the reeds from the top, and in this way the islands have continued to float for centuries. The Uros people's lives are entirely intertwined with these reeds, as they use them not only for the islands themselves, but for their houses, boats, and the crafts that they sell to visiting tourists. The guide also explained how one set of women cook for the entire island on one fire, to avoid having multiple fires everywhere, since the reeds are quite oily and therefore very flammable. He told us of a very sad story where the island elders had gone to the mainland to trade and left the kids to mind the fire, but the fire had gotten out of control and completely torched the island, killing all of the children. He also told us a much more humourous story, about cutting the island in half and floating to another part of the lake, if you didn't get on with your neighbours! In order to make a small contribution to the island, we both bought beautiful wall-hangings from one of the islanders, and also took a trip on the reed boat, which was another awesome, but surreal experience. What was most amazing about the boats, is that they aren't simple constructions like basic canoe shapes, but have two levels, seats, and even dragon's faces sculpted onto the front! We thought that the level of creativity was one of the most impressive things about the islands. There seemed to be no limit to what these people could make out of the reeds! After a little more walking around, and a quick bite to eat, it was time to head back to Puno. With nothing to do until late that night, when we planned to take an overnight bus back to Cusco to begin our volunteering, we followed the lead of a couple who were on our tour, and headed out on yet another tour to Sillustani. Sillustani is a small settlement just outside of Puno, where the ancient Colla people (who later merged with the Incas) had built a series of funerary towers called "chullpas", where they buried their nobility. These were made from massive, coursed blocks and reached heights of up to 12 m, and as they were quite numerous, formed a rather impressive site as they sat perched on a hill overlooking the Lake Umayo peninsula below. The guide was again excellent, explaining the different types of funerary tower, their ages, and how the Colla's had put the mummified bodies into the towers once they were built. It was pretty windy up on the hillside, but it was a nice afternoon activity, and it was soon time to return to Puno once again. Since we still had a few hours till our bus, we decided to go for a leisurely pizza dinner, in one of the better looking restaurants. We sat on the top floor, which was actually more like a balcony, and overlooked the tables of diners below. All was going well, until Rakhee somehow managed to swipe the pepper shaker off the table through the balcony bars, where it proceeded to hit the floor and bounce rather loudly several times, almost hitting another diner, before finally coming to rest in the middle of the floor. It was rather embarassing as EVERYONE just stared up at us from below, but the silence was finally broken by one Peruvian joker who yelled "Can you pass the salt too please?" up at us, leaving us in hysterics for the rest of our meal!! After our mealtime antics, it was finally time to get out of Puno, and we snuggled into our seats on the night bus back to Cusco...