Peru | Puno and Lake Titicaca

I know. Lake Titicaca? I'm sure you thought I was kidding. Up until about 2 months ago I thought that was a grade school joke. Turns out it actually exists! I'm glad I can keep learning at my old age, aren't you?

This is part two of the Peru posts. If you missed part one and Machu Picchu you can click here to be taken to my old blog.

It's almost comical but Lake Titicaca is so beautiful but with such a name you would assume otherwise. Puno is the main city next to the lake and is quite the bustling place on a Saturday holding the best farmers market I've seen to date. It really puts ours here in the states to shame. Really. One could find anything from housewares to traditional clothing to civiche, a popular raw fish dish in the region. The next part of our exploration was one of my favorites: Uros the floating islands. Kid you not, they are islands made of reeds that the locals replace every week because the ones on the bottom dissolve. The community of Uros is a collaboration of about 500 individual floating islands. Each island houses about 5-6 families. I personally can't imagine living on a island yet alone one with all my family members on it. FACT: if members of a particular island separate or don't want to live together anymore members of the community literally take a blade and cut the island in half, remove the anchors and the islands separate. Incredible.