Lake Titicaca is the world's highest navigable lake at an altitude of about 3,800 m. It has a Peruvian and a Bolivian side. No borderline is visible on the lake, of course. Close to the city of Puno are the floating Uros islands on which people actually live: the so-called Uru people.

In Puno I decide it would be a cool and interesting experience to spend the night on one of the floating islands. Most tourists take daytrips to some of the bigger islands, but I think a closer look and experience will bring me closer to the real thing. Doing a little research in Puno I obtain the phone number of one of the families and after a short phone call they pick me up at the main plaza in Puno in the afternoon.

From there we take a taxi towards the lake shore, where a little boat is awaiting us. In about thirty minutes we arrive at the Uros community. Some of the islands are visibly very touristic. On Qhantati island people can spend the night, but only a few people do this every week, as it's not offered by the travel agencies. This means that the money I pay directly goes to the family and not into the pockets of sketchy agencies.

The family whom I'm staying with, Christina and Victor Vilca, gives me a warm welcome. I walk around the island, which is actually a huge floating device, it's incredible! They're made of totora, a type of reed that grows in the lake. The islands thus require a continous and labor-intensive process of maintenance. On the island, I meet a Brazilian couple and we go out for fishing. Questioning myself where the rods are I realize that we're not going to catch anything today,: we're just setting out some nets for the next day while we're enjoying the sunset.

At the island I also meet a French lady (Fabienne) who works for the French 'La Runa' association with social development projects in Latin America. Passionately she tells me about their latest projects in Peru. Right now she's at the Uros islands to donate toothbrushes, toothpaste and second-hand clothes to the communities that live in poverty. In addition, she gives instructions how to brush your teeth, which is the educational aspect of the program. She brought items all the way from France, which wasn't an easy job. Although KLM - Air France offered her free carriage of the goods, Peruvian customs were a little bit surprised to encounter 1200 toothbrushes in her bags. The next day, she'll go to the other side of the lake to distribute them. 'In this part,' she says, 'tourists never come. People here live under hard conditions, below the poverty line.' She invites me to come with her to help her with the distribution. 'It's a totally different world, ' Victor assures me. Without hesitation I promise to go with her and Victor, who is going to captain the boat.

The next day the three of us load all clothes, toothbrushes and some food (I brought some fresh apples from Puno) into the vessel and set sail towards the islands named Ccapi. After sailing for about 1,5 hours we arrive at the community. However, as there is a wedding today, most adults seem to have already left. We visit one of the schools, but nobody is there. It's interesting though to see that one of the school has solar panels, financed by Euro-Solar, an EU-funded program. Victor tells us that education on the islands is of low quality. 'All teachers come from Puno. They usually arrive from the city on Monday, so class won't start until Tuesday. It's really a problem for the community.' We move on to the village, where a couple of kids are playing. Immediately it is evident that Victor was right: this is a totallly different world. The children look neglected, unhealthy, starving and very fragile. Some of them approach us on their rafts, interested by this foreign visit. Victor asks them if there are any adult people in the village, because we need a responsible person to give the toothbrushes to. One mother shows up, carrying a little baby. Though being the only adult present, she's probably not older than fifteen years. She seems really reserved, not willing to be approached by strangers.

More and more children are gathering around us. 'Let's give them something to eat', Fabienne proposes. Victor starts handing out some cookies to all of them, which they're happy to receive. Fabienne opens the bags with clothes and starts matching sizes with kids. As soon as they realize they will get some neat and clean clothes they get really excited . Some of them try to jump into our boat. In the meantime, the mother has joined the group together with a few more little children. In total, I think, we're surrounded by at least 25 villagers. While Victor and Fabienne are doing the clothes-stuff, my main task is to take photographs and capture video material for the association.

Victor coordinates the process speaking to the kids in Aymara language and he translates this into Castellano for us. Every child receives a new jumper and some new pants. Despite the pityful situation in which they obviously are, it's heartbreaking to see the many happy faces. Upon departure, one little boy has decided to become captain of our boat, not being prepared to let it go. Victor talks to him and I hand him an apple, which proves sufficient distraction to make him move onto his friends' raft.

Leaving the first island, the three of us are more or less silent, thinking of what we just saw and experienced. Victor explains that he and his family try to support the people in this part of the lake, but that it's not easy. 'Even the government doesn't do much to support these people,' he adds. 'The only thing they do is fishing. My wife came from this part of the lake. With the money we make we try to do our best to help them.' Fabienne, usually not the most silent person, doesn't have a lot to add. 'It's very tough,' she utters , 'but it's reality.' I ask Victor why they don't move to the wealthier part of the community. 'This is their land, their culture, their tradition. They want to maintain it.'

Carrying the clothes, toothbrushes (they will be delivered later) and the experience from the first islands, we head towards the second island. Here we find six children without any parents at all. They're living in the same poor conditions. But as their parents are away they're making a lot of fun. We invite them to come to our boat and they follow us excitedly. Here the process of handing out clothes starts again. Patiently they take a seat in our boat, awaiting turns to receive a Spiderman t-shirt, some clean pants, or a hat .

The oldest girl is probably about eleven, so we don't have any size available for her, but we give her some for her little brothers. Fabienne gives a brief toothbrushing instruction with the model she brought. When we head off, we leave the children behind us, gratefully waving at us.

Sailing back to Qhantati island we talk about what we've seen and done today while we enjoy the sunshine and tranquility. A little breeze pushes us forward across the gorgeous deep-blue lake. We're approaching Qhantati island, our home-base. Back to the other world. We just crossed the poverty line again. We didn't see it. But we know it's there.

For more information on 'La Runa' association, their projects and volunteering positions in Peru or Bolivia, feel free to visit their website: http://www.laruna.fr/ . In English soon!