At 12,500 feet in altitude(3810m), Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world. And although the clear water, brilliant blue skies, and views of the distant snow capped peaks of the Cordillera Real mountain range in Bolivia is stunning scenery, life here is tough.

The most intriguing lifestyle award no doubt goes to the Uros Indians who have literally been floating around the lake for the last eight centuries ....long before they were conquered by the Inca Empire. They started by building their simple hut on rafts made from the reeds that grow in the shallows of the lake. Then they would cruise around looking for fish to catch and probably drinking beer all day, which is what I would do if I had a houseboat. But they soon extended that concept by building floating islands. The islands are made of the local tortora reed plant and although an island can last up to 35 years, it requires constant communal maintenance of piling on more reeds to keep it afloat. It really looks like a pain in the ass to live on these things considering that the mainland, full of bars and restaurants, is just an hour away by motor boat.
So anyway, the first stop of our two-day tour was the floating islands of Uros. We got to see two islands but there are about 50 of them here. There were probably fewer many years ago but the island president who welcomed our tour group explained that when two or more families get angry at each other, they just saw the island in half and go their own way, consequentially making more islands . It's quite a touristy thing to see these days and the locals seem a little jaded to the whole thing but they're making money so it is what it is.

From the floating islands, we motored to Amantani, a non-floating island and the largest on the lake. The locals here get by on subsistence agriculture and by importing food from the city of Puno. The air is quite thin and it's difficult to climb the many hills without breathing hard. I'm traveling with Lisa and Harm from the Netherlands, whom I met in Arequipa, and together we were assigned a family to stay and eat with. After dinner we were invited to this weird party where the locals made us dress up like they do in traditional clothes. I think the whole thing was more for their entertainment than ours but after a beer or two I was digging my poncho and alpaca hat that was loaned to me.

The next day, we said goodbye to our super friendly host family in Amantani and headed to Taquile Island which has been inhabited for over 10,000 years. The locals all weave their own clothes and wear different colors or patterns depending on their marital status. Climbing to the central plaza here requires an ascent of over 500 steps from the port but once you catch your breath, the views of the centuries old farming terraces and villages below is fantastic.

This was a cool tour...and one I hadn't done when I was here before. I took some great photos and I'm loving my new camera. I recently upgraded to a Canon Digital Elph SD1000 for all you tech nerds that might want to know. Now I'm off to Cusco...former capital of the Inca Empire!