which got giggles in every geography class. Lake Titicaca is in fact the highest navigable lake in the world and straddles the border between Bolivia and Peru. The lake itself is massive, can't quite remember the impressive area it covers just now, but it looks like the sea stretching out in front of you. We drove for ages along it's banks and even had to get across part of it by boat. We got out of the minibus and got onto to a little boat which whisked us across. The minibus however took a while longer on it's own boat. It was quite nervewracking to watch as all our luggage was balanced on top!We had heard from those who had been that we should watch out for the strong sun around the lake, and so as our 3 hour minibus journey passed we were getting more and more excited. YES! The sun was shining as we arrived. Finally! We checked into a hotel, I changed into my vest and headed straight out into the sun. It must have been a good 50 mins before the clouds came over and the rain fell. And that was the end of sunbathing for while!
The main reason for coming to the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca is beacuse you can visit the islands from here. So off we set on our day tour to Isla Del Sol (Island of the sun where according to Inca legend the sun was born) in the pouring rain! Too many of us were piled onto a small boat, waterproofs, umbrellas and all and off we went - at snails pace. Whether this was due to them having
overloaded the boat or because our 2 quid for the trip hadn't bought us seats on the best boat we will never know. Two painfully long hours later we finally arrived at the northern end of the island and headed off to walk the length of it. Apart from a detour to investigate the Inca ruins and sacred rock we walked solidly for 3 1/2 hours. Not because we are hardcore but because we weren't entirely sure how long it would take and didn't fancy missing the boat back to the mainland. Although we had started the beautiful walk in raincoats it wasn't long before the island lived up to it's name and the sun shone through. The lake is so massive that it felt like being on an island in the sea with beautiful bays and nothing else much around. You couldn't see the mainland in any direction. Not many others did the walk but we did bump into a few local kids either trying to sell sweets or posing with llamas and baby goats. For a few pence they would pose for a photo, unfortunately this girl obviously thought she looked best straight faced!! We made the boat with time to spare, and yes it took another long two hours to chug back to the mainland!
That evening having just eaten a delicious meal we emerged from the restaurant to see a couple checking out the menu. They asked us if we had had a good meal. We said yes and mentioned that the stew was particularly good. They looked at each other, thanked us, then added "But where are you from?" As we had spoken in English I think they knew already but we said England and laughed as we realised they may not consider our recommendation the best. Although we though they were Dutch so are not sure they would have know much better! Anyways they went into the and, I like to think, had a great meal and decided that maybe the English do know something about food afterall.
Aside from this and a climb up a hill for views across the lake at sunset we didn't do much else as Mik came down with 'manflu' and was hence bedbound. I'm sure we would have stayed a while longer had the weather been better as it was a very laidback town but after 3 days of mostly cold and rain, we headed off to Peru leaving the gnome hat wearing, hippie Argentines to it.
We then headed to the Peruvian side of the lake as we wanted to see the floating islands near a town called Puno. This was a far more touristy place and so we visited the islands, stayed one night and left. The islands themselves were unique. They are made from many layers of reeds taken from the lake itself and they are inhabited by descendents of the Uros people. 
Cara
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