What a day for photos! I took over 600 but have tried to edit them down for the blog. Coco and Vicky fixed us a breakfast of pancakes, bread and jam over a eucalyptus fire in their tiny kitchen. We bought some beautiful knit Alpaca caps that Coco made, posed for photos, and then walked down to the port to catch a boat for Tequile.
Taquile Island appears very close to Amantani but the boat ride takes about 45 minutes. After we leave the boat there is a very long, steep path up to the village. Taquile is much more of a tourist attraction than Amantani and we decided we were glad we chose to spend the night on the smaller, less touristy island. The people of Taquile all dress in very beautiful costumes and there are souvenir shops and restaurants in the main square. The women walk everywhere knitting and spinning Alpaca yarn and have a co-operative to sell their textiles. We spent the day walking around, taking photos, and having a good lunch of trout at one of the restaurants.
This elderly man was knitting and napping. He told us he was 90 years old and when we said he looked younger, he pulled a plug of coca leaves out of his mouth and said that was what kept him young!
We left Taquile on the Milky Way after lunch headed for Uros. Uros is a collection of about 50 floating islands made of reeds in Lake Titicaca. The Uros people make the islands, their houses and their boats from the totora reeds. They live by fishing and tourism. Most of the houses have solar panels for electricity. When we were there, one family was plucking cormorant-like birds for their dinner.
An afternoon storm was approaching so we left Uros for Puno. Before we got there, the canal was blocked with a rope and a guard demanded payment before he would let the boat through. After the men stood and argued for about twenty minutes, the wife of the boat captain jumped off the boat, grabbed the rope and threw it in the canal. We all applauded and continued through the canal.
We ran into yet another carnival parade on the way back to the hotel!!
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