Peru Vacation Day 7: Quick Update

Today, we left early in the morning from the hotel, and took a boat ride out on Lake Titicaca. As you may know, this lake is the highest commercially navigable lake in the world at almost 3,900 meters elevation (almost 13,000 feet above sea level). Ships, carrying commercial cargo ply the waters of this lake between ports in Peru and Bolivia.

We visited a set of floating islands inhabited by the Uros people. These are ancient people who have lived on such floating islands for the last 2,000 years. They build the floating islands using reeds that grow in the shallow areas of Lake Titicaca. They also make and sell lots of handicrafts using these reeds.

We then continued on to an actual island in the lake called Taquile. After spending some time there, and having lunch, we made our way back to Puno. It was an interesting day overall, though most of it was spent just floating on the water because boat rides between these islands are very slow and take a lot of time. We spent about five and a half hours on the boat traveling about 70 km (about 45 miles).

Hopefully tomorrow, we will get to travel much faster as we take the bus from Puno back to Cusco. We stop on the way at various sites of archeological and historical significance. But after that, all that will remain is flying back to my normal life once again. I wish I could keep that thought from encroaching on my vacation, but it will probably not be entirely possible!