Puno Plaza Hotel

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now, i could tell you about our 6 hour bus ride today that honestly seemed longer than our 18 hour bus ride from lima to arequipa, becuase it was basically like a big taxi that picked up short distance travelers, food vendors and bizarre street performers and preachers alike. I could tell you how people just chilled on the steps of the bus and on the floor for hours at a time because they hadn't actually purchased a seat, or about the lack of airflow for front row sitters, despite ...

... joke from the previous meeting, where I had requested us to meet at the fountain, fully convinced that there would be one as there had been on all the other “Plaza de Armas” I had come across. However, in Puno there was no fountain, just a sculpture. As opposed to the previous night, there was no freezing wind, and I enjoyed the calm atmosphere on the square while waiting for the guys. When they turned up it was apparent that they were extremely tired, so we ...

... had grown 750 different varieties of potato and warned us that the Peruvians would claim the Incas had grown more than a 1000 but this wasn’t true and we shouldn’t be fooled into thinking the Incas were the more sophisticated civilization. In fact the Peruvians were very open about the fact that this earlier Bolivian based civilization had been the source of much of the Inca’s knowledge (but they did claim they had over ...

... a bottle of coke failed to appease her, she just wrapped it up in her shoal for another time. Finally at the end of the night when there was no one else on the dance floor she got her revenge by asking me again. Anyone who has seen me dance will know this is not a pretty sight. For five minutes I lumbered around like a repressed Englishman trying not to land on her feet, much to the amusement of the locals and the rest of my group…

... though, it's also made our of reeds. However, then a small child also boards the boat and begins singing nursery rhymes in 3 different languages before walking down the boat with hand out. Can I have some more cheese please? But this is the only way to see the floating reed islands, so you don't really have a choice. Overall a good day.

So that was Puno, and our last stop in Peru. The next day we left for Copacabana, a town on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca.

... the bands would disperse and find their way back to the beginning to march again. There were numerous bands depicting either schools, churches or some other community. Around the periphery of the marching were stands where they were selling hot food, such as hamburgers or carcasses of cooked pig. We bought a couple of rolls filled with pork and salad, and tasty they were too. We pushed our way through the throng to the port. Near the port was a small ...

... bag and the heavy wool blankets provided. Matjea dressed in local embroided dress, headed to the local pena for music and dance. Clearly targeted to tourists, they returned after about an hour. The celebrations on the island will pick up this next week with Dia de los todos santos and this will clearlñy be the best time to visit.

The next morning, I headed to the outhouse (really just a hole in the ground made of concrete ...

We left Machu Picchu and headed back to Cusco. We had been given separate seats on the train again and Dan had to sit with an american family who didnt speak to each other. I got to sit with a family from Malaysia (mum, dad and son). They spoke english and were a lot of fun. I had my first traditionally-made pisco sour and it was really good!

We get back to Cusco and decide we may as well continue so we get an overnight bus through to Puno. From there we head out to ...

... in the fields since 5am and promptly took off his Panama styled hat to revealed his stash of Coca leaves that he began to gnaw on. It´s what gets him through the day. We sat and talked a while about the harsh realities of it all. The island is pretty well self sufficient, they grow their vegetables and staples like Quinoa, but have no fruit as it cannot be grown there. The only money they make is from the hats , bags and other pieces of clothing that they weave, that is sold ...

... told us about their lifestyle. Basically, they use these reeds for everything - to make the islands, their homes, their dinners and their crafts. They also eat some birds and eggs along with frogs (booo).

The islands themselves were so neat. It felt like we were walking on a field of thick foam . They gave us some reeds to eat, however, I read that a lot of tourists get sick from them, so we just pretended to eat them. I ...