We have seen a number of floating villages now, notably on Tonle Sap but in many ways this was both the prettiest and the saddest.

Th islands are built of reeds that grow within the lake and must be constantly renewed and replaced.

The islands are tethered in case of storms and parked up separate to their original family groups. The communities would originally have used boats made from reeds also but now use modern boats with engines. Paying for the fuel for these takes hard currency, which is where their barter system with the mainland falls down and tourism cash steps forward.

Each island comprises a group of friends, grouped together to make a living. Each vies for the attention of any new tourist group and each responsible tour guide will try to share out the tourists between the islands.

Once there you get an explanation of how the islands are put together, before being presented with some crafts, usually woven, that are for sale. As always it’s better to buy something than simply donate money.

On our trip we met up with a relatively young group. Although education is compulsory to around 16, most kids marry young and have children so Norma aged 19 with her 1 year old Elizabetta was not that unusual.

With the money from tourism these people would not survive. The lifestyle out on the islands is not “real” in that sense and very different to the living communities deep on Tonle Sap who rarely saw tourists.

The villagers can live long lives though they tend to be vulnerable to arthritis and chest infections from living so close to the water. Obviously living so exposed to the sun tends to increase the chance of skin cancers also.

But it is a persistent life choice for much of the community, maybe in part because they are not as well educated or well accepted by the people living on the mainland.

After visiting the floating islands we made the trip to Bolivia crossing the border near the lake and visiting a couple of islands on the way.

It is remarkably difficult to remember that you are essentially on the top of the world, very high up, given how flat it all looks. For someone from the UK, altitude inevitably involves high mountains and valleys, not plains.

Our first stop across the border was Copacabana where a festival was underway with both the local priest and shaman busy blessing cars for the year.

The Virgin of the church, who was “black” ie. looked more like an indigenous person than most of the statues, is one of the more popular so the church was busy.

Though not as busy as a very jolly, quite young looking priest.

From there we headed out to the islands of the Moon and Sun to see some ruins and have a bite to eat.

These islands are said to be where the original Incas came from and where they made a pilgrimage to each year.

Hmm. Not so sure the spring of life was that exciting, certainly not as exciting as crossing over to the mainland on the barge.

After a long and tiresome ride complete with detour to avoid an angry protesting mob on the motorway, we arrived in La Paz.

Unlike European towns, the best housing is at the bottom of the valley to avoid altitude rather than the top, to catch the breeze and avoid pollution. We headed down.

The most unpleasant part of the trip to S America was a day long drive from Cuzco to Puno, lake Titicaca in the tourist bus.

The bus itself was large and comfortable enough, with plenty of stops along the way for the loo and to allow people to stretch their legs. As always, photographs within churches were not permitted which makes some of those stops a bit frustrating.

The ornate baroque 17th century church at Andahuaylillas was first stop.

But in many cases of course the outside of the building has it’s own interests.

 

Not to mention the roof decorations on the grooves of houses around and about.

We also stopped at an Inca settlement more obviously influenced by the Aymara culture, Raqchi.

The Inka site at Raqch’i was a primary control point on a road system that originated in Cusco and expanded as the Inka empire grew. It is located in a valley known for sacred sites. Most of the Inka structures are enclosed by a 4 km-long perimeter wall, but just outside it, on the Inka road that entered Raqch’i from Cusco, an enclosure with eight rectangular buildings around a large courtyard was probably a lodging house for travellers.

The complex of Raqch’i consists of several different areas each designated with a specific function. Some have noted that these buildings may have been for religious and administrative officials. Others speculate that these buildings, paired with the scale of defenses may have been used as barracks to house troops.

Nearby are approximately 220 circular buildings, likely used as storehouses, called qullqas

 

But it was the views along the way that were probably most interesting, from the scenery through people going about their business and even the political graffiti.

The change from the valleys to the high anti-plano was sudden and shocking.

But by the time we hit the pre-Inca museum at Pucara, we’d all had enough. If I was doing it again, this is the bit that I would throw some money at in an attempt to speed my way through.

Instead of which it dragged on for another four hours. Not even flamingos could cheer us up.

By the time Puno came into sight, we were all just too fed up to enjoy the view.

Aguas calientes, the town that grew up to support tourists visiting Macchu Pichu, is a bit of a dump. As a Brazilian woman sitting next to us on the train back to Cuzco said, “How can a place with so much money passing through, be such a favello, an unfinished slum?”

But with a morning to fill, we found ourselves balancing a revisit to the Inca site versus a gentle still around the hotel garden and being told of the hour long queues for sunrise, plus the likelihood of rain and fog, the garden walk won. Easily.

It was suggested that 6am would be the best time to see any birds and other fauna. We balked. In the end we decided to head off at around 11am and aim to enjoy the flora.

& although this was sold as orchids, turns out there weren’t many in flower

But we got lucky with some rare-ish birds such as the ‘cock on the rock” or Rupicola peruvianus,  a large passerine bird of the cotinga family native to  Andean cloud forests. It is widely regarded as the national bird of Peru.

And is a very weird thing to see indeed unlike the various tanager birds to be found.

Thankfully there were plenty of brightly coloured birds to be found even amongst the densest of foliage, helped by the gardeners putting out bananas and syrup feeders for the wonderful hummingbirds.

Which of course are incredibly difficult to photograph but very beautiful to watch.

In many ways the orchids were the least interesting of flowers, but it’s always strange to travel half way around the world and find familiar bedding plants such as fuchsias and begonias.

And of course, being warmer, wetter and lower, there were a fair number of bugs about and even some mammals.

And a lizard mid-moult hiding on a rock

And at the very back of the garden a rock face carved with some pre-historic glyphs suggesting it was a significant gathering place, long ago.

We made the right choice – the garden walk was lovely.