So, we received a long weekend as school officials in the district of Arequipa closed schools Monday and Tuesday for precautionary reasons due to Swine Flu! Overkill to the extreme but it gave us some extra days to travel to Puno, Peru and to Lake Titicaca. Lake Titicaca is the highest commercially navigable lake in the world and is home to many indigenous people. We toured the Uros Islands two days ago. The Uros are floating islands created with blocks of earth and reeds. The people create these islands every few years and then rebuild another island and their homes when the current island begins to recede. It was amazing to hear the history of the lake and how these people survive on anchored islands in the lake. Yesterday, we travelled to Taquila Island. It was a four to five hour boat ride round trip and we had a great time. The views from this natural island were incredible and we could see white capped mountains and also see into Bolivia which shares a maritime border on the lake with Peru. From this island we could also lay witness as to how absolutely huge Lake Titicaca is! We have eaten trout on both visits to the islands and it has been really, really good. Makes me itch to do some trout fishing when I get back home. We have also done a lot of hiking around Puno and hiked up to some amazing vantage points. Usually, they vantage points are over 4,000 meters and that equates to very heavy breathing and some coughing for me! But, well worth it as I have some pictures I will post for everyone. Tomorrow, back to Chivay via an eight hour bus ride and then finishing off our last week at the school in Canacota! Can´t believe I´m home in two weeks, so excited!
