Lake Titicaca - our new Family!

We spent most of Sunday on a bus heading to Puno, which is on the egde of Lake Titicaca. The town was buzzing since they had been celebrating the anniversary of Puno. We are only really here for the night as we are using the place as a base to go to the Lake.

We set off early on Monday as we headed out onto Lake Titicaca. It took us about 2 hours to get to Taquille Island and we stoppped on the non-touristy side! We walked around the island with our guide, Henry, explaining what life was like here. Nicolas and Kate had brought little gifts for the local children (consisting of pencils and paper) and gave them our en route - the kids faces were a picture!

We then headed to Amantani Island, which is where we will stay the night with a local family. They don't speak Spanish, but Quechua, which was the native language before the Spanish invaded. We learnt a few basic expressions on the boat.

Kate and I were staying with Maruja and Ruben. They have 2 boys - Wilber (15) and Joel (13). The place is very simple, with the kitchen and dining area in one. The bedrooms are upstairs but in a separate building and the bathroom is the other side of the kitchen. Nicolas is also staying with us. We met the grandfather, also called Ruben, who asked Nicolas which one of us was his wife so he said both of us - that got Ruben laughing for ages!!

We were then taken to a football match - the locals play the tourists and it was the first team to 6 goals. It was one game all (the tourists had won their game 6-0) so it went to golden goal! The tourists won, which was the first time that the locals had been beaten!!!

Back at our 'home', Kate and I helped prepare dinner, which consisted of us podding the green beans (although we did it wrong as we later found out).

After dinner, Maruja dressed Kate and I in traditional dress, which consisted of a blouse with intricate embroidery on it, several brightly coloured skirts and a tight waistband that held it all together. We also had a black shawl, which we could use to flirt with the men by concealing our faces, except one eye!! We then went to a local dance (just for the tourists and their familes). They had a band there who played rousing songs and we danced with our 'families'. The last dance seemed to go on for about 20 minutes before we decided that we were too tired to continue dancing!

The next day we boarded the boat and headed to the Reed Islands that are close to Puno. Everything here is made of reed, even the houses. The reeds on the floor are about 2m thick and are floating on 15m of water. It was a surreal feeling!! We were given a boat trip across to another reed island and then headed back to Puno.

That night we went out for dinner to celebrate our last night in Peru as we are crossing into Bolivia tomorrow.