Postcard from Lake Titicaca

We have now arrived at the world's highest navigable lake - Lake Titicaca.  On the far shore is Bolivia and the Peruvians say that their side is Titi and the Bolivian side is Caca!  It's 12,500 ft above sea level and covers a vast 3,205 square miles, of which 1,815 are in Peru.  We are staying in the city of Puno.  The picture shows a reed boat, somewhat larger than the ones used in the fishing village of Huanchaco north of Trujillo.

Above are children in Puno and these are weavers:

Not surprisingly, the lake, which is a National Reserve, is really popular with tourists and has a large variety of fish, birds and mammals, including  giant frogs.  Here's a vicuña:

The lake also has  floating islands made of reeds that are inhabited by the Uros, descendants of an ancient people, so the islands take their name from them.   There are also other islands that maintain their ancient social and farming systems: Taquile, Amantani and Suasi. This is Taquile:

This is the main square:

Still on Taquile:

And this is a Taquile Man:

This is also on Taquile:

Above is a Taquile weaver and this is a Uros woman:

I had always wanted to go to these islands - but they're really cold at night although you can get sunburnt during the day.

And now we go to the town of Sullistani to see the burial towers:

And again:

And then there's the temple of fertilty:

And here's a typical mask:

What a fantastic couple of days!