The central plaza in Chucuito, a little town where we stopped to get a shower at a hostel and spent the night.
We decided to try cuy (guinea pig) here as we were nearing the border and didn't know if they served it in countries other than Ecuador. This restaurant said they had it for serving that night.
This earthy lentil soup came with our meal, all yummy.
Fried guinea pig served up. We just had to try this dish.
We also ordered a trout. They grilled the trout, but would only fry the 'cuy', even though we asked for it roasted.
Not much to a 'cuy', but here Jason is trying to get at what little meat there is. Yep, tastes like chicken.
We were still hungry and ordered the fried cheese, too. All meals came with various colored potatoes.
Some strange mosaics on the plaza walkways here.
This was the public bathrooms building on a corner of the square.
Caught this giant carved face along the road as we drove by.
A part of an old structure near Chucuito, Peru.
Lake Titicaca was on our list to visit, especially the floating reed islands of Uros, just offshore from the town of Puno. We found an English-speaking guide on iOverlander and drove to his location just outside of Puno, on the lake. This trashed soccer field was our parking space for the night. A train to Machu Picchu originates here, but the train in the pic is returning.
Our guide's family lives in the place just to the right of the little church.
A herder moves his sheep across the land near us.
Jason and our guide, Yordy, getting ready to take his boat to the floating island.
Dina, Yordy's wife, and his 3-yr-old son come with us to their family island. Each extended family has its own island, with Yordy's family sharing the space and duties with four other related families, until someone wants to get their own island.
The water level in Lake Titicaca is so low this year that we had to pole out a ways before we could put the boat motor down.
You can see the motor is churning up the dark muck from the bottom of the lake in the channel we used to get out to the deeper part of the lake where the floating islands of Uros are located.
Pigs looking for something to eat in the reeds along the banks of the channel.
Each [extended] family has one of the fancy two-hulled boats. The people used to live on the boats, not islands, but now they build reed homes on their island and use the boats for tourist rides.
The boats only last 8-12 months and then must be rebuilt. Nowadays, they fill the inside of the pontoons with plastic bottles for flotation and cover them in reeds. When the boat begins to disintegrate (they are organic, afterall), they reuse the plastic bottles for the new boat.
The puma is a strong symbol here and shows up often in designs.
Yordy's family's island. His brother-in-law is very popular as he fixes outboard motors.
Stepping onto the island is like walking on a huge sponge. Yordy explains that the lower layers of reeds begin to decompose and they need to add a new layer on top every couple of weeks so they can stay dry. You can dig down a few inches and feel the water. The houses sit a bit higher and are built on extra layers atop some timbers that allow them to be picked up and moved to install new reeds.
Our 'sofa' is this reed-covered roll of styrofoam. We sat comfortably while Yordy explained the history and some of his culture.
He uses a prop gun to explain how they hunt for birds on the water for food. His reed house is behind him, where he and wife and child live.
Yordy explains how they find clumps of reeds and cut chunks and tow them back to where they want to build the island. They stake them together and tie them together to form a thick, strong mass. They anchor the mass at the shallow edge of Lake Titicaca just before it gets deep. Over time, the roots of the reeds grow together for more strength. Still, storms can ravage an island and rip it apart.
Yordy shows us how they layer the newly cut reeds on top of the base, altering the direction of the reeds each time.
Here, he's illustrating how the families work together with homemade dolls and props.
The women sew the colorful materials to sell and the men make the carved and woven figurines and toys.
Jason and Karen in Yordy's home on his floating island. A pretty small space.
Local costumes for us to don for photos. So colorful. Those skirts are something else!
The water is just behind the home. These really are floating islands!
The cooking space on the island. All the families on the island share the one cooking space to reduce the danger of fires. They place thick stones below the cooking pots to insulate the dry reeds from the fire.
Reeds and water just behind the home. The water was very clear and the gov't has given each family a toilet system to keep sewage from going into the lake. Each family also has one power boat to get from the islands to the shore. They go to shore weekly to shop and swap for goods they need. They sell their handicrafts to earn money to buy what they can't get from the lake or by barter.
A tourist photo prop on Yordy's island.
The 'gas station' on the next island is a lady with jugs and jerry cans.
Even the welcome arch is made of reeds on these islands.
We had to occasionally clear a reed from the prop. Here, Jason is explaining that Yordy probably needs a new impeller as there was no water coming out of the engine (not a good thing).
A fancy family boat with puma heads.
Families communicate with each other using signaling towers. They also can just shout, but the towers allow them to use flags for messaging. The family on each island is responsible for building and maintaining whatever structures they have. This creative design shows the ingenuity of the family. Today, they also have phones.
A boatload of newly cut reeds for some maintenance. With the lower water levels, they are having difficulty finding enough green reeds for all the families. Each extended family must maintain its own island and there are now over 150 islands! New islands must be built at the end of the lines out into the lake. The farthest ones are beyond viewing already.
Jason walking across a neighboring island we also visited.
We didn't climb the signal tower here. It looked a bit crooked already.
Jason under a reed arch, next to a reed condor, on a floating reed island.
The floating islands of Uros were quite interesting. Not sure how long this way of life will survive.
An island beckons tourists to come and visit and stay. Some have 'hostels' where a tourist can spend the night.
Another clever design of a duck communication tower.
The reeds, muck and mud along the channel to get out to Uros.
An interesting pancake rock formation as we left Puno.
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