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So we´ve spent all yesterday (8th) in Puno city. Now we´re on a boat on our way to Isla Amantani. But i´ll start with may 8th...
We took a little taxi to Los Pinos hostel for 4 soles but they were full. Sooo, we headed to the second place i had written down: HI hostel Don Julio. We get there and go inside and our mouths drop--this is one fancy hostel!?¿ The front desk people were so nice, said we could pay later, gave us a triple room and invited us to breakfast..it was 6 am. We go check out our room and wow, three giant beds, a bathroom with a huge shower, tv, and even an armoir, all over-looking the city and chapel down to the water (Lake Titicaca). So we drop our bags and go get breakfast. And well breakfast is surprising too! we get fresh bread with jam and home-made butter balls, scrambled eggs (about 3 each), tea and coffee, and mango-banana smoothies!! So good. Things are looking up for us now after that horrible bus ride. After this we head out to the town to explore.
WE walked everywhere and it was actually really easy
to orient ourselves. For instance there was the church to show us back home, the scotia bank marking the beginning of Lima st, and Los Beatles restaurant and the white wall marking where the street market began. The port was quite interesting. A whole section is boredered by dense reeds creating more of a bog with intense algae production. People boat tourists and lovers (there is so much PDA in south america) around in mini swan/ dragon boats. Along the road there are sheltered markets with locals selling hand woven alpaca products. I buy a typical alpaca hat for 5 soles and we get some gifts for people. There is also a peculiar green bus advertising 42 indigenous species to the area, all kept inside the bus like a museum on wheels.
Well we keep walking and get to a little white and red lighthouse, and then to the pier where the little taxi carts are dropping off tourists and boat agencies reps are trying to sell their island tours. There are soo many boats in a swamp of green foam.
After this we head back to the main streets to exchange some money. I still had some
chilean pesos so we search for a place that will change them- very hard. But then we met the nicest man from Puno, didn´t care that his breathe reeked of vodka because he tried to speak french and english to us. He guided us to a small door in a metal wall and ushered us inside. It was another exchange place, friends of his, and they helped me change my pesos to soles. While he was walking with us he patted down this yelloe flowered plant then rubbed the smell on his face and neck--this was the same smell of the man on the San Martin bus- aha! funny thing to do to smell good around here.
Soon we were hungry so we went to Lima st. and chose a cute little restaurant with a 3-course tourist menu for 18 soles (vegetable soup, half a pizza/ an order of spaghetti, chocolate cake). The food was good but i was still hungry after cuz the pizza was a fancy thin crust one.. teenie. So i bought a beautiful croissant from a peruvian bakery and we sat at the downtown square.
Everyone there eats a lot of icecream..any time of
the day.. and at that time lots were, everywhere. But anyways we really wanted some icecream all of a sudden because it was getting deadly hot outside, so we found this ¨Chepy´s¨place and each ordered a ¨cono chepy¨for one sole--included two scoops of icecream. I got cherry and chocolate, Cat got chocolate and coconut, and Kim got mango and strawberry. So yummy. We ate them while we walked back to the church by our hostel. Cat dropped her camera, but it worked again after..close call. We checked out the church then sat on the steps and watched the world go by.
It is wonderful here. Very different from Santiago/ Valparaiso chile- there are lots more happy smiling people, a lot of street cleaners keeping the main squares beautiful, and the streets are less congested by automobiles. Anyways, after watching a group of older european tourists get swarmed on the steps by peruvian women selling alpaca goods and boys trying to shine their shoes, we went back to the hostel.
We went to the front desk to find out that the HI online website was not up to date--that this Don Julio hostel was now a hotel, and the
bill would be 90$ USD!! So we were so shocked and told them the website guided us here and now we have to leave. They felt so bad so they ended up giving us the night for 14$US each! ..and said the next night we stay would be 10$US, wow. Such nice staff! So with that worry gone we went up to our room torest a bit cuz we were utterly exhausted. The high altitude really gets to you--this thin air. You really do lose your breathe. Walking around we would be like ´Are you out of breathe?´ Ýa, are you?´ Ýeah´ ´Ok fiew, cuz i was beginning to think i was a fat person and really out of shape!´ (So from them on we made real sure to take our high-altitude pills and i drank coca tea everytime it was offered.
Kim stayed back and showered while Cat and I went out again to go find a boat company the next day so we could stay with an island family one night. You have to be careful here because some places market themselves as éco´tourism´ but they are not! this one company wanted 70 soles for transport to
only 2 islands and then they said they would give the family some money, or we pay them 60 soles and give the money ourselves..what a load of ballarkey, they were gonna keep most the money for themselves most likely. So we went all the way to the pier and found a company and i told them we want to give the money ourselves and that the boat should be cheaper. So we got a boat ride arranged the next morning for 30 soles each (around 10$USD) and they would bring us to 4 different islands. great! So we would have more money to give to the familes themselves. ..
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