Island Hopping on Lake Titicaca

La Paz, Bolivia

Justin and I are doing well, we arrived in La Paz yesterday and it is our favorite city so far. Lots of markets, people out and about, and the smog and pollution is not bad for a South American city. We have been at Lake Titicaca (pronounced Tee Tee Ha Ha, more or less) for the past week. We spent a couple days on the Peru side touring a few of the islands. We went with a guided tour to the islands which turned out to be a lot of fun as there were a bunch of other backpackers and travelers on the trip that we had a good time with. As Justin and I have traveled in Peru, we have been mostly on the "gringo trail," which means that we have seen many other backpackers, and often times we have run into the same people in different places. This has been fun so far, but in the future we may go to some more remote places as well.

But the island trip was a good time. We first visited Uros Islas, which are a group of floating islands that are built on reeds that they replace as the ones on the bottom rot away. The locals have cashed in on how profitable tourism is for their islands, but it was still interesting to see how their islands are constructed. Next we went to Amantani island, which was not that impressive but it was still a good time. They housed all of us with different families, which was interesting, but the family that Justin and I stayed with turned out to be a little awkward. The people of the island speak their native language, and then the kids learn Spanish at school. The mother of our family did not speak much Spanish, but it took us alittle while to figure this out so we just assumed she wasnt very friendly. They had a simple house with sheep and chickens outside which is normal to most people in this area. She fed us a delicious meal of fried cheese (a specialty of their area), fresh vegetables and a root called oca. Later in the afternoon we walked with the groups to yet another Peruvian ruin/crumbling stone wall of some importance and watched the sunset. Later that evening, as we were waiting for dinner, the oldest son (17) came up to our room and started playing a typical wooden flute instrument. We assumed that his mother had sent him up because maybe she thought we were bored waiting for dinner, but once he played a few songs he asked for some money. We gave him some change, he looked at us, and asked for more. Justin and I were both a bit shocked by this and told him no. We pay the families to stay with them, and we had already bought a few trinkets that the mother had made, and we had brought them a gift of rice and pasta when we arrived, so we felt we had already been very generous to the family. This incident shocked us a bit and made us a little sad about how tourism has made these people a bit greedy. We later concluded that the sons actions probably didnt represent the whole family, as the other children were very nice to us. But the incident still upset us a bit.

Later that night there was a party that the islanders throw every night for the tourists. They play traditional music, and the locals give the tourists their typical clothes to wear. So Justin got a poncho and I got a shirt and shirt. It was a fun time, the locals get very into it, especially some of the young girls. It was a good time and made up for the negative feelings we got earlier in the evening. The next day we went to another similar island, walked around a bit, and at lunch we learned about some of the traditional dress of the island. They have some very specific things for married and single men and women to wear. Singe women have more decorations on their shawls and skirts, such as larger, more colorful yarn pompoms, and the single men and married men wear slightly differeing hats. And altough a man may be unmarried, he still may have a girlfriend. So when at parties the unmarried men have to wear the point of their hat to one side or the other depending on whether they are "looking" or "taken." A Dutch girl on our boat remarked that she wished the guys in Holland would do the same to make it all simpler. My favorite customary hat was the one that the male leaders/policemen wear; their hats are the most colorful and brighest of all.

After the Peruvian side of the lake we headed to the Bolivian side, stayed in a very touristy area, and visited the Isla del Sol, the birthplace of the sun according to Incan history. We did this trip on our own, saw some very nice scenery, and walked through a few small villages where we were the only tourists passing through. And dont worry we have pictures of the rock where the sun was born.

We are now in La Paz, and on the way here we had our first bus water crossing (sorry we were too confused at the time to take pictures). We had to cross a skinny portion of the lake, and to do so everyone had to get off the bus, take a people boat across, and the bus got on a very small barge and crossed that way. We assume the people who run the boat business have fought any proposals to build a birdge across this stretch of lake.

So we are going to be in the city for a few days before heading on a hike and then off to the jungle! I hope everyone is doing well!

Jess

PS New pictures are up under Pictures 2.

we will stay for a few days before heading on a trek and then to the jungle