on the edges of sacred puma lake

titi = puma, kaka = sacred (at least that is one of the translations). that puno has a statue of a big puma on top of one of its hills caused some amusement when we realised it could be referred to as ´big titi´. anyhow, we have spent the last 2 days floating (slowly!!) around on lake titikaka, on one of the reed islands of the uros people, or on an island inhabited by local indians who do not speak any english nor much spanish (speak quechua) and who in the case of our family have never been to mainland peru despite it being only 4h away. so to explain .. we arrived on amatani island, were introduced to our tempoprary surrogate mother, were led 1h uphill with much puffing and panting (lake titikaka is 3810m, our house was 4100m odd - the highest on the island damn it), and then met our temporary surrogate family. granddad, mama, papa, 4 kids, and a grandbaby. our accomodations were humble to say the least. we helped make dinner by peeling some bean things, along with the dad and a son whose hands could have done with a good washing, in a kitchen that was little more than a dirt floor with some burning sticks (and in which there lived at least one guinea pig), and then ate ... vege soup (kylie ate it all under some duress!!!) and then boiled vege with rice ... OK but nothing to write home about (haha - i now have). then were forced to dress in local attire ... short, 2 skirts, cumberbund thing that was so tight our dinner was forced to stay in the stomach longer than usual, black shawl ... and then we were forced to dance local dances with locals. wasnt too bad, interesting, but didnt last long dancing due to altitude. today we woke, had pancakes cooked specially for us, and then left for the floating reed islands which were particularly interesting. 1m thick mass of reeds that in rainy season need changing twice weekly due to decomposition. off to dinner now. catch you all later. love kate and kylie.