23rd December, Cusco y Puno

23rd December, Cusco y Puno

That morning we got a taxi to the bus company, however, upon arrival we were told we were told that we would be travelling with another company - ´first class´travel as there was not enough people to fill our bus.

We were impressed when we turned up as it was a tourist coach and jake actually had some leg room. there were 5 stops along the way, first of which was an old church. It looked odd due to a recent earthquake which had shaken the foundations making it look lòp-sided. i was soon bored!

the second stop was some inca ruins. unfortunatley, my ankle had got worse and i was truglling to walk. i had to skip some of the other stops (thank god as they were also boring!!) due to the pain. for lunch we stopped for an amazing buffet lunch, where jake didnt hold back and scoffed 3 full plates of food, 2 bowls of desert and most of the biscuits that were out (though i contributed there too!!)

at the table we got chatting to some irish people who were travelling around Peru. They reminded me of my brother - loud and full of rude jokes. haha. one lad made me laugh, he was sweaty, over weight and very hung over, and told us how he had lost his bank cards the night before. he was really funny though and scared the poor waiters by pouring them cervezas when they didnt want it and screaming ´have it´!! he reminded us of father jack from father ted.

Back on the bus the next stop was a market with alpacas, guinea pigs and cheap jewellerey. jake wandered off to take some pictures whilst i sat injured on the bus. After that, there was a museum, which was more like a shed with a few ornemants. we had paid to go in earlier in the day but by the afternoon i couldnt even walk, so we sat outside the museum. i felt so awful for a young boy we saw. he had extremely bad lepracy and was missing most of his fingers. he was begging for money but most of the group, including myslef, were terrified, so we had to sneak on the bus. i was afraid he might lash out and touch me! we managed to get our money back for the museum, then had a while to go until the highest stop we would stop at - 4200m - where jake and me didnt even bother to get off the bus and take pictuires as it was raining!

Eventually at 5.30pm we arrived at Puno. What a DUMP!! We were glad we were only using it as a stop off before our next destination. But some people were going to be spending Christmas there.. A taxi driver who seemed way too friendly dropped us off at our hostel, then came the hardsell!! Cheeky git! He was trying to sell us trips to the lake.

Our room stunk of fags and had curtains you´d only find hanging in your grandmas house! I still couldnt walk so only made it next door for dinner where we were ripped off again for being white....

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