(View of Puno)
We got the bus from Arequipa to Puno, excited by our first glimpses of Lake Titicaca, or as Richard likes to call it, Lake booby brmmm brmmm. Yes, I thump him for that.
Puno was ok, a reasonable little town, with a nice kind of pedestrian mall going from one plaza to the other. The first day we took a half day tour out to Sillustani, these great big kind of tombs, the largest being 12 metres high, and kind of an inverted cone shape. There were more than a hundred of them at the site, but mostly it was great just to be away from the cities and out in the fresh clean air by the lake.
(Sillustani tomb thingy)
Next was a day trip out to two islands on the lake; Richard could not be convinced to do the 2 day 1 night homestay trip, so we settled just for the day trip. First it took us to Uros, the floating islands, which are a whole bunch of very touristy yet still very interesting islands, which are made out of the local Totora reed, all bundled together, and they float. They have all these little boats made out of the reed, as well as the houses, pretty much everything made out of the reeds. One little island even had a couple of couches made from the stuff. We took a ride from one island over to another in one of the reed boats, which was pretty cool.
The islands originated because the people were escaping the nasty Callas and Incas, and took their boats out onto the lake, tied them together, and placed a bunch more reeds over the top. Evry two weeks they dump a heap more reeds on the top, and they rot away from the bottom. The island we were on was sitting in about 20 m of water.
(Cool reed boat) (floating island)
Then we motored on over to Taquile Island, which is a proper island, not floating. Walkd up a
bloody long way to the main town square, then to a restaurant for lunch, fired trout, rice and potatoes. Walked back down the other side of the island and onto the boat for the long slow trip back to Puno.
There were three other aussies on our trip, also from our hostel, and we all went out for Pizza, along with Maxine, and English girl who was in Mine and Richard's 'apartment'. (the hostel was divided into three apartments, with two bedrooms, a living room with couches, and a TV, and bathroom) I felt a little dodgy on the way to the restaurant, sat down in it and felt just a little dodgier. Whne the pizzas came, and they really did look fantastic, I got one whiff of the cheese and bolted for the loo, thank god it was empty, managed to get the door open and power spew and hit the toilet from about 2 metres away. Mostly hit the toilet anyway. So I threw my guts up, let the other end do the same, and bolted back to the hotel. And that was the rest of my night, being violently, violently ill, terrible stomach cramps, etc. Really nasty. We were supposed to get the bus to Copacabana, Bolivia, the next day, but there was no chance.
So I slept most of the next day, and this morning we got the bus to Bolivia.
Copacabana seems pretty nice, we tried to book a fancy $20 hotel, but it was booked out, so we took our chances when we got off the bus. Walked into the Hotel Ambassador, and here is a pic of our room, all for 80 bolivianos, which is about $10 US, its the best room we have had yet.
The border crossing was suprisingly uncomplicated, get off the bus in peru, get a police stamp, get an immigration stamp, walk 200 metres through marching bands and parades and all sorts (being that it is the first day of Semana Santa, the Easter celebrations) into Bolivia, get an entry stamp, and wait for the marching bands to finish so that the bus could get through. We had heard lots of stories about how they only pretend to stamp you passport and don't leave a mark and then fine you for it later, but we appear to have everything in order. The Peruvian immigration guy even got all excited about Kangaroos when he saw we were from Australia.
Well I am feeling better now, had a meal, the first in 48 hours, and now think a snooze is in order. We have a good feeling about Bolivia, so far, it is so good.
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