Day trip to Lake Titicaca

We had set the alarm for 5.30am for a 6am breakfast ahead of a 6.50am pick up for our day trip to Lake Titicaca.  In the event, we needn't have got up so early as we weren’t being collected until 7.20!  Never mind - we were awake anyway!

In Andean belief, Titicaca is the birthplace of the sun.  Set between Peru and Bolivia, it's the largest lake in South America and the highest navigable body of water in the world at a surface elevation of 3,812 metres.
11 of us from the group were doing today's tour.  We were taken the short distance to the port in a minibus.  There, we were introduced to our guide, Freddie, and transferred to a speed boat.  We didn't have much time to take photos lakeside. 

We were soon on our way on the 30-minute journey to the group of islands called Uros.  On the way, Freddie told us lots of details about Lake Titicaca and the people who live on it.

The Uru or Uros are an indigenous people of Bolivia and Peru.  They live on a still-growing group of about 120 self-fashioned floating islands. The Urus have darker skin than their neighbours Aymaras and Quechuas.

We passed Kim, Shanda, and Jono, who had booked a kayaking trip this morning!

At the entrance to Uros, we had to stop for Freddie to pay a fee to allow us in, and for the islands' leader to tell us which of the 120 islands that make up Uros we were visiting.  The authorities make sure every island gets their fair share of tourist visits.Read more