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Published: April 6th 2007
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we arrived in Puno expecting something a little smaller but it was more like a mini shanghai....crazy busy, bustling streets and rickshaws everywhere!! Cool place though but not a lot to do apart from eat, drink and go on island tours....so that is what we did!!
We stayed in a hotel...nice...own room, tv and shower....codl water that is...not so luxury after all!!
We went on the island tour, setting off through the green algae surrounding th eport in puno...nice!! First stop was Isla Uros (Floating Island) - pretty amazing stuff where they keep adding reeds on the island to keep it 2m thick and floating on 12 m of water...pretty amazing stuff!! What was also amazing was the size of the women on the island....big would be an understatement...maybe chewing on the reeds is quite fattening, we tried it...not so nice...We took a little trip on a reed/straw boat to another floating island where a couple stayed the night in a straw hut - looked quite cool but not a lot to do.
We took the boat to Amanatani Island, three hours into Lake Titicaca, three house and we were only just in to the main opening
of the lake!! I couldnt believe the size of teh lake, I knew it was the highest navigatable lake in the world but didnt expect it to be 8560km2!! I would also recommend to anyone to come in low season when there is hardly any tourists, its brilliant!!
AMANTANI ISLAND - Land of Love - ha ha good name but sure its not!!
A great little island where we stayed with Francisco family in the cutest little house, with 5ft door frames!! All the families on the island are self sufficient, its pretty amazing, they ll have little plots of land and little herds of sheep. Would love to stay for a few days and have a go and go fishing too, would be good fun...but might suffer on the lack of hot water!!! We had the funniest lunch - fried egg, squeaky cheese and salad!!
We hikedup to the highest point on the island (4150m) with some pretty awesome views and wateched the sun set, whilst trying not to be haggled by the locals selling finger puppets or the boys playing wind pipes all the way up the hill, we were gasping for air an dthey
were busy blowing away!! people come here to worship and give coca leaves...some strange sacrifice...beats sacrificing llamas and virgins though!!
We then proceeded to get ready for the big island night out...after more eggy food - must be the main ingredient in the local diet!! we dressed up in local attire and went dancing in the local hall with the lacal people and the local wind pipe band!! Was sooo funny, I could hardly breathe after being poured in to a high waisted skirt and sexy top with even sexier head scarf.... Grant and Matt couldnt stop laughing when me n sal turned up!! The boys only get given a blanket type thing and woolly hat so they save face compared to us. then the locals give you beers and whiskey and then take you dancing in weird circle formations around the dance floor...funny but hard work!! the highlight was me n sal going to look for the toilet and finding it through a cornfield about 100m away!!!
Eggs again for brekky...in the form of pancakes this time and then time to leave our little family!! We jumped on the boat for another hour to Tequile Island..again the
lake amazed me - so big and so beautiful...was amazing!!
TEQUILE ISLAND
More advanced than Amantani but smaller, both islands talk Czechuan and some spanish...quite amazing and also the fact that the lake is split between two countries..imagine fighting for a lake??!60% Peru, 40% Bolivia!
A sweet and traditional island where everything is about getting married - crazy!! the guys have hats to indicate their marital status, when they are single and looking they wear the pom pom at the side, when in love at the back and when married they get a special hat!!! ha ha!! the girls have bright skirts if single and black/grey skirts if single...syas it all hey??? They dont believe in divorce unless you skip the island...but you do get a three year trial with a guy before marrying!?!?
We got back to Puno after a cool boat ride and wnet for last supper with th guys and had yet again more eggs...chocolate pancakes...think i over egged myself!!! The food took so long that Grant had to run to catch his bus....discovered a new time...Puno time is even slower than Peruvian time!!!
Was sick on our journey from Peru to Bolivia, think
it was too many eggs hee!! The bus journey wasnt the best but me n Sal had to do one more dizzy thng before leaving Peru..... we voluntarily handed ourselves into the Peruvian authoritie sto be searched at the border where they searched our bags and all pockets...and wouldnt stop asking if I had marujuana!!! Everyone else just toddled past and went the normal way...the moral of the story..learn more spanish or dont be sooo eager to get off teh bus before all the other tourists!!! hee
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