Wednesday, March 7th, 2018

Day 18 of G-Adventures Inca Heartland tour

“Enjoy a guided tour of Lake Titicaca with a homestay in a small village.

Head out by boat across Lake Titicaca. Visit the community on the Taquile Islands and stop at a local restaurant to enjoy a lunch with spectacular views.

After, cruise to another village for an overnight homestay on the shores of the lake (the homestay location can vary based on community availability). This experience provides an opportunity to learn more about rural life in the Peruvian highlands and to participate in local traditions. Eat with the family, learn some Quecha and Spanish language skills, try on traditional costumes, and help out with daily chores around the village.

Lake Titicaca Guided Boat Tour Day 1 Lago Titicaca
Board a boat on Lake Titicaca and head to Taquile Island for a delicious Peruvian lunch at a restaurant followed by some shopping at the local weaving cooperatives. (Taquileños are known for their fine handwoven textiles and clothing, men are taught how to knit around age five and they create the majority of the textiles.) After, enjoy an overnight stay with a host family and a chance to learn about life on the islands.

Your Local Living Moment: Lake Titicaca Homestay
Split into smaller groups and get a taste of local life firsthand as we move into family homes for the night. Play soccer with the children, enjoy some dancing, watch dinner being made, learn about regional cuisine, and dress up in local clothes for an unforgettable evening with the whole village, enjoying traditional music and dancing. Lend a hand the next morning, and help out with chores like feeding animals, harvesting local produce, or bringing back buckets of water from the well.”

Today we go from Hotel La Brisas, Puno to the habour on Lake Titicaca. There we do a cruise on the lake and the go to a local family for a night homestay.

It is raining the whole night. The forecast is not good.

The view out of our room shows wet, wet, …

Breakfast is fine. They do something with coffee here, that is weird. I havenot drank one good espresso in peru.

0703.2018 07:30 S 15°50.4403′ W 070°01.6747′ altidude 3.908 masl @ Plaza de Armas Puno

At the hotel our guide from Edgar adventures is waiting for us. He will guide us on our Lake Titicaca Tour and the homestay.

We go with the minibus to the habour. Streets are like little rivers. The boat is small and slow. It is still raining. We go approximately 2 hours by boat.

First stop is the island Taquile.

We walk up the path to a restaurant. There is veggie omlette or trout. Everybody takes the trout. Rain gets less.

Coca Cola to Fanta is an unfair decision. They put 1 ml more Fanta in it for the same price.

07.03.2018 14:03 S 15°46.0255′ W 069°41.3517′ altidude 4.036 masl @ Taquile Restaurant

Our guide explains us traditional clothing

We get quinoa soup

We walk across the island. Our guide for Puno explains a lot and takes an extra round on the island, to plaza mayor and then back to the habour. The others from our G Group went back from the restaurant to the boat and circled the island.

Talking with the sheep …

07.03.2018 11:13 S 15°45.1126′ W 069°41.4744′ altidude 3.913 masl @ Taquile Harbour

From Taquile we go by boat another hour to Luquina Peninsula.

We arrive in Luquina.

07.03.2018 14:35 S 15°47.6165′ W 069°49.4382′ altidude 4.104 masl @ Luquina Homestay

There the families welcome us. We go to the school to the soccer place and play.

Afterwards we are dressed like locals and dance with them.

Then we walk with jesus to our homestay and eat with them dinner.

There is hot shower:

They send us to sleep early. So we qirkle.