Floating Islands of the Uros
More pix: http://www.flickr.com/photos/traveltt3/
We left Cuzco and boarded a train to Puno (Lake Titicaca). The train ride was 10 hours, but we had lots of room to stretch out and beautiful views of the Andes. We saw lots of freely roaming alpacas along the way.
Once we arrived in Puno, we took a morning tour to the floating islands of the Uros. The Uros are a group of Pre-Incan people who made 42 islands completely constructed out of dried reeds. All of their houses and boats are also made out of the dried reeds. We had a fantastic time walking on the very soft surface, meeting some of the Uros, and even riding on one of their traditional boats.
We then went to Copacabana, Bolivia - a quiet little town with very cheap housing ($6 a night for a room) and set meals (3-4 courses) for $2. We had a great view of Lake Titicaca - the highest lake in the world at 12,500 feet above sea level - however it was freezing there. I had on 5 layers of clothes and bought a beanie to keep warm and the showers weren´t hot until the day we left.
Next, we spent 3 hours driving around the south side of the huge lake on our way to La Paz. We had to get out of our van at one point and hop on a boat to cross the lake (our van also had to cross on a separate ferry). We arrived in La Paz - the highest capital city in the world (13,000ft above sea level) - and saw lots of statues, plazas, and a crazy protest where the Bolivians were burning things in front of the TV camera.
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