The adventure after Machu Picchu...


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South America » Peru » Puno » Lake Titicaca » Uros Island
July 26th 2010
Published: July 26th 2010
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Let´s see...we were at Machu Picchu on a Tuesday and it is now a Monday. The days tend to blend together for us at this point. Where have we been, what have we done since...

We spent the next couple of days after visiting Machu Picchu in Cuzco. We relaxed most of the day Wednesday and walked around the city. We made it to the Catherdral--very ornate and beautiful. Steve has some strange fascination to always wanting to see the catacombs in these catherdrals...very dreary down there. The carvings in these catherdrals are mesmerizing. It really makes one think how much time, passion, and skill went into these buildings and its inside. We kept thinking what attending a mass would be like in these cathedrals...beautiful.

The city square in Cuzco during the day and night is always busy and fun to be in. It is warm during the days but once the sun disappears, be prepared to put on the hat, jacket, scarf, and mittens. The cold weather doesn´t stop us from exploring the city at night. The city is full of hills and where we have been staying in Sans Blas, we walk uphill. The narrow (very narrow) streets are cobble stone and brick with very small sidewalks. You have to be on guard as you walk because the taxis zip through these streets like they are on a straight away. Being in a taxi is an experience all in its own. We would venture a guess that our mothers would keep their eyes closed during these rides! One thing we have noticed in Peru is that the taxi drivers tend to make up their own lanes. They drive where they want and are not afraid to use their horns! Hold on when you get into a taxi!

We decided the next part of our trip would be to Puno, Peru which is on Lake Titicaca. Yes, most of you Sandstoners have heard about Lake Titicaca from the fine history teachers you had during high school. Well, here is our experience. We bought two bus tickets to Puno for Friday morning. The bus ride is about 6-8 hours. We have been using Cruz del Sur for our bus but were told by an agency that was helping us they used Tour Peru. We crossed our fingers and hoped for the best because it doesn´t get much better than Cruz del Sur. We had planned to have an early dinner on Thursday night and head back to our room to pack because we needed to leave for the bus station by 6:45 am. Unfortunately, we got back to the room and Patty was sick (once again) so our night consisted of trying to settle her stomach. We woke up early Friday morning, filled our packs and went up to the 3rd floor of our hostal for breakfast. The view is amazing from there. The staff was running late with breakfast (they bring back fresh bread and juice each morning). We should probably tell you that our breakfasts here in Peru have consisted of fresh bread/rolls with butter and jam, tea, and juice.

After our breakfast, we headed down the narrow cobble stone street (going down is always that much better) to find a taxi. We told him to take us to the bus station. Well, Steve misspoke and we were brought to some business in Cuzco that wans´t open. In typical Patty fashion, she began to panic a little and say we should have used Cruz del Sur, whereas Steve kept saying, "it will be fine babe." We found a big tour bus across the street and asked them where to go. It helps to show someone our ticket voucher with the address of the bus terminal on it! The nice man pointed us in the direction telling us it was a couple of blocks away. We walked in the direction the man pointed us with no bus terminal in sight. With Patty still in a bit of a panic Steve flagged a taxi. The driver told us the terminal was right in front of us. Nothing looked like a terminal. We walked a bit more and finally we found a fairly large bus terminal that had several different bus lines there. We walked in and found the Tour Peru desk. We checked in and were told we would board in 20-30 minutes. We met a couple from Utah that was traveling for a couple of weeks while their teenage kids were in summer camps. The mother told us she just didn´t know if her kids would appreciate a trip like this at their age because her son kept talking about the new Harry Potter attraction at Disney.

We boarded the bus...Tour Peru buses were double deckers like Cruz del Sur. So far so good we were thinking but then quickly realized there was a group of about 20 European teenagers on our bus. Definitely not the most polite group of kids. They were settled in the middle of the bus, yelling to each other, moving all about, and putting their seats back. On these buses, one of the great things is that there are foot rests and the seats fold down backwards very far. Well, two of these teenagers were in front of us. They were a couple as well. They kept their seats backwards the whole trip, weren´t even sleeping, and bouncing in the seats. So, we essentially had two teenagers laying in our laps the whole time. Not fun!

Half way through our trip we stopped on the side of the road where there were about 20 women selling their goods in the middle of no where. It was good to get out of the bus and take in the view! We arrived in Puno around 3:00. We checked into our hotel, the Colon Inn. This is a 18th century mansion converted into a hotel. So quaint and beautiful. The staff was also extremely nice and helpful. We left our bags and headed to find tickets for a Saturday tour and bus tickets back to Cuzco on Sunday. We accomplished this and went back to the hotel for some down time before dinner. The hotel had a restaurant attached to it, Le Bistro. We went for dinner. The waiters were very sweet to us. Puno is a bit colder than Cuzco at night so needless to say we were shivering somewhat when we went for dinner. They sat us next to a fireplace, started that up, and put a heater by our table. Le Bistro is a bit more fancy of restaurant than we have gone to but it was our 2 week anniversary! Steve ordered Alpaca again (no surprise there) and Patty had grilled fish. Our waiter greeted us at our table by introducing himself (Maximo) and asking us where we were from. We left briefly and came back with a single lit candle and a US flag. Dinner was very good! We decided to treat ourselves with dessert. We both had crepes--fabulous! Headed back to our room for some reading and to wake up early for our tour the next day.

We woke at 5:30 am to get ready for our day. We ate breakfast at the hotel (very yummy again) and waited for our ride to the tour. Once arriving at the docks of Lake Titicaca there were hundreds of people boarding boats for their tours. We were told to walk to the 2nd boat (climbing over boats). Well, Patty followed direction and Steve did not. He kept walking over boats. Patty realized this when the man asked her to sign some paperwork and Steve was not around. She quickly went to the outside of the boat and began yelling "Steve." The people around her on various boats helped out and yelled Steve as well. And then appeared the infamous Steve on the wrong boat! He smiled and walked back over boats to Patty. We were settled in when there were several more people coming into sit down on the boat and it was obvious there was not enough room. A man asked us to follow him. We think they were going to put us on a different boat because they wanted to keep a group of European teenagers together when the woman that sold us our tickets told us to stay. After some conversation we were left on our original boat with a very cool tour guide, Bruno. There were probably 30 people on our tour. We were called the "Happy Bruno Group."

Our first stop, about a 15 minute boat ride, was to the floating islands, Uros Islands. These are a collection of islands that are made up of floating reeds. We docked at one of the islands and were greeted by the people and then given a short lesson of how the islands are created. We also ate a reed (not much taste to it) and then given 15 minutes to explore the island. We were quickly approached by woman who brought us into her hut and showed us her textile work. All the woman then displayed their work for us to buy. Such amazing craftwork. We then boarded a reed boat and two natives paddled us to another floating island. We then got back on Happy Bruno´s boat and headed toward Taquille Island, a 2 1/2 hour boat ride. The boats don´t got very fast.

We we got closer Bruno gave us some information about the islands around us and the one that we were going to visit. He pointed out some mountains in the distance that were in Bolivia. He informed us that the people of Taquille island harvest 25 different kinds of potatoes. We docked on the East side of the island and began our trek up. This honeymoon has been turning into exercise! The island was beautiful. The stone stairs were steep and uneven which gave its charm to the hike. We trekked up to a family´s home who would serve us lunch. We had a typical meal of the island; bread with a salsa, soup, fish, french fries, vegetables, rice, and tea. It was very good. After lunch, two men and a lady played some traditional music and danced for us. One man was 81, another 65 and the woman was 25. They were playing the flute, drum, and guitar of sorts. Bruno gave us a brief decritption of the traditional hats that the people wore. He used Steve as a model for a married man. Although, Steve´s head was too big for the married man´s hat! Bruno explained that that leader of a community would also wear a weaved brace around his lower back that was connected to an additional piece that was the hair of the wife. Steve quickly turned to Patty and began to suggest that we do this...Patty was quick to say no.

After lunch we hiked up to top of the island and some time to browse their markets. Several hats, scarfs, belts, vests, bracelets, etc being sold. Now it was time to head down the island to find our boat. One would think going down hill would be better...not as much as we thought. The steps were huge stones and with several other people using them at the same time--be careful! The view was breathtaking. The water as so clear blue and the mountains in the distance-perfect picture!

We finally made it back to our boat and started our 2 hour 45 minute journey back. We began our ride back on top of the boat. Patty was a bit chilly so she headed back inside while Steve stayed on top. He ended up meeting a couple of Belgium people, a Columbian man, and an English teenager.

We arrived back in Puno and took a bus back to the hotel. We headed up to Lima street. This is a closed street from vehicles that has several restaurants and shops. We found a place for dinner. This was the night that Steve would try Guinea Pig. Yes, you read that correctly...Guinea Pig. He ordered a dish that served the guinea pig rolled up with bacon, ham, and cheese. His expression after his first bite was not the same as the Alpaca but swears he liked it. Patty is skeptical of this. After dinner we visited some shops and headed back to the hotel. We had yet another early morning ahead of us for a trip back to Cuzco.

The next morning was a quick breakfast and found a taxi to the bus terminal. This time we bought VIP seats on the Tour Peru bus. This is the lower level of the bus with seats similar to first class seats in a plane. As we waited for the bus we met a traveller, Marcus, from Germany. We talked with him. He is a Chemistry teacher in Germany and speaks English very well. We boarded the VIP section of the bus--superb!!!! The trip back to Cuzco was great. Paying an extra 10 soles (about $3) is worth it!!! We arrived in Cuzco and planned to meet up with Marcus for dinner later that evening. We found a new hostal for the night and settled in. We met Marcus in the square at 7pm and had an entertaining evening with him. We planned to meet him today for coffee at 10 am in the square.

We woke up this morning, got ready and headed to the square. As we walked down the small, cobble stone streets, we heard music coming from the square. There were thousands of people there. Hundreds of schools had their marching bands and students proceeding around the square. We found Marcus and obtained a prime spot on a small balcony of a restaurant opposite of the catherdral where there was a small stage set up with people sitting on it. This was where the students would march to and present to these people. We stayed a few hours chatting, watching, and taking in the event. A woman next to Patty told her this was practice for their Independence day, which is the 28th of July. All the students were in uniforms, playing their instruments and walking through the square.

We are currently figuring out our next set of plans. After that is done, some shopping around the city and then who knows?

Take care and we´ll write again soon.

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29th July 2010

Honeymoon Bliss
Thanks so much for the newsy updates on your trip! They are fun to read!! I do want you to know Steve that I probably won't be able to make you an Alpaca dinner when you get home - sorry....So, you better eat all you can get in Peru! Enjoy the rest of your trip. Our big adventure is tomorrow (Fri) to Craig and Amy's to celebrate Quinn's first birthday. We'll take pics to send you. Love to you both, Mom

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