oh oh Steve spent over an hour the other day writing this section and it doesnt appear to have saved hes going to be well miffed.

Hes currentñly in bed nursing a sore head and a dogey tummy after mixing his cocktailslast night i think he and Bevan were on a mission thankfully i switched to water so am feeling rather chipper this morning after my long soak in the bath.

So back to it Puno... compared to Copa a proper town with completeed buildings and shops!!! We had again used the mighty trip advisor so had booked a little hotelwhich turned out to be just a block away from the main strip,just perfect. We arrived about 5 and luckily after a bit of spanglish we managed to get the receptionist to book our trip to the Uros islands for the next morning (You dont hang around in Puno there is nowt to do its mainly a port town) We literally dumped our bags and headed to find something to eat,i was feeling faint at this point as i hadnt eaten breaky as i didnt want to be sick on the bus and we had missed lunch, straight to cake shop for cheese cake which would have been nice had they actually depipped the blackcurrants. (Steve subsequently got food poisoning from his meat pasty,see you should always stick to cake!)

There isnt much in Puno just the main shopping street though copared toCopa i suppose its a metripolise, so after a stroll down the road and a bank stop to get somelocal notes (past security gard in full bullet proof gear and a big gun) we headed back to the hotel. We couldnt be arsed to go outy for dinner so we weere the only ones who gave the kitchen at the hotel something to do,no idead what we ate completely forgetable.

The next morning we were up (an hour too early as we didnt realise there was a time change) so went back to bed for 45 mins before they picked us up on the bus and took us to the port for the boat.

Typical flute band on the boat trying to pry you away from your coin,but the actuial blurb was quite informative.

We got dropped off at the main island and were greated by a family of 3 generations,mostly in traditional get up though the men appeared tp favour adidas tracky bottoms and trainers. We had a talk aboutthe traditional way of life , history and how the island were made and then they were made to sing and dance, i felt really sorry for granny she was obviously clueless and just stood there mumbling,i felt quite uncomfortable. Then it was another sales opputunity -come seemy house.. how i live.... buy my stuff ...no cant leave need to buy something... typically being stupid we hadnt even taken any money with us and they still tapped us up for 20 soles for a reed boat ride we didnt even know we had to pay for!!

Bizarrly enough the guy sitting next to us was from Horbury,called Jonathan who now lives in Orange county California and is just down in SA bumming around. Ended up going for a few drinks with him in Puno that night.

All in all the reed island are worth doing just to see how things used to be,but that guy didnt live in that house and they dont have a traditional life anymore (they have solar panels and computers) its totally commercialised, just another tourist show now, which is a great shame.

The next morning we had booked a tourist coach to take us to Cusco,which took 10 hrs but stoppedodd at all different sistes along the way (First class 30dollarsin clunch and then you paid 20 sols for entry to the sites) It turned out to be one of the best things we have done. There was us and an Australian woman whos left her hubby at home and is travelling around the souithern hemisphere for 2 months and a load of nutty italians.

The guide was excellant and really made it. The 1st stop was the site of a large incan village which had been wiped out by the spanish,but they still had retained some of the artifacts in the village museam, with a stunning simple cathedral next door.

Next was the site of a massive incan village (that for once was on the flat!). Lunch was at this little village the restaurant being next to the local prison??? and on to the church of Peter & Paul,you have never seen so much gold and they love their manicins,quite scary(they have aroom with spare ones just piledon the floor)

Then onto cusco through Ginea pig alley (Cuy is guinea pig so its cuyterias...ha ha) Our hotel was supposed to be picking us up from the bus station but everyone else left and we were still waiting,so had the guide from the bus ring them. Ended up having to get a cab (who didnt know where the hotel was and had to ask another cab driver... great) and charging it to the hotel. My face was like thunder when i walked in, the guy apologised immendiatly.It didnt get any better,this was the most expensive hotel we had stayed in at 80 bucks a night and the most disappointing. It had a lovely courtyard in the middle and we had the room that looked out at a wall! I was not impressed i made Steve go down and ask them to move us, they wouldnt said they were full and would see what they could do the following day. They never did move us so they wont be getting a good review of trip advisor!