Puno - Urotrash

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jueves, 3 de junio
Sad day. Time to leave Bolivia. Met some cool people, loved the locals, great scenery and the budget is well and truly back on track. Even with recent mishaps we'd definitely come back. Not this trip, time for Peru. Home of Machu Picchu. Home of a president re-elected despite destroying the economy so bad in the 80s the currency had to be changed to new soles. Home of bus robberies. Home of more winding roads overlooking cliffs. Home of drivers who don't sleep enough. Best of all, away from altitude.

The crossover to the Peruvian border was supremely uneventful, apart from the lady crying with outstretched hand. Not that we thought we would but we have evidently not escaped the poverty. It's a nice way to enter a country on the bus when Lake Titicaca surrounded by its hills is what you have to look at. Not even the Englishman on the bus polluting our ears with his yap about the annoyance of someone trying to sell him something and his judging when someone else buys it could bring it down. At least they're working you self-righteous t*t. Why don't you p*ss off home if you're so inconvenienced? So glad we asked for your opinion.

We didn't go far into Peru we probably could have spat further. Having seen what Bolivia offered on the lake it's only fair to let Peru have a go. Equality and all that. Thank the bra burners. We came to Puno. It's bigger than Copacabana which is strange since mostly people choose that side, now we have a range of places to eat the exact same meal we've had for two months.

Of all the nationalities we get mistaken for, German is perhaps the most frequent. Apparently the efficiency rubbed off on us since within 2 hours of arrival we were heading to the Floating Islands. We took a boat, obviously, across the reeded lake. It reminds of California, just the crocodiles have been replaced by, er, pigs. Can they swim? Is that why Tesco ham is 70% water?

The Floating Islands were created by indigenous tribe the Uros to escape the Incas. They are made using the roots of the reeds and then the reeds themselves layered on top. This is all anchored down with rope (so as not to be Floating Away Islands). Underfoot it's soft but not so much you have to tiptoe around like a cartoon burglar to avoid falling through. All around straw houses have been built to shelter the islands permanent inhabitants.

We were welcomed to the islands with a manly handshake from a few of its women. They were all built similarly (like their unique handicrafts); very short but with plenty of width. Hours looking through the dictionary for a good word to summarise them best I came up with; 'dumpy'. Even the super young. Since they are probably all related it's understandable they look alike but the shape is rare. A grapefruit on a pumpkin on two chair legs.

Being as their only presumable contact with the World are tourists the Uros had a remarkable humour, calling their nicer straw boats "Mercedes Benzies" and treating us to songs they had learnt. It's all in the name of a hard sell of rugs, mobiles and necklaces - capitalism knows no bounds.

Two more funny products we saw today (on the bus):
JUAN HUANCA - the 'h' is silent here
RIMULA - bit childish. It's Shell's petrol.

viernes, 4 de junio
Puno was merely fleeting, its islands are the main draw and time is ebbing away until we have to be in Cuzco. We took the bus to Arequipa, our first 'real' bus in Peru and were hugely overprecautious with our belongings. Even the police aren't trustworthy so we hear. Camera in pants, memory card in the sock, credit card likewise. Some of it might survive in the event of a robbery.

The long journey was fairly uneventful, acknowledging the Andes as a backdrop these days is about as worthwhile as commenting that the bus had wheels. The one bit of note was what appears to be a cola war in progress. Huge billboards, logos on shop walls and little kids in t-shirts just the tip of the iceberg. Coca-Cola with all its World domination for once are not the market leader - Inka Kola 'el sabor del Peru', as fluorescent yellow as Radioactive Man's p*ss, outsells it. Bringing up the rear like a Sierra Leone swimmer or British skier are Cola Real and Reyna Cola. Mark our words; there will be blood shed. At least as soon as Peru even registers on Coca-Cola's daily income.

You know you've had a good journey when fizzy drinks are your main topic of conversation.

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