LAKE TITICACA

New Year's Day saw us up bright and early and on the road to Lake Titicaca. As we approached La Paz we could see the snow capped mountains - more prevalent in the summertime as it is also the rainy season.

We had a quick lunch in La Paz, then pressed on to Copacabana where we would be staying on the shores of the highest lake in the world, at over 3800 metres, and the cradle of the Inca civilization.

We had to take a ferry across the lake to Copacabana.  The photo above, taken inside our minibus as we drive on, looks pretty scary. Ed and I were completely unfazed having had plenty of rafting adventures with the Floating Neutrinos.

The next day we took a boat trip to the Isla del Sol, the birthplace of the Incas.  It was our second visit to this beautiful island, but a first for Kitty.

We hiked up to the Temple of the Sun and explored the ancient chambers and passageways.

Our final day on Lake Titicaca took us on a short trip just over the Bolivian/Peruvian border to Puno, where we took a boat to the Floating Reed Islands. These forty two islands are inhabited by the Uros, a pre-Inca people, and each island is named and decorated with a reed sculture. This is Flamingo Island.

The Uros live in huts fashioned from dried tortora reeds. These same reeds are harvested from blocks growing in the lake which are tied together to form the islands. They can be moved and tied to other islands. The soft part at the base of the reed is used as a food and to make tea.

The reeds are also used to make elaborate boats that ferry the Uros to the different islands. Modern boats are used to access the mainland.

The women earn money from selling handicrafts to the visiting tourists. They are physically very strong and can move the huge reed boats single-handed.

The Uros have an agreed monopoly on fish farming on Lake Titicaca, inside the boundaries of the floating islands. The trout we eat in Sucre comes from this area.

As the sun descended on Lake Titicaca our holiday was drawing to a close.

The following morning Kitty boarded a bus to Lima and we headed south, refreshed from our short break and ready for the next phase of building at Sky Hacienda.