The Slowest Boat in the World on the World´s Highest Lake

Before beginning, I must congratulate the one and only Paul Izenberg and Paul Karen for getting the riddle - we clearly owe you a beer and we won´t dissapoint.
The answer is that the train can´t take the corners on the way down the hill and reverses and goes foward over and over to make the switchbacks down. Would have been clear if we had bothered to look out the window and notice that the scenery was continuously changing. Who knew?

We´re currently in Puno, which is even higher in altitude than Cusco, and a lot dirtier. There are no colonial buildings or llamas walking around. The real reason we came here at all is floating on Lake Titicaca (we can finally say the name without laughing - are we really teachers?).
Again we woke in the wee hours and managed to find our way onto a boat with a driver that was an amazing multitasker - spinning yarn WHILE navigating the lake! - and an enthusiastic female tour guide. Add that to a brit named Lister (???) two touristas mas jovenes than us, and some Frenchies, plus boat fumes, and you´ve got a day made for exploring.

Our first stop were the amazing (seriously) floating Islands, called Uros. Yes, they really do float. literally in the middle of the lake. They are made of cubes of dirt topped with reeds. Where do the cook? Where do they pee? All our questions were answered by Aldo, the President of the island. We were a little scared to walk around considering that someone had told us a Taiwanese tourist had plunged through the reeds just a day earlier, but we´re brave and without fear. We even got to ride on the matrimonial reed boat. SO cool. Really, the islands, although commercialized, were still incredible and one of the coolest things we have EVER seen. Pictures to come later.

From there, the boat took off for 2.5 hours to Isla Taquile, a real island (not floating) in the middle of the lake. Now, this boat was slow. We mean SLOW. So slow we didn´t leave a wake. But, Isla Taquile was well worth the trip. An Island that you can pretend is untouched aside from all the tourists, it seems like a little world all it´s own. There are no cars (or anything motorized for that matter), beautful children selling bracelets everywhere (un sole, por favor!). We hiked up part way towards the top, leaving the bulk of the tourists behind, but only Lia made it to the true top of the island with the younguns from Davidson. The views were incredible, and you could see the snow capped peaks of Bolivia poking out in the distance. Women spinning yarn and walking about (seems to be something you must do while doing other important activities) and baby goats were in abundance. Truly something magical.

We never thought it possible, but the boat ride back was SLOWER. A lot slower. Somewhere in the reeds with about 10 minutes left in the ride, the engine cut out - and one rebooted, was somehow faster than ever. Wha????


Now here we are, back in our ice box of a hostel, getting ready to eat dinner and then meet our new friends for beers in what Lonely Planet dubbed ¨"the best bar in southern Peru".

Tomorrow, we are off for Arequipa, where we WILL NOT take any tours, we swear - stay tuned :) We miss you all!

Love,

Las Tres Profesoras (Las Touristas Muy Jovenes)