So, this is not a full entry - I have lots of fun facts to type up and share - and will soon.  We did a two day excursion to the Uros floating islands, an overnight with a host family on Amantani, and a visit to the Island of Tequile.  Below are some pictures of our visit to the Uros Islands.

As we arrived at Amantani I became increasingly sick and steadily got worse and worse through my time on the island.  By the next day I had full fledged altitude sickness (headaches, nauseaus, throwing up) and on top of all of it I had picked up an intestinal infection from the food we ate on Amantani.  Yesterday was pretty awful, I had to stay behind on the boat instead of visiting Tequile and was incredibly grateful when we reached the hotel after spending seven or eight consecutive hours curled up in a ball on the boat. 

The good news is that I am feeling a lot better - and we fly to lower altitude this morning so I should feel great in a few more hours.  I had all the right medication to keep things under control too. 

Buying food at the port to give to our host family on Amantani

Approaching Uros Island

The Watchtower for Apu Inti Island (there are over 60)

The Apu Inti Community - we sat at the horseshoe shaped area and were told how the island is built and how the community works together

Artisans market of the Aymari people

Wow.  A woman offered to show us her home and then insisted on dressing us up - she even braided the bon bons into my hair!  And then!  She made me go to "market."

Chris and me in Aymara cultural clothing.  Daniel escaped unscathed.

Entering a home

A not to scale model of how they build the reed islands - they cut the root, then tie it all together, then layer the reeds - the islands themselves are about 2 meters thick.

We took a reed boat to another island - and got to climb up into this cool fish watch tower!