by the way these pics are uploaded straight from my camera - some are in need of some editing/cropping/colour touchups, but thats a bit too hard to do in an internet cafe in Bolivia...
Our transport between islands arrives. A merrier bunch of sailors I'm yet to see...
This little guy was good value. And yes this reed boat did carry about 15 of us a few hundred metres between the floating islands. The boys propelled the boat using long thin tree trunks pushing against the lake bed.
Thumbs up from the skipper - no lives lost on that voyage!
Typical floating reed island. Although your feet sink a little bit while walking, only once did Marcela's foot get wet (when she went a bit too close to the edge).
Our host family on the island of Amantani, Lake Titicaca. Note everyone is knitting or weaving! (There are 2 daughters missing from this photo - they are right of frame and weaving a big blanket on the ground and weren't interested in getting up just for a photo, and I didn't want to bother them!)
An amazing sunset from the top of the island - our hosts said the days finish like this everyday!
Traditional dress was easy for me - just a poncho and a beanie. For Marcela it involved layers of big skirts, embroidered blouse, blanket/shawl/headress thing, and platted hair. Note our host Julian is not impressed with Rosa - she probably drank some of his beer.
The passionate punch-drunk Peruvian pipe boy band.
Walking back to the boat down the hill through all the neighbours' yards.
On the desert highway out of Arequipa on the way to the Colca Canyon. These are wild vicuñas, rarer than llamas and alpacas, and their wool is almost priceless (a pure vicuña wool suit will set you back $50,000 apparently!).
Wonder Woman at 4900m in the volcanic desert.
I doubt the Incas had one of the greatest empires on earth by drinking Inca Kola. It's like creaming soda but even more sugary. It's the national (non-alcoholic) drink. The national beer is Cusqueña, whose bottle has cool inca type walls wrapped around the glass.
Another street market and another interesting stall. That's an anaconda in the bucket, dead of course. Its fermenting in there for about a month, after which the liquid will form a balm that cures all your muscle aches. On top is an article about an anaconda that ate a human whole - charming stuff!!
My "SO GAY" water bottle. Nuff said.
Traditional local dancing - at dawn!?? They know that the tourists pass thru this town at about sunrise on the way to see the condors, so of course they crank up a huge PA system and start dancing to pipe music in the freezing rays of the morning sun!
Just one view of the Colca canyon, it was pretty impressive (but unfortunately my attempts at capturing the condors on film weren't as impressive).
One of Arequipa's fine Spanish cathedrals built in the 15th or 16th century.
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