Lake Titicaca to La Paz, Bolivia

Today was a travel day again. We left the hotel around 8am, taking a lengthy bus ride to reach the hydrofoil.

Around noon, we reached our destination, Sun Island, where we had lunch, but first we had to "earn" it through a lo-o-ng hike up the hill.

We had a lovely buffet lunch outdoors on the lawn, with a beautiful view of the lake.

When we got back on the hydrofoil, Henry asked the captain for a favor...

Even though we were on the lake that is bigger than the country of Puerto Rico, the captain said, "Don't hit anything!"

After another 90 minutes on the hydrofoil, passing through the narrow Straits of Tiquina, we reached Huatajata, Bolivia. At Huatajata, we visited the museum of the Limachi family, builders ofthe RA II and Tigris boats for Thor Heyerdahl's voyages.

At Huatajata, we boarded our bus for La Paz, the highest capital city on earth.

We saw wonderful snow-covered mountains (glaciers?) along the route.

As we approached the city, we saw more and more people along the way. Most of the women wear several skirts and sweaters, giving them a rotund appearance. They often wear long aprons over their clothing.

The only way into La Paz was from the top, spiraling downhill to the main part of the city. (The more expense homes are the lower ones; the ones on the hill less expensive.)

We arrived in La Paz just in time for dinner at the hotel.

The Reed Islands of Lake Titicaca

Day 10 of our adventure, we took a bus to get on a boat to take an even smaller boat to visit the Uros people who live on floating reed islands. We had to make all the shifts because the lake is extremely low this year.

The reed life is quite interesting. The Uros collect blocks of dead reeds that eventually float to the surface, making their islands by lashing the blocks together with young reeds.  They frequently pile new reeds atop the old, as the reeds break down. On the particular island we visited, 7 of the 9 families sleep on the islands while the others go back to Puno at night.

These people cannot grow anything on their island and subsist on tourism. Each home now has a solar panel that provides enough electricity to power a light or small television.

The reed island residents sometimes subtract families (in the case of a dispute) be cutting their home loose from the rest of the island. Similarly, on the day we visited, they were about to welcome another family by lashing their home to the island.

Once we left the islands, we traveled on to Taquille Island where the Aymara live. There are no cars and little electricity, so the Aymara people live much as they have for centuries.

After lunch we were treated to music and dances. Henry and I were both asked to participate in the dancing.

We got back to the hotel around 5pm with an opportunity to visit the Sillustani, the site of some of the most impressive funerary towers. They were built by the Colla people around 600 AD to bury their royalty.

Dusk on Lake Titicaca

To Puno & Lake Titicaca by Train

October 10 was a "travel day." We spent approximately ten hours on the Andean Explorer Orient Express, traveling from Cusco to Puno.

 We were in first class cars on the train, where we sat in old-timey wingback chairs at tables for four.

We read, snoozed, watched a fashion show and enjoyed musicians. We had lunch and afternoon tea.

We think everyone ought to have a Bellini, finger sandwiches and cookies in the late afternoon!
The train didn't move too quickly, allowing for lots of scenery watching. We observed many, many people working together in the fields. We saw lots of wooden plows being pulled by oxen and what appeared to be entire families working in the fields.

We stopped briefly near one small town where we had a moment to meet some people with their wares. Henry talked to one woman who said that four days a week they walk for two hours, carrying their bundles of wares, to meet the passengers on the train.

We also saw interesting street scenes with motorcycle taxis, beautiful landscapes, and colorfully dressed people.

We arrived at our hotel on Lake Titicaca near dusk.