We spent a day chilling out and seeing the sights of Puno, so we were bored by 10am but it was good to have a rest day before our overnight tour to the islands around Puno. We headed out to the Uros floating islands that are made out of reeds which were really interesting to see how these people lived. Predictably, these days they live in tin sheds and use wooden boats tucked away behind the tourist created spectacle. Its such a shame that the whole experience is 100% commercial and put on for the tourists but it was interesting, and Andy got to try some more weird food.

Floating Reed Islands - Lake Titicaca

Andy eats a Uros Banana - lake reed

We then putted out to Amantani Island, our boat was capable of about 5 knots top speed and for 4 hours it got a bit tiresome. At the island we were billeted out to families for a home stay to experience how they live. The trek uphill from the waterfront was fairly difficult at altitude but the home afforded great views of the lake and the family were just lovely. Unfortunately they spoke about as much conversational English as we speak conversational Spanish so we didnt get to speak to them much. A severe storm blew in at about 6pm whilst we were out walking around the island so we had to run back in the hail to "one of those mud brick houses over there" that didnt have electricity or heating. We spent the night huddled together in a single bed to keep warm. That said, it was actually quite a good experience.

Andy shivers - homestay Amantani Island

Amantani Island

The next day we went to Taquille island and were once again greeted with rain and sleet which made our hour-long trek across the island a bit painful. However, after lunch the sun came out and we had a nice 4 hour boat ride home.

Andy tucks in to a Guinea Pig - mmmm tasty