Bubble, Puke and Floating Houses

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Day 43-18th October

At 04:00 I was (without being too graphic) awoken by tummy trouble, it was most certainly the veggie food, either they had put peanuts in it or the food was unclean or off somehow, I couldn’t taste any nuts in it but either way I must urge anyone going to Puno NOT to go to the veggie restaurant no matter how good Alfredo says it is, the people were nice but the food wasn’t nice and it made me ill... very ill. We had to be ready for our tour at 06:00 and I was unsure if I should actually go, Liz said I could stay behind and she would go on her own but I really wanted to see Titicaca so took some Imodium and braved the terrible tummy cramps, in retrospect we probably should have just postponed it by a day or two.

We were the first to be picked up and went around the town for an hour or so in the bus picking up other tourists once all were accounted for we went to the port, after a short walk we had to climb over a couple of boats to get to ours and settled in, our tour guide was a very charismatic guy I can’t remember his name but he was a very funny chap who certainly knew his stuff and said everything in both Spanish and English.

After about 20mins chugging along the river through reeds we reached the floating islands and jumped off on one I believe it is called Uros, the residents were very pleased to see us and were happy to be photographed, the women wore bright colours and were dressed slightly differently to those on the mainland, we all sat on a large round reed couch and the tour guide (with the assistance of a couple of residents) explained to us how the islands are made and passed us all a reed to eat!... not the most yummy thing I’ve ever had but not terrible either, once the explanation was over we were invited to wander around the island and buy the things made by the residents (all handmade) and take as many photo’s as we wished, I got some snaps of the birds they use to fish such as herons and Ibis and a bloomin’ great spider that snuck in between the reeds on the floor, Liz took some pictures of the boats and houses, then we did a little shopping, I bought a stone arrowhead necklace thing and Liz got a circular hand painted one and together we bought a wall hanging that depicts pachamama and a number of other things important to the community its nice for me to buy these things from the person that actually made them. We then got on to a straw boat and were taken to another island, there was the sweetest little girl about 3 or 4 yrs old on the boat who was very pleased to be photographed (no soul stealing going on here!) we wandered around that island taking more photos and waited to be picked up by our proper boat to continue on our tour.

The next stop was about two hours away (my tummy cramps were getting worse the whole way) and it was an island with its own communality the island was called Taquile it used to be a prison island, we were not allowed to take pictures of the residents and for some reason it reminded me of how I imagine some of the small Greek islands to be, once we got there we had to climb... high... this is when it all started to go very wrong for my tummy, I hadn’t figured that a poorly tummy full of liquid and gas when taken to higher altitude quickly might expand dramatically... and that’s exactly what happened, once we got to the top I was in bad shape and in a lot of pain I put up with it for as long as I could but after about 20mins we got to a restaurant and I had to sit outside and be sick... bubbles mostly. I very rarely get sick (unless I’ve drunk too much or eaten nuts) and for me it’s a very private experience I don’t want anyone around unless they are going to nurse me back to health ;P so being on a tour with 30 odd people that I don’t know was not making me feel any better about it, three German people came outside and plonked themselves down next to me on either side and started talking away over me, it was the last straw so I decided to descend and go back to the boat at the pickup point the tour was well and truly over for me, I left the Camera and bag with Liz who was eating and said I’m going back to the boat and thus exited quickly... very quickly.

I had heard the guide say that we do not go the same way twice and that the pickup was on the other side of the island so I saw another tour walking that way who must have finished eating and followed them to the steps, about halfway down I stopped for 5 or 10mins and expressed some more bubbles then continued to the bottom, I couldn’t quite see which was our boat and by then it really didn’t matter I was in pretty bad shape and must have been an interesting shade of luminous green and found a quiet step on the river bank to sit on slightly off the path but in plain sight and proceeded to vomit for about 45mins until I saw some people from our tour come along, a really nice middle aged Spanish man who was with his young grandson found me and walked me to the boat, he insisted that I take a pill he gave me for the sickness but my Spanish was not good enough and he spoke no English but I was not going to take the pill in case it was more Imodium I really didn’t want to make things worse for myself by taking the wrong thing, a few minutes later a couple came down and told me that my wife was worried and was looking for me on the other side of the island! The boat filled up over the next half an hour or so during which time I was in absolute agony and the trolley dolly on the boat gave me some coca leaves to chew... yuck! Not sure they made me feel any less sick but it took my mind off it, then Liz showed up in tears with the tour guide who then told me off for telling them the wrong place... I certainly hadn’t told anyone the wrong place I may not have been very clear but I said “I’m going down to the boat” which in my mind meant see you down there not “please assume I’m lost” anyway although rather peeved at being in trouble for being ill because of a crap veggie restaurant Liz was clearly upset and pretty knackered after going up the island, down the island, up the island and all the way back down again and I was clearly in bad shape so we didn’t argue we had a hug and the boat started up... two hours all the way back it felt like forever and when we arrived I just wanted to disappear, I hate being the cause of drama unless its 100% deliberate so we got back on the bus and I skulked back into the hostel and into bed hoping I would never have to see anyone from that tour again I was mortified.

DO NOT GO TO THAT RESTAURANT... and if you’re not well, don’t go to high altitude it is very bad and can ruin what should be a great tour.

Ellz xx

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