We had to get up early to get picked up for our tour to Lake Titicaca. We had a short breakfast but the tour arrived early so we had to rush and still they drove away and had to come back for us.
The start of the tour brings you to the port at the lake and we boarded a small boat that held about 25 people. The guide explained about the lake and about the cultures that existed and exist on and around the lake. The main focus of the tour was to visit the Uros and Taquile Island. First we rode out through the reeds to the floating islands of the Uros.
Yes, floating islands. They are all artificially made using reed roots and reeds. The islands are apparently well designed enough to last 25-30 years. The Uros moved to the lake many years ago and were originally Aymara, a pre-Incan culture. I am not totally sure what motivated them to move onto the lake itself. It was explained somewhat as escaping persecution from other cultures. Originally they built reed boats but those only lasted about 3 years at best before they would sink. When they learned how to build the islands obviously they were more permanent. The thing is every week they have to build up their island with more reeds. This includes raising any of their homes up higher as well. They said it takes about 4 people to pick up one of their reed based homes. They prop the houses up a bit higher than the rest of the walking surface. It is odd to walk on the reeds. You feel like you are sinking in or destroying their ground on them as you create indentations. They primarily subsist of fishing. They obviously would have difficulty with agriculture however they do also eat the new reeds which provide a few nutrients and moisture. We tasted them. It was a bit spongy but not terrible. Their new mode of income now is tourism and they take turns sharing the tourists among the 23 islands they have. The island we visited was a new island for tourism and their boat was very new comparatively to the others we saw. They spent some time explaining to us how the island was built and they sang some songs and danced a little. They were of course very pleasant. We got to visit inside one of the houses. They sold some handicrafts and we got to take a ride on their reed boat to the other side of the islands. The men were all off fishing I presume because only the women and children were in town.
After the reed boat ride we got back on the tour boat and took a ride to the island of Taquile. The highest point on that island was easily over 4000 meters. We had a long climb up from the lake to get to the first stop which was a nice vista where the guide spoke a bit about the culture there. They were of course conquered by the Spanish but their primary language was also Aymara. They lived off of agriculture and raising animals aside from tourism as well. We ate lunch at a restaurant in one of the communities on the island. Apparently they share the tourists among the different communities where are basically different families (similar to the Uros). The restaurant served quinoa soup and fried trout and it was very good but I was very low on appetite from the sickness or the altitude or both so I didn't eat much. The sun came out while we were on the island and by the time we were done I was very badly sunburned. It was mostly a walking tour which brought us up to the plaza de armas then down to a new launch point to get back on the boat. The island was very beautiful and there were many great views of the lake from different vantage points.
The boat brought us back to the port where we met Roxana and got a tour bus back to the hotel. I felt like crap by the end of the tour so I stayed in and went to bed and Daniela went out to buy a few things and to get some food. I fell asleep early still trying to recover from all that was wrong with me.
By this point I suspect pictures will be posted when I get home.
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