Guinea pig meat is described as being similar to rabbit and Peruvians consume an estimated 65 million each year.

The animal is so entrenched in the culture that one famous painting of the Last Supper in the main cathedral in Cusco shows Christ and the 12 disciples dining on guinea pig.

Because guinea pigs require much less room than traditional livestock and reproduce very quickly, they are a profitable source of food in the confined space of the floating islands on Lake Titicaca.

The islands, in the middle the world's highest navigable lake at 3860m above sea level, are made entirely from floating mats of dried papyrus.

The Uros Indians maintain and live on a man-made island, depending on the lake for their food and building material.

The Uros make balsas, boats fashioned of bundles of dried reeds to resemble crescent-shaped craft pictured on ancient Egyptian monuments.

What do the Uros serve as side dishes to guinea pig? Potatoes, of course. The potato was first cultivated in the Lake Titicaca region of Peru and Bolivia about 8000 years ago.

The people of the Titicaca Basin practise methods of agriculture that predate Inca times. They grow barley, quinoa (a small grain) and spuds.

After arriving in Lima, travellers fly to the lakeside town of Puno, in southeastern Peru, on the shore of Lake Titicaca.

Puno tourist operators can organise boat transportation to the floating islands of the Uros, a home stay and three meals on the Quechua-speaking island of Amantani and a half-day tour of the Quechua island of Taquile.

Sunday Herald Sun

Getting there: Qantas flies to Los Angeles, then LAN to Lima.

Stay: Hotel in Puno, then home stay at Lake Titicaca.

Tours: Intrepid Travel has tours of Peru ex Lima

More: www.perutourism.com; www.visitperu.com

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