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Published: April 18th 2006
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kids on the way to puno....
the train coming through town is a big event! ALL ABOARD!
Well the train ride from Cusco to Puno was 11 hrs of beautiful scenery. We had good food on the ride and I managed to lose at least 5 crazy eight countdowns to Jeff. Upon arrival into Puno we were met by a woman from our hostel...we stayed at Hostel Uros which was cheap and clean and had a tourist agency right across the street. So we immediately booked our tour to the islands. You can go to the Uros islands yourself but if you would like to stay the night you have to book through an agency to ensure a spot with a local family.
UROS ISLANDS
These islands were so cool. The Uros people built them with only reeds, they are floating islands a few meters deep. When we set foot you literally sunk in a little and you could see the island moving at the edges with the waves from the boat. After seeing the sights on the islands and eating the bottom part of the reed plant we moved on to the Amantani Island.
AMANTANI ISLAND
This is where we were given the chance to live with a local family for a day
the floating islands!
the uros islands are made of reeds and actually are floating on lake titicaca! and go out at night for a little fiesta. Our hosts were so cute!! They made us meals and gave us all flowers when we left the next day. That night we were part of a traditional dance fiesta!! They dressed us up in traditional clothing and took us to the local community centre for some dancing. I of course was too tall for the clothes and the woman was laughing her head off when she was dressing me! (what else is new..:tall gringo!). We had a fun time, Jeff was as stylin´ as ever in his PONCHO!..I think he was having flashbacks to when he was inspired to actually buy one in Mexico!
Anyways, the next day we went to another island for lunch and then back to Puno for the night, it was an interesting adventure. If you are planning on going to the island I would reccommed only one thing...BRING CONDIMENTS...you will be eatijng potatoes, and well.....potatoes with nothing on them. Our first meal was 4 white potatoes with 4 potatoes that looked like fingers, very bland.
PUNO
Puno is basically like most cities in South America, loud congested, and full of pollution, but all in
our lil friends from amantani island
This was our host family on the amantani islands...so funny! and short! all not bad. We had hoped to meet up with the group from out tour for dinner the night we returned night, but there was a large rally for the election in Peru in the central square and we missed them. There were 24 people running for president in Peru...24!! That is crazy!
While we were waiting for the group Jeff and I were play fighting a bit and he smacked me. This woman came up out of nowhere and mistakenly thought I was a battered wife...she started saying things like, I know how you feel and she was making all sorts of weird noises, I was sitting down and she put her head in my lap! It was so bizzar! As she walked away she kept turning back and saying things like I´ll pray for you, and then she would scowl at Jeff.
BOLIVIA!!
We crossed into Bolivia by bus, which was way less hastle than I thought it would be, we basically walked into a room got a stamp and walked across the border, and got back on the bus.
COPACABANA
Our first stop in Bolivia was in Copacabana for a few days. It is
the view onto lake titicaca
this lil guy had te best seat in the house... amazing sunset and views onto titicaca a cute town right on the shores of Lake Titicaca. We stayed for 2 nights and paid $1.40 CAN for a room the first night!! The second night we went to the Royal York of Boliva and ended up paying $7 CAN each, we realized quickly that when people said Bolivia is cheap they were not lying.
You could rent kayaks and paddle boats on the waterfront so we did that one morning. There were a ton of shops and hippies selling rings, necklaces, etc... We found a great candelit place to go eat and watch movies and went both nights we were there. We really liked Copacabana it was agreat place to relax for a few days.
LA PAZ
The bus ride from Copacabana to La Paz was my favourite so far. The mountains, fields, and the lake, of course, were all so pretty. Entering La Paz was quite the sight. We basically circled into the city, which is in a huge bowl like formation, with houses sprawling up the mountains on every side!
We found the city to be very dirty, it smelled of garbage and was full of pollution. We did not stay too long
the new style
This is the style on the island...great til you have to dance in it! amanda brady as the virgin mary? as the train we needed to catch left only on Mondays and Fridays so we opted for Monday and there was of course a bus strike blocking the road to ORURO. We have become used to frequent strikes, rallies, bus/train cancelations, etc... So we left a day earlier than planned.
We did make time to go to the Coca Museum in La Paz where they explain the history of Coca and things like to US War on Drugs.
(We stayed at Hostel Copacabana while there, it was really good, had internet and tv for free.)
We met a few nice people while in La Paz, some of them survived the worlds most dangerous road by bike, and visited a glacier at 5000m. Too bad we missed all that, but there will be more adventures. Off to the Salt Flats in Uyuni.
Till then, See ya!
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