We ate breakfast in the dining room at our hotel outside Puno overlooking the lake. The frameless construction of the windows intrigued me. As we moved around Peru, we later noticed that this is a common mode of construction. A relatively mild climate does not require double glazing, so who needs frames? A side note - Hilda left her shawl in the dining. When we called back after leaving the hotel, they said that nothing was found there. We were the only group at breakfast.

Reeds are used for many purposes. They are laid out to dry before bundling.

Tethered sheep at the lakeside

Slogans left over from the last election covered many buildings. A sign of a healthy democracy?

We arrived at the port of Puno and boarded a boat to take us to the Uros Islands, which are large floating islands handcrafted from "totora", march reeds that grow on the shallow waters by the shore. The islanders live permanently on these islands which were originally constructed to escape warring mainland tribes.

On the way to the islands we passed through thick a thick layer of algae

The channel to the islands was bordered by the reeds

Arriving at a village, we were greeted by our host families. Note the solar cells on the hut - the only source of power for the islands

The daughter of the househoid made herself at home on our boat

We were given a demonstration of how the islands were constructed - staring from gathered reeds. Well planned demonstrations like this were to be a feature of many of the places at which we stopped. The locals appear to be in their traditional environment, but have clearly been prepared for to present to tourists. Interesting, nevertheless.

The islands can be cut by a handsaw. If a group member gets married, his/her portion of the islands is sawn off and is moved to the spouse's island. Malcontents are also handled this way!

Showing how layers are stacked to constuct the island

All components of the island in place

Lunch - fortunately not ours!

A demonstration of a bartering session. The islanders trade fish and reeds for commodities that are available only on the mainland

The sun was brutally hot. We applied sunscreen, but a only partially covered an area on my right hand. It was tender for days afterward. Despite wearing hats, everyone appeared burned.

A teenager was assigned to us to describe her life. She attended high school on the mainland and spoke good english. Our guide opined that the schooling was not good for the islanders, even though they all wanted it. He said that they move to the city, but be unhappy there, then return to the islands, and be unsatisfied there as well. Our teenager wanted to become a teacher and return to the island to teach primary school.

The hut had electric lighting ...

... and TV!

How Hilda got sunburned hands.

Probably not a great place to get sick

We boarded bike taxis to get to lunch

We had lunch in the town of Puno. A series of marching bands and dancers appeared

The local photographer clearly did a roaring band trade

The town of Puno, with the islands in the background

Puno 'burbs

We next visited Sillustani ( see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sillustani ), site of chullpas (funeral towers).

Close fitting stonework, 2000 years old

View from Sillustani

A welcome rest after an long day

Our guide, Reuven, illustrating the size of the blocks

Baby Llama

The spiral indicates an ancient source of power. I brought a compass near it, and it changed the reading!

Grinding corn

Varieties of potato

A primitive man powered plough

Breaking the earth

A teenage son watched the demonstrations in amusement