Lake Titicaca

We headed to the docks area a bit unsure of what lay ahead of us. We clambered over half a dozen boats and were relieved to see a pretty new boat all set up for us. The first person we met on board was Jessie from Toronto. He seems pretty relaxed and tells us he has been volunteering in Chile but is now on his way to an orphanage in Cusco to volunteer there for a couple of months before returning to do more study. We get the distinct impression after the experience in Chile that teaching is not quite as easy as he thought it would be!

The next people to arrive are a group of 4 from Denver. Beth, Nancy and Barbara are all school principals and Mick a roofer, married to Nancy. They had taken the opportunity of the Christmas vacation to visit Peru and this was their last two days.

Our driver or should I say captain is a guy from Taquile who wears all the traditional clothing (as everyone here seems to). He quickly gave up his role and handed over to a woman - again in traditional dress and we are soon on our way down the channel.

What an incredible experience, we leave all the hustle of Puno behind and suddenly we are in a world of reeds, birds and strangely little pigs that forage on the tiny islands. Bliss! Our guide Edwin is fantastic , tells us what we need to know and then leaves us to enjoy the experience.

We finally get a sense of just how huge the lake is. We also keep having to pinch ourselves that we are really here at Titicaca.

On the horizon we see some small shapes ... as they come into view we realise they are the floating islands of Uros