Lake Titicaca and the reed islands

Well.. we stayed with a momma and her 6 kids on one of the islands on Lake Titicaca. Here they are Aymara Indians, speaking Quechua. What a massive lake, anyone would think that it was an ocean.. amazing to go by boat past the floating man made reed islands onto an island that we were to later stay on for the night with native familes.

3 of us stayed with a small tiny lady and her family. Her husband was in Lima. She fed us her 3 types of potatoe and squeeky cheese which i adored as it made me laugh when i ate it. Her kids names christian, walter and isaak, the others i forget were adorable. We gave them presents of colouring pencils and fruit and she took us to the local football ground.

From here we played at 4700 metres above sea level football with the locals...local women in their traditional dress and sandals against a load of gringos.. really amazing fun... 7 shots at goal and miss´s i realised i am not the next beckham.

Our momma dressed us up in the traditional gear and took us to the local fiesta. Here there were heaps of gringos also dressed up very funnily for the whole peruvian natives to laugh at. We all had different woollen hats so that at the end of the night they knew which gringo was theirs.In candlelight we undressed and lay in our small room.. very peaceful with the slight ecco of peruvian flute in the distance.

The following day after a good sleep on their straw beds and enough blankets to crush our lings we rose to water in buckets to wash and pancakes. We waved good bye to momma and kids and set off on the boat for 3 hours back to the main land via the Reed islands.

These man made islands were amazing... they had their farms of guinea pigs and these amazing houses.. each island houing maybe 7 families.. with some solar panels in there to get electric... all i could find to do was fall face first in the bed of the island.. those reeds are so relaxing.. the weather was good.. ideal to sink in the surroundings.

A night in puno with some quality ladies from another group and a good rest for todays 7 hour drive to Cusco.

And here i am.. about to embark on the inca trek tomorrow.. ready for the hell of a day 2 but looking forward to the rewards at the end of it.. a 4 day hike here i come. Our drive into cusco gave us an idea of what was about to come.. as we approached the mountains got higher and higher.. oh dear!