Lake Titicaca

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On Thursday we rose at 05:00 for a 06:00 departure to see the condors in Colca Canyon. Obviously something had been lost in the message because we travelled for about five minutes and were dumped in the middle of an Andean village where the only way to escape the full-volume recorded music, the children dancing in the square and the usual stalls selling local crafts was into the church which is under renovation.

With most of us in poor temper (Jen and David especially - we'd got the back seat of the 20-seater bus - very bumpy!) we then made the ascent to Condor Cross, 1,200m above the Colca River. Whilst we saw three or four condors only one was close enough to identify it as such. When we 've found somewhere to download our photos we 'll see what kind of fist we've made of snapping them. The scenery is spectacular and the clarity of the air has to be experineced to be believed. We saw the Hanging Tombs at Choquetico (the higher up the cliff-face you were buried the greater your status), and dropped through some attractive small towns (Maca, Acoma and Yanque) before lunching at Chivay. Jen and David had succumbed to the medical alcohol again in order to ward off the headache - not entirely successfully.

We then set off across the Colca Valley for our rendezvous with our bus, leaving our fellow-travellers to continue to Arequipa. The scenery on the high plains was spectacular and they were littered with grazing cattle, llamas and alpacas but with only us, our guide, a driver and a sleeping relief driver we were rattling around like pebbles in can for three and a half hours. By the time we arrived at Puno and the sumptuous Hotel Libertador at 18:45 both of us were feeling extremely jaded. Jen needed an oxygen mask in the bedroom for fifteen minutes and after a very light supper we were in bed by 21:00.

We woke this morning (Friday) and opened the curtains on Lake Titicaca - the world's highest navigable lake, covering an area of 8,000 square kilometres. Whilst Jen was feeling much better David was still a bit peaky and we decided against taking our organised boat trip to the floating reed islands. The incentive to hang around the hotel is compelling with its terrific views and first class facilities (including oxygen).

As the day progressed, David called in the doctor (a terrific service provided inclusively by the local agent in Peru) for a digestive tract infection (don't ask!) who arrived within thirty minutes, carried out his thorough diagnosis and arranged for drugs to be provided (apparently FOC*) fifteen minutes later. Three ten-minute sessions with oxygen and a very light supper of chicken and rice seemed to do the trick. Thank heavens that we were in a decent hotel with excellent attentive staff. What is ironic is that the hotel is a former hospital - although evidently a psychiatric one!

In the afternoon, having cancelled our morning boat trip on Lake Titicaca, we took a one-hour trip, organised especially for us by the agent, on the lake without disembarking - very interesting (we'll upload the photos shortly), if not a little tacky. We were able to get the boat to drop us at the dock in Puno in order that we could find a photoshop to dump our photo cards onto a CD. In the time it took, we wandered into the church in the main square, typically gilded and full of icons, bumped into our new Mexican friend Oscar (doing South America on the 'bus!), and witnessed a funeral procession. This was most unlike any we'd seen before with the cask (which looked like a mini-sub) being carried by bearers, supported by a band, and mourners, including many apparent dignitaries wearing medals on ribbons around their necks. Having done the circuit of the square the casket was placed in the hearse (1970's American Ford in black with wood-effect trim) witnessed by a multitude of video cameras craning over mourners' heads.

* free of charge

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