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Today we left the Cusco region and traveled south to Puno on Lake Titicaca. The 8 hour bus ride was broken up by stops at several historic sites as well as lunch. The highest point we reached was 14,800 feet. I'm pleased to find that my altitude sickness precautions worked well.
The highlight of the day for me was a visit to the small farm owned by a family who earn extra money by allowing tourists to come in to their home and see how a typical family in this region lives. In 1968, there was a land reform act that gave the people back their land. It wasn't much land (4 hectares, according to the guide), but enough for them to live on. This region is a plateau in the highlands of the Andes, about 12,000 feet in elevation. The farmers raise llamas and alpacas and sell or trade them for things that are grown in lower elevations such as coca leaves, beans and fruit. They don't have electricity or heat...and it gets cold here. The woman cooks over a cow dung fire. They have a bicycle for transportation. I think we all left with an appreciation for how hard these folks must work just to survive and with mixed feelings about the luxuries in our lives.
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