Puno, Peru: A One Horse Town

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We woke up early today, no doubt because of the altitude as well because we slept like ten hours last night. We needed the sleep. There is a Frenchman in our room named Pascal and he is probably near fifty and has been travelling in South America for six months, he was up super early and I was like no way am I getting up at that time haha. I got up and took a shower, Brett had already showered and was eating breakfast downstairs updating some photos. I was a little perturbed still about this damn girl and kept telling myself to let it go! After breakfast we went to the bus station and purchased our tickets from Puno to Arequipa, Peru which is a large city in the southern part of Peru, our last stop in Peru before we hit up Chile. We shopped the train station for the best deal and then booked a hostel in Arequipa that we were sure would let us arrive at 330a since that is when our bus arrives on Monday morning. The hostel looks pretty sweet and if it’s what it says it should be great. After that we went to the port of Lake Titicaca to book ourselves a boat tour of the lake and the floating islands. We found a nice man named Juan, Juan Del Puerto is what they call him around here he told us. He shot us straight and was really cool and we booked our trip with him for tomorrow morning. He is picking us up at our hostel at 640a to leave for the boat trip. We’ll visit the floating islands and some other sights and then we return around 5p to gather our backpacks and then hopefully have some dinner and head to the bus station for our 9pm train to Arequipa. After booking the trip on the lake we walked up to the Placa de Armas to check it out and see what this one horse town was all about. We stopped in a restaurant called Las Vegas and had some lunch, steak with beans and rice and a coca cola. The people there tried to tell us we didn’t pay when we clearly had paid so I gave the guy my two cents and we walked out. The food was good but this is one gringo they are not ripping off! We made it to the Placa and it was nothing special. We visited the Coca museum here in Puno and learned about the significance it has in the history and culture of Peru. It was traditionally used as medicine and still has a very important place in the lives of the people who live here. To them it’s not about the drug cocaine at all, it’s about what this magical leaf can do for your body and soul. Did you know that the coca leaf has more vitamins than most of the things we eat on a daily basis like wheat, fruits, and lots of vegetables? I didn’t but I learned about it. We also saw how the leaf has inspired many dances in Peru and also got to see the costumes that are worn during these dances. Brett got the chance to try one of them on! How hilarious does he look in that picture!? The museum was a very pleasant experience because the young lady working there was very knowledgeable and kind. She left us with this small mantra about the coca leaf: Guard with love your leaves and when you feel pain in your heart, hunger in your flesh, and darkness in your mind…Bring to your mouth the sacred leaves and you will find…Peace. Other than that, this place is really nothing to write home about and I am very pleased to be leaving tomorrow night after checking out the lake. I think that Lake Titicaca should be sweet and this is definitely another notch on the old travel belt and another bracelet on my wrist but I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone for more than 1-2 days. As I write this Brett is napping and I am going to try and do the same shortly. I’ll update everyone later about tonight’s events which will be pretty low key I think. OH! I almost forgot. I got a message from Mayra apologizing for everything she said to me and how mean and crazy she was to me. Who knows with this girl! I wrote her back and told her that I appreciated the apology but it would take a bit more for me to completely forgive her. We’ll see what’s next in this little soap opera that is my life! Hahahah. Take care all. Talk soon.

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