The floating islands of Lake Titicaca can last for up to 70 years. They are made by carving out chunks of loam a few metres across, and tying them together. Originally they used rope made from dried reeds, but now they use nylon. Once they have established the floating platform, it is covered in loose reeds to a depth of 1m. When these reeds dry out, they add a new layer on top. In this way, the floating platform sinks lower until it eventually gets stuck to the bottom. Once this happens, the island can't react to the changing water levels and will flood.
The people on the island are amazingly friendly. They gave a presentation on how the island was constructed, as well as how they trade with the mainland, which was hilarious - they definitely have a healthy sense of humour! We then went for a ride in their "Mercedes-Benz" boat, and the family sang us a few songs as we headed off, and finished up with "hasta la vista, baby" :-D
People in the village we are staying at are amazingly friendly - they know their native Quechuan, Spanish and some have a smattering of English. It sounds terrible, but I've forgotten the names of the people in our host family - although I suspect that this die to the fact that most of our communication was done with my very broken Spanish, miming, or just saying "sí" with a confused look on my face when I was asked a question.
It's hard to get used to the scale of it all. The lake itself is about 165km long, so once you're on one of the main islands, it's quite easy to think you're in the middle of the ocean.
Since the lake looked like the ocean, it was very easy to think that we were back at sea level again. However, the walk from the boat up to the house where we were staying soon snapped us back to reality - even the smallest inclines were hard work, especially carrying our packs and drinking water. The 400m walk up the hill to our house took about 25 minutes and by the end we were both exhausted.
We helped the family we were staying with had a very nice house - a 5 bedroom compound from what I could tell, with solar powered lights in all the bedrooms.
After dumping our stuff in the room, we helped the family prepare lunch, which was delicious (if a little carb heavy). First off was a potato soup, which was amazing, followed by rice, potatoes and an omelette, finished up with muños tea (which tastes a bit like mint - definitely a fan).
After lunch, we decided to try hiking to the top of the island - since it's only about 50m lower than the highest point on the Inca Trail, should be a good test run. Luckily, it seems that the Diamox had kicked in by that point, and I was able to make it up without any real difficulty - promising news really.
We made it to the top just in time for sunset, so we were able to fully appreciate the true scale of the lake in some spectacular light.
At the bottom, our host family had already made dinner for us - slightly different potato soup (still delicious), stir-fried potato and rice, and more tea. In all honesty, I was still full from lunch, and would have been quite happy with just the soup, but I didn't want to appear rude - I got through most of the potato, but I just couldn't do the dry rice by itself.
After dinner, our families dressed us up in traditional dress (a very fetching brown poncho with rainbow stripes for me, along with a Green and brown beanie which I later bought) and we went down to the hall for a dance. Unfortunately, the band didn't turn up until quite late, so there were only 2 dances before we huffed and puffed back up the hill to bed.
Next morning, our family had already made us breakfast by the time we were up (pancakes and tea - no rice!). We gave them some gifts to tank them for their hospitality - pasta, oil and fresh fruit from the mainland - which the seemed particularly happy about. And then we were off back to Puno.
On the way back, our local guide Rommel (yes, named after the German) told us a bit about the customs of the inhabitants of the islands, particularly the courting customs. The men wear special knitted beanie - a fully red hat indicates that they are married, while a hat with a red base and a white top shows that they are still single.
For a couple to become married, the must prove themselves to each others families. The man must knit his "married" hat from alpaca fleece, and it must be made very precisely, and with a very fine weave. In order to test the hat, the bride's family will fill the hat with water - if the hat leaks in places, or drains too quickly, the groom will be told to go back and try again.
For the bride, the groom's family will give her a potato with lots and lots of eyes, and she must peel the potato in a single move, so that the entire skin can hang from the potato in one spiral.
Finally, when they are ready to be married, the bride will present the groom with a bag of her hair that she has collected. The groom will then make an alpaca belt and incorporate strands of her hair into the weave.
Lots of work to get married on that island! :-P
tit. hurr hurr.