Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Hi again,
After finishing up in Cusco on Wednesday (with some clean clothes fresh from the InkaWash), we checked out of our hostel early on Thursday to catch the coach down to Puno, a small town on the shores of Lake Titicaca. As our original bus route had fallen through, we had decided to treat ourselves to a trip on the InkaExpress coach... along with a bus-full of old american tourists (we were the youngest on the coach by about 40 years!). The journey took 10 hours but stopped along the way at a beautiful Church, a museum, a traditional market complete with llamas and alpacas, and a Peruvian buffet restaurant for lunch. It was an enjoyable way to see some rather more random villages and the journey was peaceful, except for Mel being hit on the head three times by falling bags stored overhead! She may have lost a few brain cells but as long as she can still speak Spanish, all is well.
Once the coach arrived in Puno we got a cab to our hostel...Inka´s Rest (seriously!) and crashed for the night. The following day, wandering around Puno, we witnessed a parade complete with brass band and fancy dress costumes and followed that up with a visit to the Coca Museum. There we watched a video on native dances, tried on a few costumes and learned all about the Coca leaf... turns out there´s much more to it than just Cocaine!
As we had kitchen facilities available to us, we decided to cook ourselves a pseudo Friday night dinner. We stopped off at the local Supermarket, (think super...long pause...market), complete with women in traditional Peruvian dress sitting (and sometimes sleeping) at their stalls of fruit, fresh veg, cobblers, weavers and all the Guinea Pig and Alpaca meat you could want! We picked up some rather unusual looking fruit, some oversized corns, and some relatively normal pasta and had ourselves quite a feast!
After a night of heavy rain and hail storms (amplified by being under a corrugated metal roof) we woke up early for our trip to the Islas Flotantes (The Floating Islands) of the Uros People. These islands are in Lake Titicaca and are literally made of reeds, as are the houses, boats, beds and benches. As the reeds rot away, they replace them with a new layer and allegedly, these islands have been floating for 1700 years! We went for a stroll on the islands, met some indigenous islanders, including the President (of the 4 family island) and a young boy who (for a small fee) could sing a song in any language. We were treated to Twinkle Twinkle and Heveinu Shalom Aleichem among others... most bizarre!
Tomorrow is our last day in Peru and we are heading to La Paz in Bolivia, via Copacabana.
Will our bus leave on time? Will we make it over the border without having to bribe Bolivian officials? Will our hostel in La Paz exist? Find out next time...
xxxxx
- comments