¨I have a gun. Do you want to see my bullets?¨

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*Please Note: I backed up all my photos on a DVD, but now can't find any Internet cafe with computers that can read DVDs, so for this entry I won't have any pictures, sorry.*

So it's been awhile since I've let you all know what I've been up to, save for some adventures on Peruvian buses. At the end of the first week of February, I went to Canon del Colca (Colca Canyon) near Arequipa, Peru for a 2 day trip. There was 5 of us, Jed, Jake (from Bates), 2 Peruvians, Karina and Maribel (she acted as our guide), and myself. It's deeper than the Grand Canyon, and is the second deepest canyon in the world, behind Canon del Cotahuasi, also near Canon del Colca. Given that it's over 3000m deep, you would think that it was visually impressive, and while it is indeed, it can't beat the Grand Canyon for jaw-dropping views.

Hiking canyons is a funny thing. If you go down, you must go up. On the first day we hiked almost 11 hours in the blistering sun, first going down into the canyon, then up the other side, then down the otherside again, where we camped. We weren't exactly roughing it though, as there are small lodges to stay at. The sun was some of the most intense I had ever experienced, and it drained everyone. The second day was a short hike, only 3 hours, but it was all uphill, and equally brutal. We had some amazing views though which made it all worth it.

Last Sunday I took a bus to Puno, right on Lake Titicaca. I had totally forgotten that it was Super Bowl Sunday, and for that I am a bad American...err, I mean...sports fan. I managed to get to Puno by halftime of the game and watched the second half in my hotel room. But without a raucous group of fans in the room, and neither nursing a beer or eating endless bowls of chips, it just didn't feel the same. Sigh...

On Monday I visited the beautiful ruins at Sillustani, which contain many funerary towers where the ancient Sillustani people buried their dead. One of them was as high as 12m. On Tuesday and Wednesday I did a 2 day tour of Lake Titicaca, an incredible experience. We were a big group of almost 30 people and on the first day we visited the Floating Islands, where the islands themselves are made out of tortora reeds. No joke. First there is a base of dirt about 1 meter deep floating on the water, and on top of that there are reeds, which grow on the islands, piled on top of each other 1 meter deep as well. Every so often the locals living there throw more reeds on the ground, and the floor stays ¨fresh¨ and springy. As you can see from the pictures, they even make boats out of the reeds, and those made well enough can last several months before they rot.

Lake Titicaca (which in Quechua means Grey Puma, nothing else, I swear) itself is amazingly picturesque. The water is very clear and the islands that dot the large lake give never-ending views. After a few hours on the boat we reached Island Amantani, where each member of the tour group stayed with a local family. It was both fascinating and humbling to see how these locals lived on this remote island, fours hours by boat from the city of Puno. Their huts were made out of clay, it seemed, and they cook their meals, which consist of almost only soup, potatoes and rice, in big iron pots. You could tell though that they were happy, even though they had very little. It's only been a few months since they've had electricity, but few have it or even use it because it's so expensive (about $3 for 2 hours, which for most is far too much). That night all the tourists and their host families gathered at the local hall for traditional folk dancing. The females were all dressed in the traditional clothes of embroidered shirts and skirts, while the males all wore cloaks. Needless to say, us gringos looked absolutely ridiculous as we danced the night away, and I'm sure the locals got a good laugh out of it. So it goes.

The next day we visited Island Taquile, where we walked around and saw a slice of daily life. The most interesting part was the clothing. Single men wear knitted white and red hats, while married men wear red hats. A few tourists in the group wanted to buy these hats, but the locals on the island consider this custom sacred and therefore charged exorbitant prices for one, which no one wanted to pay.

Everyone in the group got along really well, and we joked all the time on the long boat rides. There were 2 guys, one German and one Chilean living in Germany, who were by far the most outrageous. The German guy must have been over 50, and he is by far the dirtiest man over 50 I have ever met. I, along with Chilean, were the only ones who could understand him, which was probably for the better. He made lewd comments about other women, longed for passionate sex, and was just plain filthy, among other things. The Chilean wasn't much better, who uttered zingers like: ¨I have a gun. Do you want to see my bullets?¨ in English, so that everyone could understand him. While they were good for a cheap laugh, everyone got tired of them pretty quickly.

By Thursday I had crossed the border into Bolivia to the town of Copacabanca, a beautiful town also right on Lake Titicaca. The whole lake area is at 3,800m (12, 467ft) although by now I was fairly acclimated. I did a short trip to Isla del Sol, which was even more picturesque than islands on the Peruvian side, and then headed to La Paz on Friday to get my tour of Bolivia going. I have only been in La Paz for a day but I like it already. It's a bustling city, but it has a unique charm to it. Last night in a bar I met all kinds of colorful people, from locals to Canadians to Italians, and today I explored much of the city, including the Witches Market, which sells all kinds of weird stuff that is supposed to either give you good luck, make your sex life better, or improve your health. You could even buy animal carcasses, which are often used as sacrifices to bring good health and good luck. Odd indeed. I also explored the Mercardo Negro (literally, Black Market) which sells all kinds of things, from yarn to wool to clothes to electronics to CDs. It's chaotic, and I loved it.

From here I'll stay in La Paz for a few more days, visiting ancient ruins outside the city and doing a trek in the region as well. I can already tell that Bolivia is going to be a magical place.

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