Our first stop on our boat trip was the Uros islands, or more famously know as the floating islands. Traditionally the Uro people created these islands from layer after layer of reeds. In addition to the islands being made from reeds, these people also created their huts, boats, and crafts from them. Walking on the spongy surface of the island was definitely an interesting experience. The island that we stopped at was definitely step up for tourists and is more a sample of tradition. However, it should also be noted that more remote floating islands do exist is a similar fashion to how they have been living for centuries.

Our next stop was the Island of Taquile, a tediously slow 3 hour boat ride from the main land. This is not a floating island, but of interest is the relative untrampled lives of the local people on the island. Despite hundreds of daily tourists, these people continue to maintain a strong sense of identity and rarely marry outside of their group. These people speak Quechua, which is a indigenous language that is very prevalent throughout Peru. Of additional interest is their dress (which is not just put on for the sake of tourists, as they are also seen in outlying cities wearing traditional clothing). Men wear these big, floppy hats that symbolizes their marital and social position. It should be mentioned that they knit these themselves, as additional evidence we saw numerous men throughout the island knitting as a past time.

In addition, the men wear black pants and a loose fitting shirt with a small black vest over it. The women all wear multi layered calf length skirts (some colored but many black) and keep a large black shawl over the top portion of their heads (not sure why). Another cultural note is that people exchange coca leaves as a greeting, which is NEVER accepted with one´s hands. Coca leaves are carried in these really bright bags. Coca leaves are chewed and stashed in a person´s lip-cheek and repeatedly replenished throughout the day (at least this is what I observed in what was a total of 6 hours of boat time).

The island Taquile was very quaint and we wished we could have spent more time on this 7 sq-km space of Inca terraced land.

Despite the elevation, we are only feeling the effects of the medicine we are taking to prevent altitude sickness (random tingling of hands and feet).

Please forgive the lapse in pictures to go along with the journal entry as the internet cafes here are slower than the norm. We also are anticipating being away for a couple days from internet cafe´s while we take an unplanned side trip to Bolivia to see the salt flats (we have been hearing WAY too many other backpackers saying this was the highlight of their trip to South America)

July 31st
Welcome to Peru!

August 2nd
Hello Pisco!

August 3rd
Islas de Ballestas

August 5th
Arequipa

August 6th - 8th
Cayon del Colca

August 10th
Puno

August 11th
Lake Titicaca

August 21st - 24th
Cusco and Pisac

August 25th - 30th
Hiking to Machu Picchu

Summary of Peru and Bolivia