Stupidly stayed up looking at youtube until about midnight. Dragged myself out of bed after the usual four or five pointless 'five minutes more' at about 6. Made it down for breakfast by about 6:15, no one there except the owner. Had a coffee and a couple of bread rolls, then picked up and bussed over to the boat.
We just visited two floating islands and I believe we now have a two and a half hour 'drive' ('sail' doesn't sound right either) to some island in the main body of the lake.
Slightly cringeworthy repetition of yesterday's home visit on the first island, all these old women greeted us when we arrived. We then sat round and the guide told us how they make the islands etc and we ate some of the roots of the reeds and that kind of thing. This was basically OK and cool.
They then gave us 20 minutes to look round and buy stuff. I was collared by some old woman with about 4 other people to look inside her hut, then she took us to her 'market'. I was guilt tripped into paying 40 sols for some bit of cloth, which I guess I will give to my Mum to stick in a drawer for eternity if it survives the trip home. (I did at least cry off paying 70 sols for a larger bit on the grounds it was too big, and the bit I did buy does at least fit in my fleece pocket tolerably comfortably.)
We then had an optional (you could go in the main boat if you preferred, but except for a British couple who had stayed on an island overnight and joined our tour earlier today, everyone took the option of course) trip on a reed boat to a second floating island. We were told this was 10 sols before we got on, fair enough. (Though I can't help observing that just to ferry a single person for maybe 15 minutes, that alone would work out about UK minimum wage, never mind 20 or so of us.). But the woman rowing insisted on coming round to collect the money mid-trip. So I can't stand up and am sat (in my mind at least) rather precariously in this dodgy looking boat trying to squeeze my hand down into the bottom of my pocket to extract coins. Then she counted up and it turned out we were one short. This took ages to resolve, what a fucking joke, I don't even think anyone was trying to get out of paying. Enormously long arguments about making change while I sat there getting pins and needles
. They really should just stick it in the price of the tour and stop this shit.
So I am feeling well exploited and I only have 60 sols left (plus a tiny bit of change) to last the rest of the trip.
Still, it was quite cool to start with. The islands are covered in reeds and feel very odd to walk on. The base is apparently the solid blocks of 'something' the reeds grow in/their roots, they cut this loose in the shallow bits of the lake, it floats and then they tie them together and cover the resulting 'raft' with cut reeds.
Anyway, tempted to try and sleep for the next two hours, let's see what happens.
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