Lake Titicaca (hee hee hee, ha ha)

Boy, I bet this lake gets a lot of teasing from the other lakes. What were it´s parents thinking?
We came here without planning to, sent by the vagaries of the bus companies. When we got here, we discovered that out on the lake, there is a community of people living literally, on the lake. Over some span of time unknown (but probably easy to find out) to me, the residents have built islands to live on, with nothing but some grass and string. McGyver eat your heart out. It´s quite amazing to go out and walk around on what is essentially a giant, old school mattress. It´s spongy to walk on, and if you go too close to the edge, you fall through, or feel like you´re about to. Most islands have 5 or 6 houses on them, with a family in each. Many have a hole in the middle, like a small duck pond, or fishing hole. Once every couple of weeks, they throw down a new layer of reeds. Apparently each island is about 2.5 m thick, with only the top half meter above water. Unbeleivable.
The giant flamingo shown here is a super example of the gimmicks each island builds to distinguish itself and thus draw more tourists to their souvenir tables.