I have just booked 3 nights on Airbnb for the middle part of our upcoming 3 week stay in Peru, the first 2 nights on Taquile island on Lake Titicaca a 2 hour boat trip from the mainland. The island is very primitive and the place where we are staying with a family has no electricity, and there is no phone network, so it will be good to get away from it all, and for $30 a night including 4 meals a day very reasonable. Taquileños are known for their fine handwoven textiles and clothing, which are regarded as among the highest-quality handicrafts in Peru. Knitting is exclusively performed by males, Taquileños run their society based on community collectivism and on the Inca moral code ama sua, ama llulla, ama qhilla, (Quechua for "do not steal, do not lie, do not be lazy"). The island is divided into six sectors or suyus for crop rotation purposes. The economy is based on fishing, terraced farming horticulture based on potato cultivation, and tourist-generated income from the approximately 40,000 tourists who visit each year. The majority of the inhabitants of Taquile are Catholic. They adapted this religion, harmonizing Andean religion with the syncretic Christian culture. The mother earth (Patchamama), the principal Andean deity, directly controls harvesting and fertility; the island is home to four Apus, Andean mountaintop deities. People make several offerings to these deities each year, and they offer three coca leaves prior to each activity or trip. God is present throughout the year in the festivities. The two Catholic churches are in Centre and Huayllano; a Seventh-day Adventist church is located in Huayrapata. The other booking is on a floating island in the middle of the lake, a bit of a touristy thing, but a good experience to wake up on a tiny scrap of floating reeds in the middle of lake Titicaca........... The Uru use bundles of dried totora reeds to make reed boats (balsas), and to make the islands themselves. The larger islands house about ten families, while smaller ones, only about thirty meters wide, house only two or three families. The islets are made of totora reeds, which grow in the lake. The dense roots that the plants develop and interweave form a natural layer called Khili (about one to two meters thick) that support the islands. They are anchored with ropes attached to sticks driven into the bottom of the lake. The reeds at the bottoms of the islands rot away fairly quickly, so new reeds are added to the top constantly, about every three months; this is what makes it exciting for tourists when walking on the island.This is especially important in the rainy season when the reeds rot much faster. The islands last about thirty years. Each step on an island sinks about 2-4" depending on the density of the ground underfoot. As the reeds dry, they break up more and more as they are walked upon. As the reed breaks up and moisture gets to it, it rots, and a new layer has to be added to it. It is a lot of work to maintain the islands. Here are a few pics..... Taquile Island A floating island A boat trip on the lake