Day 22-24

I spent the weekend at Lake Titicaca and Copacabana, Bolivia. It was really nice to leave Cusco and see some more of Peru. One of the girls I work with in Ccorao is actually from Puno (which is the city next to Lake Titicaca). Her family doesn't support her at all so she's learning how to weave in the Caritas school.

Lake Titicaca (which means "Grey Puma" or "Great Puma" I couldn't really understand the man's accent even though he spoke excellent English) was extremely interesting. In the bay, there are the Uros which are floating islands made out of the roots of reeds. The float like corks and seven families work together to build them. It takes about 6 months and then an additional 6 months to build the little huts on top. They survive through fishing and weaving beautiful handicrafts. It's really remarkable. The islands are also anchored down so that they don't float away or run into other islands. There are about 40 of them and they originally started when the indigenous groups were under attack by the Incans. The tribes fled literally onto the Lake and stayed safe that way. Walking on the islands is a little bit like walking on a cushy mattress. It was a really surreal experience.

The island of Taquile is about 2.5 hours out by boat and retains strict cultural customs to not lie, cheat, or steal. It's supposedly extremely safe and the people there speak Quechua. It's a really unique community where the men all knit and wear hats that denote whether they are single or married. The women wear black shawls (even the little girls) and all whisper when they talk. We're not sure why. They also have some interesting customs like co-habituation 4 years before marriage to see if it will be a good marriage. Also, the youngest child in a family (boy or girl) is responsible for taking care of the parents. When the parents die, all their land is divided equally among the kids, except the youngest child gets the house. They also greet each other by putting coca leaves in each other's bags or shawls. It's really rude not to receive the leaves in that way.

Copacabana was just really relaxing. There's an even better exchange rate in Bolivia so we tried to do as many touristy things as possible to get rid of the money we had exchanged. We took a trip to the Island of the Sun, where there were some interesting ruins, but the whole thing seemed a little more touristy. It was very beautiful though and there was a good view of Bolivia, Peru, and some snow-capped mountains in the distance in addition to the Lake. I really enjoyed sitting on top of the boats as we sailed around. Lake Titicaca is the world's highest navigable lake at 3810 meters above sea level and a lovely color. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip.