Munay Tambo Hostal Puno

... for several reasons: 1) we're done riding and so mother's will hopefully be able to laugh at these, along with the rest of us, knowing that WE'RE DONE RIDING, I REPEAT WE'RE DONE RIDING. and 2) because i'm the only idiot that holds any honors in this category. i shall address them in chronological and, in my opinion, ascendingly impressive order.

1) "the prime rib fall" - so a few weeks ago the three of us we're lying in our respective hostal beds after a long day of desert riding. I ...

... but hoppped on another bus straight to Copacobana, on the Bolivian side of the lake. Another border crossing successfully completed and we headed on a boat to Isla del Sol (sun island), with Justin 'the bear', an American guy we had met in Cusco and randomly bumped into, in tow. In the religion of the Incas, it is believed that the sun god was born on the island. Isla de la Luna (moon island) is to the east. The 2 hour ...

... proved a struggle for everyone - there were a lot of compalints that we should have been warned beforehand because it was pretty tough for some of the group. Our Mama, Blanca showed us our remarkably nice room in the house with three beds and a couple of tables and given some time to settle while our Mama cooked us our lunch. The kitchen and dining room combined were as basic as you get with an old wood stove area and dirt floor , Blanca ...

... the sites around Cusco.



3. Had dinner at Sicuani which was rather ruined by listening to the constant droning of local indigenous pipe music that was being played for our “benefit”.



4. Enjoyed the view at La Raya which on reflection was nothing like the sites at the Colca Canyon later in the week.



Puno, Peru stuinamericas09

... the shopkeepers had buckets of sweets ready and waiting. The Plaza’s and in particular the pedestrian Lima Street was heaving with children, and it was fun to see.

We returned to our hotel, once again tired. We packed our bags, we were going to stay on Lake Titicaka tomorrow for one night so we were going to leave most of our bags here and take a small overnight bag. It just dawned on us that we were at the highest lake in the world at 3850metres.

... dinner at La Casona - a little pricey but really excellent pizza. Peru in general has really wonderful woodstove pizzas- who´d a thunk it?? I tried to treat my migraine with fluids and mate de coca but ultimately I needed a bed. The room at Posada Don giorgio was cold, but clean and simple. We had plenty of warm blankets and I was happy to finally sleep away the soroche (aka altitude sickness).

... aboard at 6am, with little time to arrange our travel plans that were centered on seeing a few of Titi hha ha´s 60-some islands, then only to hop on another night bus to Cusco (7 hours), all in the idea that Puno was a tourist trap and had little to offer in the way of good food, nightlife, etc. We did find an amazing cafeteria called Cafeteria Sal y Azucar, after we got back from the islands, on a sidestreet off Puno´s main pedestrian avenue. I ...

... the sadness gave way to light hearted conversation and we were ushered to our room to don the local clothing for a night-time fiesta. Nicki was paraded in a beautifully coloured wide skirt and blouse with a black head-dress, and left looking like a tarted up version of Heidi. Hilarious! Hahaha, now it was my turn, I tilted my head to be adorned with a grey poncho featuring brightly coloured stripes, along with a local wooly hat bearing dearstalker flaps. Ace!

We wound ...

... video. She was sooo cute. Brian and I agree that Peruvian children have to be some of the cutest on earth. Also, since we've been here, we have seen nothing but happy kids playing. They just seem so laid back and peaceful. None of them cry - they are just all so happy.

Lake Titikaka was wonderful and something I'll never forget. Partly, because Brian and I burnt our hands to a crisp and our heads. We can hardly comb our hair. Ouch.