Getting ready for another day!
At 12,500 feet, Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world.
Leaving Puno Bay.
On the way back into Puno Bay, we stopped at the floating islands. Built by the Uro people, there are about a hundred or so of these islands scattered around the lake. Built originally as a way to escape the depredations of their neighbors, they now are mainly concentrated near Puno and other cities where they cater to the tourist trade.
The islands consist of a thick layer (9-10 feet) that is constantly replenished as the bottom layers rjot away.
These women gave us an introduction to their life on these floating islands. Their menfolk were out cutting new reeds.
Peg bartering for a model reed boat.
They like their colors!
This island was called Suchi Maya and this lady was the president of the island. Most islands support 3-10 extended families.
These reed boats carried us to the next island we visited. Peg and I rode in the smaller boat behind the big one. It was an experience!
The second island we visited was mainly LDS. This man was a former stake president in Puno. When I was in Peru (72-74) we had at the most 4 missionaries in Puno at any one time. There are now three stakes there! They are so excited to be getting a temple in Arequipa, which is much closer than Lima and will be more convenient than going to Cochabamba in Bolivia.
After returning to the mainland, we took a taxi to downtown Puno and wandered around a bit, ducking into various shops along the streets.
Sunset over Lake Titicaca.
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