Day 15

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This morning I I briefly got to speak to mum, Hannah D, Jess Chirgwin, and Jess on Skype before the wi-fi crashed at the hotel, and then leaving Cusco early to begin the 6-7hr journey to Puno was a struggle. bus ride gave me the opportunity to catch up on my blog posts anyway! And I was feeling very philosophical writing some of my own quotes about travelling. Arriving in Puno by 2.30 gave us a few hours to explore. The main reason tourists come to Puno is visit Lake Titicaca which is the worlds highest navigable lake (meaning you can put boats on it), however we don't visit the lake until tomorrow. Puno sits at 3,800m high and is not quite as appealing as Cusco, although it retains the Spanish and Quechua cultures that settled on the shores of the lake. Tomorrow dad and I are doing a homestay with a local family who speak only quechua, some spanish and minimal english so the bus trip also gave us time to scrub up on our language skills.
Upon arrival in Puno I felt weak, dizzy and had a lack of appetite... Some of the symptoms of altitude sickness which I had suffered badly from in Nepal. Dad and I were even out of breath walking up four flights of stairs in the hotel due to the lack of oxygen. Later Ollie lead us to the local market where we bought the family some presents. We purchased bags of oats, sugar, quinoa, and flour, and some milk, coffee and a few other treats. Apparently they will appreciate this more than anything else, so we are looking forward to meeting them and truly experiencing Peruvian lifestyle. Dad and I did our own dinner tonight at an amazing restaurant. We hadn't eaten since breakfast as the bus didn't stop so we went all out! I had the best spicy green veggie soup followed by 'cebiche' which is the traditional Peruvian dish. Tonight it was raw trout straight from Lake Titicaca and marinated in lime juice and chilli...While dad had the alpaca in an andean cheese for a second attempt to see if we liked it any better... Amazing! We were both satisfied with our typical Peruvian meals and topped it off with a hot alcoholic drink consisting of red wine, fresh lime, pisco sour, and granadilla. Being at 3,800m high this delicious traditional drink took the edge off the effects of the altitude and we were able to get a great nights sleep after the folk music in the bar next door had stopped.

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