Peru - PART VII - Lake Titicaca and the Uros Islands

So, Jason wasn’t feeling well, and our water supply was looking pretty sad. We needed water, and something else – there was Powerade in Cuzco when I was sick. We were lucky enough to have a late morning, but anybody who really knows me knows that I am not comfortable with striking it out on my own in foreign places. I grabbed some soles and a dollar bill (just in case), and headed down to the lobby to try and get directions to a store. Given my success with the smoke detector, I wasn’t very confident.

 

As predicted, the woman behind the counter made a great show of understanding, but not understanding at all. When I told her I needed water for my husband, she said there was a market that sold water. Yes! She drew me a map… That took me alllllll the way to the lake. A few minutes by bus, but a long way by foot. Luckily for me, another woman arrived who was listening in and explained what, exactly, I needed. I got a better map, with stores all up the street, but none of them opened until nine, and it was only 6:30 at this point. There was one just at the corner, she said, that would open at seven.

So I got some coca tea for Jason and went back to the room. At seven, I headed out again, to find this corner store. But every door was shut. I walked all around the block, just to be sure. Nothing.


I returned to the room, and Jason got up from bed and decided to muscle through the day. We went down for breakfast, and then boarded buses for the short trip to the docks, where we hopped on a boat and headed out to the Uros Islands – manmade islands, made of reeds, in the middle of Lake Titicaca. They are really a site to see, and the people were open and welcoming. They showed us how they build their islands, and talked about how they live, and then asked us questions. We bought a few things before leaving. The children were adorable.


The islands in the distance.

A couple of girls peeking through the boat window.

A house made of reeds. The woman is made of carbon, water, etc.

Once we got back to the mainland, we found the corner store was open, so we bought some water and Powerade and went back to the room to find…

 

The damn smoke detector was still going off!

 

Jason jumped up on the bed, shoes and all, and grabbed it, popping off the cover – and thankfully not yanking the whole thing out of the ceiling. If only that had worked the first time we had attempted it! He took the battery out, and later that evening, when we headed out to find a place for dinner, we handed it off to one of the housekeepers (with some help from our tour guide for translation). They made it sound like they were going to do something about it, but when we left the hotel the next morning, the smoke detector was still hanging wide open. Oh well. At least it wasn’t beeping.