Peru – Lake Titikaka

Lake Titikaka is the highest navigable lake in the world at an altitude of 3800m. Here we went to visit three islands; Uros, Amantani and Taquile.

The ancient Uros were the owners of the lake who in the time of the Inca invasions would lift anchor and drift together and move to a safe part of the lake. They were eventually conquered and made slaves. Today, the Uros people try to live a traditional life and still build their boats and islands using bundles of totora reeds abundant in the shallows of the lake, but add solar panels for electricity. There were 4 families living on the small island we visited.
p1110947p1110953The islands have become quite touristy where the locals have become business people relying on the tourist boats to come organizing tours in their reed boats, demonstrations of the way they live and craft markets to sell their wares. It worked!
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relaxing in front

relaxing in front

demonstration of how island is built and yes needs regular maintenance

demonstration of how island is built and yes needs regular maintenance

At Amantani we stayed with a local family (Aurora & Damien) where we got to experience some local traditions and customs. The community put on a party for all the tourists so we had to dress the part. Damien and Arora are on either side of us below.
p1110981This was a rewarding experience seeing how these people live. Most people speak Quechua but luckily our family spoke Spanish as well and with the other couple that stayed here we could communicate. There are actually 10 communities scattered around the island (4000 people) who rotate taking groups of tourists in to help their community. The house where we stayed was very clean and quite big but had no electricity so it was back to the basics.
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farming out back and great views

farming out back and great views

The color of the skirts indicate what community they are from on the island. A lot of the ladies sit in the community areas spinning the wool into yarn.

some of the hosts from the community we stayed with relaxing in the main plaza

some of the hosts from the community we stayed with relaxing in the main plaza

We hiked to the top of the hill and after a tiring climb in this altitude to the top we found Pachatata sanctuary, where special events are held & the amazing views over the island.

these people walk up here to tend to the crops, it was cold!

these people walk up here to tend to the crops, it was cold!

great views up here

great views up here on a clear day

Needless to say the bar in the plaza was busy after with everyone wanting to get warm. Beer and Muña tea with alcohol!
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Taquile is renowned for their knitted garments. The men actually knit the garments and can be seen all around the island knitting.
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 yes he's knitting at a really pretty viewpoint

yes he’s knitting at a really pretty viewpoint

Here we also had a great view over Lake Titikaka back to Amantani in the distance.
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