What day is it tomorrow?

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Puno - 15th to 17th of March.

We got a night cama bus (cama was used in the looses sense) to Puno and arrived about two hours before we were meant to. Typical - South American efficiency when you don't want it. Luckily, we were able to stay in a guesthouse type thing for 15 soles each a night and could check straight in, paying only for the next night, even though it was 5am.

After a nap we discovered there was no hot water but the man assured us there would be some in an hour so we ventured out and got some pizza. I dropped my bank card in the restaurant and there was a point in the day where I thought it was gone forever but luckily I was able to get it that evening.

We then decided to go on a day trip to Sillustani, funeral towers which predate the Inka empire but the Incas did make them even bigger. The tour started at 2pm so Fiona and I got ourselves showered and ready in record time. Our guide, a young guy called Justin, kept cracking jokes about impotence on the bus journey to the site. Strange but amusing! Although Fiona's guidebook, and mine too, raved about the site, we weren't that impressed. In fact, I think after Machu Picchu it'll be hard to be impressed by Inca ruins again! And the tour was pretty confusing. The guide said that when an important man died, all of his family, including the kids, had to die too and were all buried together in the tower. But if they kept killing the kids, how were there anymore important people left? The guide didn't know the answer.

The scenery was impressive though and I saw my first picunya, similar to a llama but much cuter, who was accompanied by her owner and both gladly posed for a picture for a small fee.

We also went to a traditional farm, where there were even more llamas, alpacas and guinea pigs that had their own house. One poor woman tried to pet a llama and it looked like it was going to let her, until it spat all over her hands! We couldn't stop laughing!

Once we got back to Puno, we wandered around the side market for a while. While Caroline and Fiona purchased matching cardigans in different colours, we met a Canadian man who quickly asked us where we were from. Once we said Ireland, his wife piped up and said she was half Irish because her great great grandfather was from Ireland. Obviously her maths wasn't excellent. Anyway, she was quick to explain that her ancestor had "wiped his feet of Irish dust". We were gobsmacked and didn't know what to say so we just smiled and walked away. Ireland isn't even dusty!

We had some alpaca steaks to get over our encounter with the Canadians, which were delicious and some beers. Good times.

On Monday, we went on our first trip to Lake Titicaca. We were picked up from the hotel at 6:30am and were driven to the port. And we quickly heard the sound of Canadian accents. Yes, our friends from the night before, and their two children, were on the same boat as us. Great.

The boat set off, navigating its way through massed of reeds to one of the Uros floating islands. Many of the islands are very touristy and the Uros people decide which boats go to each island. Luckily, we were sent to a very non-touristy island where the president gave us a really interesting talk in Spanish on the Uros people, their everyday life and a demonstration of how they built the island. He even told us that when there is a wedding, the join a couple of the islands together to have more room.

The islands and the Uros people are really interesting. The Uros people first made their islands to escape the two neighbouring tribes who kept picking fights with them. They were a peaceful race so they decided to construct islands out of the reeds that are bountiful in Lake Titicaca. Not only are the islands made of reeds but so are the houses, the furniture, the boats and maybe even the children! They have to rebuild the islands every few months and replace the reeds every two weeks.

Ten families lived on the island we visited and survived by fishing and trading. The only money they need is for educating their children and medicine. This is why about 40 Uros islands accept visits from tourists, while another group of Uros islanders, who also live in Lake Titicaca, refuse tourist visits and live a self sufficient life but that means their children don't go to school.

The president asked us not to tip the people but to buy their handicrafts if we wanted to help them so I got a couple of bracelets and also paid from a trip across on a reed boat to one of the more touristy islands.

After the Uros islands, we travelled for two and a half hours to Taquile island, a small island further out onto the lake with some Inca ruins. With our newfound lack of interest in Inca ruins, the three of us spent the couple of hours in the main square eating and soaking up the views and the sunshine and had a very pleasant time.

After lunch, we spent three more hours on the boat, getting back to Puno around 5pm. We got on a bus back to our guesthouse where the Canadian woman decided to put her Irish accent into practice. She kept saying "he's after my lucky charms" and asking what day tomorrow was. It was Paddy's day but I quickly responded that it was Tuesday.

Later than evening, we went for some beers and pizza again. We decided to get a later bus the next day to Bolivia, so were able to spend the next morning relaxing.

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