Puno, let me assure any skeptics that altitude does make a serious difference! We are just fine but I can tell you honestly that the effects are very noticeable..no running up the stairs that is for sure.

We woke up to a gorgeous  sunny day with very few clouds in the sky, something that is very unusual this time of year because it is the rainy season, the locals found it too hot but we didn’t of course. Our tour this morning was the floating islands. A tribe called the Uros have found a way to form Islands, and I mean real islands, by tying together reed roots that have floated up after breaking way from the bottom of the lake . After they tie the roots together they criss cross the top with many layers of reeds which form the base on which they build their structures. Everything is done with the reeds that grow in the shallow area of Lake Titicaca. If they chose to build another island for a newly married couple they just repeat the process, although it takes a year. Now to make sure that the roots don’t get to close to the bottom, less than 10 feet, and reattach themselves  they have a hole in the middle of the island so they measure the depth of the water; if it get too shallow they cut the anchors and paddle to a deeper spot.

They do have grade schools on a common Island and we had the good fortune to visit one. It was built and operated by the Seven Day Adventists. The children sang to us in English, Spanish, Japanese, and their local language , (the name escapes me).

In the afternoon we visited another archeological site, and accent burial site of the Cholla, around 200BC, and later the Inkas. Another demonstration of rock structure that seem to defy logic.

We are here for tonight and tomorrow we leave Peru and go to Bolivia.