Totorani Inn Puno

... 50...not because they have made more, because families have fought and decided that they couldn't live together anymore. So they simply take a saw and cut themselves free to create another island! What a funny concept.

The people that live on these Islands are now there because of tourism, however they were once inhabited by Incas thousands of years ago.

Next stop Amantani Island. This island has roughly 3000 people living permanently. There is no power, just gas ...

... sudden one of those gas guzzling, pigheaded motorbike bullies whose parked alongside the street, loitering and rabble-rousing with the other 220 cc meatheads, gets a look at my sleek and athletic surly long haul trucker, powered all-natural, and he gets jealous, of course, cuz he's out of shape, hasn't had a day of cardio in his whole life, and he reaches out his rusty old muffler, grabs my pannier (bike bag), and sends me and my surly tumbling into the parked motorbike next to him. i tried ...

... weiter. Neben den Motorschäden kam noch dazu , dass aus unserem eigentlichen Intercity Cusco - Puno plötzlich ein Bummler wurden, der in jedem Kaff halt machte.

Als wir dann endlich in Puno ankamen war es bereits dunkel, so dass wir leider nichts von der schönenen Aussicht über den Titicacasee mitbekamen.

Puno selber gibt nicht viel her und ist extrem touristisch, deshalb buchten wir auch gleich eine Tour zu den Insel für den nächsten Tag.

... photos.

The next day was a tour of Taquile Island, some of the group returned to Puno with Dawn who was in need of bed and recovery time and the rest left for a half day hike by this time we were all considering this practice for the Inca Trail, the altitude still gets you breathless really quickly but we all thought it was getting easier, at that point we didn't know how hard day 2 of the Trail was going to be.....

... are married, if it is a half white/half red patterned hat it means they are not married and how they wear the pom-pom on the hat means they are available and looking, or they are still very young, or if they wear the pom-pom at the back it means "I'm busy and not looking". Very funny! And the women pick the men for marriage. The whole island is very traditional, they don’t believe in land ownership so they all own the land and take turns doing different jobs on ...

... unique. We calculated that $220USD was about 700soles, and since we recently had a three course meal for 10 soles, that would mean you could feed 70 people for one ticket. A whole trainload of tourists could probably feed a whole town. It’s an extravagance I am sure that is not lost on the Peruvian people who would struggle to earn that amount in a month, and I would bet that the profit from these three times a week journeys doesn’t benefit the locals. To all tourists ...

... eventually comes together in this fantastic country. I mentioned the name Senora Tereza, to the receptionist and everything was fine. Even though I wasnt supposed to be booked in until the following evening, I was given a hearty breakfast and free use of the internet, they even let me leave my bag there until my return.... These Peruvians are so friendly and helpful.
Anyways, the bus picked me up about 8 and took me to the dockside - I know its a lake, but it's a ...

... of Bolivia and Peru, and sits at a lofty 12,000+ feet, making it the world's highest navigable body of water. Peruvians joke that the 'Titi' half belongs to Peru, whereas Bolivia owns the 'caca' side - funny if you speak spanish...
Anyhow, students settled into their third and final homestay with local families, and Jess and I seized the opportunity to relax in a hostel of our own, temporarily relieved from the stresses of the job. This proved ...

... we were just shuttling to another one for the 2-day trip to be led by the infamous Bruno. So, we again hoisted on our packs and ran across the squishy reed islands to hop on another boat that was just leaving for Isla Amantani, a 3 hour tour.

Mollies notes: I lost my cool new black hat on the boat.

The boat was packed, so Mollie and I spent a lot of time shivering in the open-air aft or on the upper deck, simultaneously being fried by ...

... from one country to the other as Bolivia forgot to change their date stamp (ha ha! - typical!)

Arrived in Puno about 10 and changed our clocks back one hour -we stupidly let a hawker take us to a hostal, but it looked fine, and it was cheap and near the plaza... so we checked in. The hawker then tried to sell us a tour to the islands, but we declined as I wanted to check around town... he persisted and told us all the agencies were closed as it was a national holiday ...