May 5-8 - "This lake's called Titicaca. ...

The bus ride from Cusco to Puno, on the shore of Lake Titicaca, took about six hours through some unbelievable scenery. The road followed a wide fertile valley that formed the perfect example of the Andean plateau. Small, adobe villages dotted the landscape, broken by glacial rivers and dried river beds with their exposed gravel basins. There was one stop along the way at the highest point on the pass where remarkably there were, yet again, stands selling various crafts and other items. It also, for some strange reason, had the cleanest public bathrooms in all of South America. I mean you could have eaten off the toilet.

We arrived in Puno quite late in the day with only enough time to have lunch at 4:30 and dinner at 8. So needless to say the only thing we did in Puno was eat.

The next morning we started our trip out to the islands around Puno. As we were spending the night on these islands, we stoped at the shops near the dock to pick up some gifts for the people we would be staying with. Most of the shops at bus stations only stock snacks, but these people have gotten used to gringo's buying gifts and they stocked their stands with fruit, rice, sugar and colouring books, along with the usual chips and pop.

The ride out to the first island was on a lovely picnic boat with an engine that overheated all the time. In fact for the whole 3 hour journey, one of the people operating the boat was sitting beside the engine cooling it with water. While he was cooling the engine, we wound our way through some of the reeds that grow in the shallower regions of the lake (the lake also descends to over 400m). Once out of the reeds, we saw some of the most beautiful water scenery I had ever seen. The water, a deep blue colour that almost matched the sky, made it look like all the islands were floating in the sky. To add to it you had the snow covered Cordillera Real mountain range off in the distance showing the far side of the lake.

The first island that we stopped at was Isla Taquile. Like most of the islands on the lake, this one was covered by terraced farm lands which, from a distance, make it look like someone took a pencil and drew lines across the island every few centimeters. We disembarked from the boat at one end of the island and then proceeded to wind our way around the island until we reached the main village where we learned about the people on the island and had a chance to explore the local market. This isolated island has created an interesting culture among it's 2,000 residents. For starters, the men's hats designate their status in life. If you have a brightly coloured hat, you are a leader. If you have a full red hat (which looks like a nightcap which you see in every illustrated edition of "The Night Before Christmas" ... they just sit on the top of your head just enough to make sure it doesn't fall off) you are married. And if you have a half red and half white hat, you are a single man (you live with your girlfriend before getting married on this island usually for a few years to make sure it will work out .... there is no divorce on the island. But be careful, if you have a child, you're getting married, no if ands or buts). The most interesting thing is that the men are the ones who do the knitting on the island, and as such are the ones that make their hats (when you go to the market, there is a women's craft level that has only half the amount as the men's).

Another interesting fact about the island is that it was the home of an exiled former communist leaning president of Peru. Because of his influence on the island, they have developed a very socialist society that actually has it's own rules and laws different from that of the rest of Peru. They superficially abide by those rules (take the mayor .... he really has no power on the island ... it's more of a "I feel like calling myself the mayor" type of job). As such, they have a very cooperative society. All the food is pooled together and everyone takes what they need, if you need a house, the whole island comes and builds it with you (it takes only a day or two to build a three bedroom house), and if you don't abide by the rules, you are exiled from the island (and if you don't leave, no one will talk to you or help you - a fascinating micro-society in the middle of the country.

After lunch, and dscending over 500 steps (ouch to Sandy with her bad knee) we got back on the boat to head to Isla Amantaní, the indigenous island where we spent the night. The ride over there provided us, yet again another beautiful view of the lake. When we arrived, we were greeted by a large party of the women who lived on the islands .... our mamas for the night.

Our mama's name was Flora, but when we found out she was sixteen, we opted to call her our sister. Her house was quite a way up the hill (40 minute walk) but when we got there we were happy we had gone that far since the night's activities were next door at the comunity centre. After we got settled at Flora's place (only Sandy and I stayed with her) she gave us hats, which she knitted herself, for us to wear. The purpose of these hats were not only to keep us warm (it was cold, and I'm from Canada so I know what cold is). Since all the gringos look the same, she could just look for her hat to find us. Armed with our hats, we headed off to play some soccer against the local people, and were told the only way we could beat the locals would be to score many points in the first two minutes, because after that we would be tuckered out by the altitude and they would dominate for the rest of the game. Needless to say, we lost.

As we had a hour or so before dinner, I opted to join a group of people who were going to climb one of the mountains on the island - Pachatata (father earth ... the other mountain was Pachamama). From the top of the mountain I had a wonderful view of the sunset over Lake Titicaca and some old ruins from a pre-Inca culture, the Tiahuanaco culture. The hike down was rather difficult in the dark, but I was well rewarded with a great dinner that Flora and her sister cooked (Flora lives with her sister and sister's children. Her parents moved to Puno while her younger sister went to school. Her sister's husband now lives in Arequipa ... about 10 hours away ... to work. The rest of her family, 9 in total, are spread all around Peru in search of work).

After dinner we got ready for the Incatec .... a chance for us to dress up in the indigenous costume and learn how to perform one of their local dances to traditional pan flute music. As Sandy and I did not have the traditional costume, Flora provided it for us and came up to our room to help us put it on .... or rather she dressed us. Oh, I forgot to mention, the rooms were small....we couldn't stand up in them. This combined with the fact we stretched 2 feet over Flora, posed a problem with Flora dressing us. In the end, my poncho looked great (I need one), and Sandy's skirt, blouse, belt and hat looked comical. The dance was tons of fun, and thanks to Flora, we managed to learn how to do it. Everyone was quite entertained by how we looked and only one could pull it off - Nina who, thanks to her blond hair, looked more like Heidi than an Inca.

After a freezing cold night, we got up and headed back to the boat to make our way to the Islas Flotantes, a collection of floating islands just off from Puno. The people who live on the islands moved out there hundreds of years ago in search of safety from conquering tribes in the area, including the Incas. They are constructed from reeds found on the lake and in total house a couple of hundred people. The people on the island we visited provided us with a demonstration of how the islands were built and showed us in some of their houses.

In order to construct a floating island, you start with sod from the bottom of the lake, then laying reeds on top, tie it all together, until you have an island. As the reeds rot away, you lay more down to keep the island floating. One of the most important things is to make sure you anchor your island (which can have as many as 10 houses on it ... these houses only last a few years as they are also made out of reeds) because if a wind storm comes up, you'll float away. One of the guys told us a story about not checking his anchor lines and woke up 5km away from his village. Now when you step on the islands you can tell they are made of reeds as every step is squishy, and apparently it is quite entertaining to see the kids take their first steps on dry land as they aren't used to the earth not giving way.

After our visit we headed back to Puno for a free afternoon where I finally got to visit the Naval Museum. I was quite excited to visit it since, as a sailor, I had always been fascinated by the highest navigable lake in the world, and the site of the only land locked country with a navy (Bolivia, and I don't blame them since every country around them has attacked and taken more than half of their land away from them). This museum was probably the smallest museum in the world. With only one room, it had a few ship models and some information on the Yavari Project (two boats that were built in England, shipped to Peru, taken by llama over the mountains in 2,766 pieces and put back together to become the first steamships on the lake ... it only took six years). It was rather comical, but I was quite happy to have been there since it has fascinated me for so long.

The next morning we made our way to La Paz and crossed the border from Peru into Bolivia. The bus ride was magical, following Lake Titicaca almost the whole way. The entertaining part was at the border. Manuel, our GAP guide, doesn't have a visa to work in Bolivia, so we were forced to pretend we didn't know him, and thus got no help from him. We managed to get across the border without any issues, but after you pass Copacabana in Bolivia, you have to get off the bus and take a ferry across the lake to get to the other side (the bus goes on one ferry and you go on another .... after seeing the boat that carried the bus, we are lucky it made it across). Here there was another border guard who caught Manuel and questioned him quite a bit looking for money. Thankfully Manuel just quit his advertising job at BBDO and was able to convince the guard that he was in fact in advertising. As we found out the next day, the group before us had their guide arrested and deported. He was forced to take a taxi and go the long way around the lake to get back into Bolivia and meet up with his group.