Puno and Lake Titicaca

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So after we recovered from the Inca trail (and discovered that the hostel had given away the kittens) we headed off to Arequipa with the best of intentions of Climbing the Colca canyon. However on arrival there we decided that the rain, no condors, and interesting ´stomach feelings´ meant that we might just skip it. By some sheer miracle we booked a room in a hostel and it had 100 channels and a flat screen and thankfully a private bathroom.

We spent a couple of days chilling out with the odd trip to the supermarket for supplies. Arequipa cracked me up. The rubbish trucks play Barbie girl and everyone comes out with their trash. Its definitely a way to get people moving. Also managed to get me shaking my thang while heading out and about (much to Mahara´s disgust).

After that we jumped a bus to Puno. We heard that the busses in Peru were cramp, but I have to contradict that. They recline right back and you get a little hostess, plus english speaking movies, dubbed over in Spanish with English subtitles. If these are bad, then i am expecting 40 stars in Argentina.

Puno was a cool little city, but the drive in gave me a bit of a fright. I was taken back by the rubbish everywhere, even in the farmers fields. Its wierd to see sheep snuffling through rocks and plastic to find something to eat. Farming is very different here.

We booked a trip out to the Islands of lake Titicaca. So a very early start again the next day and a very rushed boiled egg for breakfast and we were on a motor boat on lake Titicaca.

The first leg to Uros island was nice and gentle and we got a breif history on the lake before turning up at Uros. Uros is very cool. Its floating islands made from reeds from the lake, and so are the houses, and the boats, and the snacks, and the watch towers. Its quite spectacular. There is even a floating hospital and school and soccur pitch. About 5000 people live out there in little villages on each island (about 5 families on each). We got onto one of the islands and got a little tour and a demonstration of how they keep the islands from rotting into the lake. Layer upon layer....

Although the islands were cool, they rely heavily on tourism and it all feels a little bit commercial. Some interesting stuff happened with kids pulling jewellery off some of the girls for an extra ¨tip¨.

So onwards, we went to Amanthi island where we were to stay for the night. Three hours on the little motor boat to get there, and some high winds, equals some green Australian girls.

We arrived and were assigned to our home stay mums, a surreal concept for me to be on the other side of the coin. We wandered to the houses and met the famillies and enjoyed a delicious lunch. I must say that Peru has the best soups ever. And our meals were being cooked on an open fire. The house was cute and more developed than we were expecting, but it didn´t have running water and there was a solar pannel for a light in key rooms. We had our own room which was cute, and little bowls for night time relief, not so cute.

Mahara made friends with the cow, we called him Cowie. And we could hear the Guenia pigs, but I didn´t want to meet any in case I had to eat them later.

Our host mum, Annalita, is a ledge in the kitchen and took brilliant care of us. Her husband was really friendly and with his few words of English and our few words of Spanish, we managed to have some conversations. The kid only spoke Quechuan, so we didn´t get far with him. Kids dont learn spanish till about 6.

While on the island we walked to the top (as high as dead womans pass on the inca trail), and had the best donoughts and coffee while we waited for the sun to set. It was quite an amazing evening. But it didn´t stop there.

We headed back for more to eat with our home stay family, then dress up time. We got into our traditional gears and then had a little disco with a bunch of other people. It was incredibly cheesy but a heck of a laugh.

the next day we headed to Tanquile Island but the weather packed in, so we headed back to Puno. All in all a really different experience. And very glad to get to go.

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