Puno and the islands of Lake Titicaca

After the dazzling Arequipa we jumped on a bus and headed to Puno. Puno is perched on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca, the highest lake in the world sitting at about 3,830m above sea level. Luckily we’re well adjusted to the altitude since arriving in Cusco so it doesn’t bother us anymore.

After a lunch of ‘sopa de pollo diet’ (which, after a ‘who eats wins’ session, I found out is chicken broth with noodles and a chicken drumstick, ‘diet chicken soup’ when translated (WTF?)), we headed back to our hostel with plans for an early night as we’d booked a tour of the Lake Titicaca islands the next day. We ended up playing Kings in the hostel bar til the early hours but nevertheless made it for the 7.30am the next day.

The tour lasted two days and one night and included a home stay on Isla Amantani. The first stop was the floating island of Uros on which locals actually live and work, their livelihood is predominately the tourist trade, the making and selling of handicrafts and boat rides around the lake etc.

After a lengthy boat trip we arrived on Amantani and met our host family, a lovely Quechuan- speaking couple called Florentino and Victoria. Our time spent with them was one big game of charades, as both they and us spoke very little

Spanish, and English was out of the question. They showed us to our room (the ceiling was a few inches taller than me) and fed us quinoa soup, rice and veggies. All in all it was a great experience, highlights were a walk up to one of the island’s peaks - ‘Pachatata’ (Father Earth), a night out dancing wearing the islanders’ traditional clothes (sorry, no pics – too embarrassing!) after which we walked home on an unsealed road in a thunderstorm, and a taste of some delicious local trout on Isla Taquile.