Island Hopping

We left Cusco by train and spent the 11 hour journey watching beautiful scenery pass us by on the way. There were mountains along the whole route, and in places snow-capped peaks in the distance. We passed through much farmland and many small villages, where adults and children would wave to the train as we passed, it was very heartwarming.
We finally arrived, tired and cranky, to Puno. We thought we would possibly leave the following day or the day after to make up some of the time we lost in Cusco because of the train strike, but low and behold there was another strike, so the first day we could leave was Thursday. After I calmed down, we decided to take a two-day tour of some of the islands in Lake Titicaca, which ended up being marvelous. The first islands we visited were two of about 80 artificial islands, made entirely of reeds. They are floating islands, with only a few meters of reeds reaching down into the water and anchors to hold them in place. There are about 2,000 people who live on these islands. The people are decendent of natives who were looking to separate themselves from both the Spanish and the Incas, so they built these islands to live away from the land. They are quite a site to see, the reeds make up everything for these people - houses, boats, and even food. Here is a scene from one of the Uros islands:
We then moved on to a natural island called Amantaní, where we stayed with a local family! I was very excited about this, I´m hoping for as many opportunities like this as I can get. The families on this island live very simple lives. They are farmers and weavers first, and tourism is becoming a large source of income for them as well. The family Amanda, Jeff, and I stayed with were so sweet and funny. They were an older couple, with kids grown and out of the house. The house was very basic - no electricity or running water, mud walls and an outhouse. It was amazingly peaceful at their home, and I fell in love with it right away. The wife, Rufina, who didn´t speak any English or Spanish, only Quechua, let me try my hand at spinning yarn from wool, which apparently I wasn´t very good at because she was laughing hysterically the whole time! It was very cute. The family dressed us up later in the evening in typical clothes of the island, and we went to the local hall to have a dance party with the other tourists and their families! It was a lot of fun. Here are some pictures:
After our night on the island we continued on to another island in the lake as well. It was a nice two days, though I still feel like I´m swaying a bit from the boat ride : )

Tomorrow morning we leave for Copacabana, Bolivia! (No, not the same as the Barry Manilow song.) I´ll write soon.

Joan