Peru - Lake Titicaca, Uros, Taquile Island

We joined a boat excursion on Lake Titicaca, going to Uros and Taquile Island. Remember to put sun block and wear sunglasses and a hat or scarf. If you have problems with motion/sea sickness, also bring some medicine, like Bonine or Dramamine. The swells on the lake can get quite high if the wind is strong.

Uros is a group of floating islands on the lake made from reeds by the people there. Let’s see their demonstration about building the floating island and houses; they need to re-build all the structures on the islands every three months. The ground must be covered with a new layer of reeds every two weeks, and when the island becomes so thick that it touches the bottom of the lake, it must be abandoned, and a new island is created! Men fish by boat, and women will take their goods like salted fishes and weaving to the peninsula to exchange things and tourist business. They invited us for a ride in a reed boat for S/5 per person. Our tour guide told us not to give candy to the kid as the dentist is far away at the shore and is expensive for the people there. Uros people are friendly and allow taking their picture.

If you take pictures of people on Taquile Island, they will show a finger up means they are asking you to pay S/1. Taquile Island is like a small mountain. Our boat arrived there and the tour guide wanted us to walk to the other side where the boat would pick us up. It was good to leave our little backpack in the boat as we needed to walk very slowly up hill at such a high altitude…. We walked about 40mins to the town square, and then followed the tour guide to a place to have lunch. It had two choices: either trout or an omelet, served with quinoa soup and tea (a local herb). Steve didn’t like his omelet much, and I couldn’t help him to finish it - too salty.

It took about 3 hours by boat to get back to the shore. Most of us, including the tour guide, had a good nap on the boat.

我们参旅团游Titicaca湖的Uros和Taquile Island。记得涂上防晒膏及戴上太阳眼镜、帽或头巾。如你有晕船的问题，最好用一些药，湖可能会起高浪如风太大。

Uros是由居民用芦苇制成的浮岛，看看他们在告诉游客，如何建立浮岛及居所，岛上的结构每三个月要重建，地上须每两星期重披上新一层的芦苇，当越来越厚碰到湖底时，这岛就被遗弃，然后重做一个新岛喔！男性划船去捕鱼，女性们会用他们的收获如咸鱼、编制物等到岸边交换食物及做游客的生意，其中有邀我们坐芦苇船，划回时向我们每人收S/5。导游说不要给糖果小孩，要到很远至岸边才能找到牙医，也要花很多钱。Uros居民亲切可让游客拍照。

在Taquile Island如你拍照那里的居民，他们手指一，即是向你要S/1。Taquile Island如一座小山，导游要我们从船放下的地方走到另一瑞，船会在那儿载我们回，还是把小背包放在船，要在这高原的山慢慢走… 走约40分钟来到小镇。导游安排在某处用午餐，只有两种选择，煎鱼或煎蛋，配一碗quinoa汤及一杯茶（当地的一种植物）。Steve不喜欢他的煎蛋，我不能帮他吃，煎蛋太咸啦。

船载我们回程到岸须约3小时，很多人都在船内昏昏欲睡，包括导游。