Dipping my toes in Lake Titicaca

There are a few main things you do when you visit Lake Titicaca: buy wool stuff because it's freezing, and visit some of the communities living on the islands. Since I will be coming back here with Flo and checking out some of the more popular attractions with him, I decided to visit a couple of places that were "off the beaten path" (but of course not so off the beaten path that they weren't clearly spelled out in my guidebook).

I started out by heading to a community on the Capachica peninsula called Llachón. They have developed some neat community-based tourism there. Basically I e-mailed a guy listed in my book to ask if I could stay in the community and he was like: "Sure! Come on down!" So off I went. The colectivo dropped me off at his house and I stayed there for a night. His wife prepared some delicious food for me and sent me off with a fisherman the next morning to get to the island of Amantaní.

Again, I pretty much showed up at the dock and there was a lady who came down to greet me. "Is there somewhere I can stay?" "Sure! Come to my house!" It was pretty basic living - I didn't take a shower for 2 days which was a little weird for me - but it was cool nonetheless. One of the best parts of my short visit was the actual lake, which is the most spectacular clear blue ever and worth the trip in and of itself. Another was being outside and being reminded of how bright the moonlight can be without the aid of electric light. I totally basked in it, chuckling to myself like a kid. Small pleasures...