Puno

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hey all,
we are now in peru. we suspected we were leaving the best to last and so far we are totally blown away! (apologies again for the lack of photos, no places sell digital cameras here, not even duty free in the airport. if you are in need of new photos, you can go back to the Lisbon entry, i only just updated that!)

we flew from santiago to lima but didnt venture out. even still, we got bombarded with the folks wanting to take us to best hotel in lima. for once it was nice to actually know what we were doing and reject with vigour and not listen to ourselves slowly believe that not only is it the best but they are the nicest most trustworthy person in south america, can i ride in your boot please? so instead we caught a connection flight to Juliaca. from there it was only an hour bumpy bus trip on a dodgy wet road to Puno, a small town next to Lake Titicaca.

The town itself is beautiful, buildings all built with mud brick lined with cobbled narrow streets. We found an old stinky hostel complete with construction noise and took a boat ride out onto Lake Titicaca early the next morning. here we popped in on the Uros people, i think announced as they had all their crafts neatly lined up ready for selling. the uros people live on floating islands which they have made from the reeds growing out the water. genius. not only the island itself, but their houses, boats and most other items - we even ate them (the reeds, not the lovely uros people). almost everything on the islands is natural (except the plastic bags they shiftly pull out of their pockets when you get sucked into buying one of their many mini staw boat replicas). we both bought one, so look out lucky blog readers these may well be a used as a gift coming your way so we can keep the alcohol bought from argentina.
on each floating staw island, 10 or so families live together and there are about 200 islands just floating around out there. no teenagers of course, they are in puno leaning about how the spanish reaped their country of its gold, silver and traditional language. all the same, very beautiful but a bit weird inhabiting their home...

afterwards we heading to some inca ruins and inca cemetary. along the way we passed through many small towns and it is from here the cola wars are on. its very serious and its clear there are sides to take. the best thing about it though is that coke and pepsi are not dominating.
from what i have seen so far we have kola real, Reyna kola, KC cola and the biggest; inca kola.
and how good is inca kola! i will try to bring some home. smells like bubble gum, tastes a bit like creaming soda but not really and its yellow. outstanding.
each small town is really amazing, with lamas and alpacas wondering around, a pig, green fields nearby and of course one of the local cola logos painted on the side of their mud brick house or hanging from the front door. of course coke and pepsi havent given up. they see this and stick a big ugly billboard infront of these houses. we have chosen our allegences - mine is real cola and haze has gone with inca cola but if there is a sign outside someones house for reyna cola we wont offend.

oh and the inca ruins were great too - while looking at them i grazed with lamas on top of a hill that was surrounded by a lagoon - too perfect!

--dan--

In Puno, at about 4100m above sea level, and I am absolutely mystified by this city. I have been waiting to get to Peru and now this will be a perfect end to the trip.
Our plane did not take the most direct way to Puno, but we managed to see Cusco and Arequipa from the air, which looked like little lost cities contrasting everything we had seen so far on this trip.
We arrived to windpipes playing in the tiny Juliaca airport, and I think this was when I went into absolute tourist mode! Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Santiago, could easily blend into the same big city, but Peru clearly had new adventures in store for us.
We were welcomed to our cold and smelly hostel by Gregorio. Such a funny fellow who insisted on conducting all the necessary business in our room, and even came in to wake us up in the mornings! But he was the first of many Peruvians that I have just fallen in love with.
We have come across people who are clearly struggling from years of corrupt government, with the tourist industry being the only way for them to earn a living.
And so begins my weakness - I now have a finger puppet, threaded bracelet, numerous bottles of water/lollies, uros island reed boat, uros piece of cloth that hopefully can be used for something, a llama wool slingshot contraption - all from smiling, friendly Peruvians.
The children are irresistible, and despite Dan quickening his step, he ends up being as entertained as I am, as they impressively recite English marketing spiels! Dan usually mutters the ´no, gracias¨ and can do so without looking at the product, but I always end up peeking and once you do there is no way out! I am hopeless and cannot resist them, and my heart breaks to think that these children have been taught to beg and even bargain!

Our day was phenomenal.. Visiting the Uros Islands was amazing, and despite the established shopping centre structure (ironic on a supposed all natural island, and I´m sure we had everything at such a smaller scale given it´s off peak season) I loved it. The islands were filled with women and children who welcomed us into their homes, gave us bread and we even tasted the reeds!
Visited our first ruins in the afternoon, the Sillustani cemetery, filled with tombs for pre-Inca and Inca leaders. We were a little perplexed by some of the explanations from our knowledgeable guide, but we still have quite a bit of Inca research to do ourselves.. Still, it was insightful and we had our first taste of their beliefs and rituals. Dan and I were mystified and loved walking through the ruins. The llamas and alpacas just begged to be chased, and the lake surrounding us and mountains rising over and above.. A day I will never forget.

Tragic souvenirs:
- Knitted finger puppets in ¨any animal you like¨: kangaroos (always pulled out for us!), llamas, turtles, penguin with baby for 1 sol more, and even a spiderman! my proud purchase was a toucan for 1 sol! Dan was petrified!
- Model alpacas wearing hats (I may just bring one home for you all!)

xx haze xx

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