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Crossing the border from Bolivia into Peru was surprisingly hassle free, another bridge separating the 2 countries. A new stamp in the passport, a new currency but thankfully the same lanuage as we are slowly improving our Espanol with the help of a decent phrasebook!
First stop in Peru a small town Puno, which is on the banks of Lake Titicaca (the highest navigational lake in the world). The main attraction here is a day trip out onto the lake to visit the floating islands. We booked on this day trip, but took it one step further and lugged all our belongings with us and agreed to stay on island Uros with a family. A fantastic experience, the Island and all buildings are made from the special reeds grown in the lake. Reed boats, reed huts, reed bed and yep no toilet!! We stayed with the president of the island Jamie, his wife Elsa and their 5 year old daughter. Having lots of fun dressing up in the traditional dress and getting my hair plaited. Playing with the daughter and teaching them to sing twinkel twinkel little star. They were so accomodating and great people, living such a simple life and having never lived anywhere but the floating islands. Very self sufficent, they made fresh trout from the lake for dinner then more fish for brekko, thankfully they left us alone to eat so I did not feel obliged to eat it, Karen scoffed my trout but neither of us fancied the small fish with heads and eyes and YUCK.. Sooo glad we decided to stay there, nowhere else in the world has floating islands like this. We have the families address and have promiced to send them photos that we have taken. Awesome..
Onwards to Cusco, what a beautiful city even if some what tourist infested. Excellent first impressions upon arriving and it just got better the more we explored. Staying in a big hostel, The Point we had a great group of people that had lots of fun, the nightlife in Cusco is booming and very competetive meaning free drinks for us. I got caught out in the altitude with the sunshine, I did not realise how fierce it would be so ended up beetroot! But thankfully no altitude sickness. From Cusco we booked a 2 day trip to visit the Sacred Valley of the Incas then 2 nights in Aques Caliente to visit Machu Pichu. This was my dream and being a little disappointed we could not get to do the original Inca Trail we were still determined to see the sun rise over the ancient ruins. This involved having to get out of bed at 4am and trek up far to many steps to mention, up through mountains in the dark. Taking us over 90mins, it was damn hard work, really feeling the altitude restrict breathing but the reward was more than worth it. Machu Pichu is magnificent, seriously what a place. We wondered around in awe taking it all in and snapping lots of pictures without many people around, avoiding the crowds as they expect 1000 visitors per day. As all the crowds started to arrive we left and went to soak in the hot pools (where the town got its name) which was relaxing and much deserved. Getting to Machu Pichu is one of the most expensive things we have done on a scale, but it was worth every cent. I only hope the photos can come somewhere near capturing how amazing it is!
Back to Cusco for a bus onwards, Living the dream.......
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