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Published: October 21st 2010
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On the Road Again
We were up and out of the hostel by midday the next day (love these check out times) and went a couple of blocks down the road to a nearby travel agency that was run by people who were friends with the owners of Pachamama hostel. We repaid our debt there and left a note saying thank you and promising to recommend them to anyone and everyone. So if you’re going to Cabanaconde, make sure you stay at Pachamama hostel. It’s warm, has good food and the friendliest staff in the world. Ever.
We ate a lunch of rolls in the Plaza de Armas and were surprised to see a couple of condors flying overhead. We then headed north to a nearby park where we sat in the shade and felt a little sorry for ourselves. There was an even better park next door with a small lake and a tree-top bird viewing platform but the sign on the gates said it was only open on Saturdays and Sundays.
At 3PM we boarded a bus and by 9ish that night we had arrived in Puno, on the shores of Lake Titicaca.
Lake Titicaca is famous for being
The Slide
Killer huh? the largest high altitude lake in the world and has a number of tourist attractions on and around it. We had every intention of visiting these attractions, particularly Uros, the floating islands made out of reeds by the native people hundreds of years ago. However our good intentions never really eventuated.
Our time in Puno was pretty lazy and uneventful. The Boss knocked over her book (“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” - it took her four weeks to get through the first 50 pages and four days to read the next 500) and I read my own - “Night Song” by John A Williams. Set in New York in the 1950’s, it’s the story of an alcoholic former college professor who gets taken in by an African American cafe owner and forms a friendship with both the cafe owner and a brilliant, heroin-addicted jazz sax player. Williams being a black man himself and the novel being first published in 1962, it dealt very honestly and at times angrily with the racism of the times.
The two stand-out stories from our time in Puno both happened on our first afternoon there. Firstly was lunch at a cafe, the name of
The skate park
from the tower which escapes me. Sul and Tahlei had been to Puno twice and Sul raved about the good, cheap food. So we went out looking for a cheap lunch but found it difficult to come across. Eventually we came to this cafe where the menu was s/5 a meal - not the s/3 Sul had talked about but by that stage we were too hungry to care. We took our seats and were promptly brought a bowl of soup each. We tried to explain to the waiter that we hadn’t ordered it when the guy sitting next to us told us that everyone got a bowl of the soup. I enjoyed it, the Boss did not. About ten minutes later, the waiter arrived again with a plate of rice, meat, salad and a fried egg. The Boss started to explain that we hadn’t ordered it but I just took the plate and started eating, so The Boss took the opportunity to order her own meal. Five minutes later the waiter arrived with two cups of orange cordial and then two minutes later with the bill. Apart from the Boss ordering her lomo saltado, we hadn’t said a word to the waiter
The Slide
From the Top and yet had received two bowls of soup, two main courses, two drinks and the bill. I thought it was pretty funny. The Boss was not so impressed.
After lunch, we went our separate ways for an hour (tempers had been running hot) and I walked through the city’s markets towards the water front. About two streets back from the lake, I came to a skate park that ran for a good two city blocks with a large tower at the end of it. I headed towards the tower and saw that it had two slides coming off the middle section of it. Then I reached the tower and discovered that on the other side of it was a huge slide off the top. Despite being the oldest person by a good 20 years, I went to the top of the tower, got some shots of the town and lake and then slid back down. It was awesome. It would have been even more awesome if there weren’t so many damn kids in my way.
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