a lie in till 7 today seems a novelty. we are then took on a bus to catch another bus as is the norm here. we were told last night the the local miners are striking over government reforms for them to need to be registered, they have no problems with this as such but want heatlhcare in return if they pay more taxes. this meant that our bus might not leave or even arrive, so we sat at the bus station in anticipation of what might come. the bus did arrive and we duely set off out of puno, well we got a about 5 minutes away and then we saw them. there must have been 10s of 1000s of minors coming down the hill from Julliaca. setting off firecrackers, chanting. we stood their watching in amazement really for 3 1/2 hrs before we finally managed to leave.
the bus journey was similar to the Arriquipa night bus. the drivers were daring and i got the front seat again to catch all the action as it happened. we went through some lovely mountain towns and seemed to pass inummerable dogs in the middle of nowhere. when we got to Cuzco it was dark(we were 3 hrs late), though once you got to the centre you could see how pretty it was, it had been the Inca captial nd then the spanish had come and put their stamp on it. i knew we would like it here. after putting our bags in we went off in seach of dinner ( ihadnt eaten in 7 hrs which for uk was strange nevermind peru). so wehen we saw an chinese (chifa) we jumped at it. BIG mistake, the food which arrived was shocking and in over an hour and a half, only 3 peoples mains had arrived. so we all left and paid for our starters, and headed to McDonalds(trust me you would have aswell). some of us then hit some local .
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Up at 6:30 am as has been usual on this trip ( if not earlier). and head down to breakfast, we have the most amazing fried bread which is nothing like the greasy muck we get with our engish breakfast. this is hard and soo soo tasty, portion sizes again seem a little on the large size as each one of these is the size of a cob roll and i am given 8 (really).
after breakfast we are taken on a short walk to see the island by our sister. we then wait for our fathers return to spend an hour helping in some way. we see some of the others hearding cattle and sheep or baby sitting for one of the youngsters. so we think we may get a relaxing farming activity, so when our father turns up with two cows and two calfs all looks well. execpt for the window frame on his shoulder. this is where the fun starts, he explains that he needs us to transport some sand from the track below up to his house. each wheelbarrow load is about 60-80kg, so this is no easy feat at sea level, but at 3800 m in the blisterng sun, this is exhausting. after about 10 trips and half a tonne of sand later we are given our reprive and told to go on a wander on our own. In retrospect i actually enjoyed it and actually think i helped out the family in some way which is good. after our walk we have lunch (note breakfast was only 3 hrs ago), and again Quinoa soup is on the menu this time followed by a stew served with the local cheese fried, Peru is known as the cullinary capital of south amerrica and i can really bellieve it. we are then walked down to the port and we practice our Aymara(their first language isnt even spanish) and say our goodbyes. after getting back to puno and finding out this time i no longer have the cuboard with birsto table we head out for some food(really we just ate and ate and ate all trip). we then all met up again and had a few drinks (a few too many probably :)) and heading back to the hotel all in anticipation of reaching cuzco which had be it seems no one slept well last night. me in my broom cuboard was expected, but the others less so, i think the car driving around plaiying tribute acts to dead singers, a peruvain Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse, Reallly!. Also admitedly we had a few jars in the local rock and reggae bar last night, though this was just fior team bonding obviously, Some guests checked out about 4, which is my excuse for the lack of sleep as my broom cuboard was by the front door (or was the front door- who knows). Luckily today was mostly on a boat just sitting down in the sun (well it has been sunny every day since the coast by the way, and this is their winter so this isnt really a surpise)
So we packed our bags and got picked up in cycle rickshaws to take us the mile to the docks. our driver is speedy gonalez and we arrive well ahead of the rest of the pack, on landing we are accosted by locals selling ben 10 pen sets which confuses me till later when i realise we are supposed to give pens over sweets at the home stay as they are getting bad tooth decay due to the change in diet. first step of the day is to the floating uros islands, these people choose to live on small islands made of reeds from the lake, wehn we ariive we see 10s of these little islands clumped together each with its own community set up for tourism, our captian chooses his island of choice and we are greeted to a colourful display of the ladies waiting to meet us. the islands themselves are fairly remarkable due to the hard work which is needed to keep them afloat. it comes as a surpise though that due to hte influx of cash from tourism they now have solar panels for tv. we are treated to a small demonstration of how the islands are made and then we get taken in a double hulled canoe with a viewing platform on top which looks like something you would sit on top of an elephant. all the monies are shared between the islands to improve the quality of life for the people and also try and stop the migration of the people to the mainland. after Uros, we hope back on our boat for the 3 hr ride to Taquile island for our lunchstop. this island is basically a hill, with all the centre of the village and restaurants at the top. walking up this in the blistering heat and the fact that the base of the lake is already 3800 m up is killer, so when we finally reach our restaurant we all need a cool drink. Two options are for lunch, Trout from the lake or omlette, i have to come clean this is the first meal where i take the easy option, and go for the omlette, I WISH I HADN'T, i try some of the grilled trout and it is amazing, nothing like i would imagine, really meaty. after lunch we headed down what seemed like endless steps to get back to our boat(training for Machu Pichu they said) and boarded our boat to our homestay. i was quite nervous about this part but luckily i was not alone and had been paired with Richard who i got on well with. we ariived at the peninsular where we were staying and told we would be playing a football match against the locals. so off we trotted to the concrete pitch to meet the oppostion. we kick off and realise that if walking is hard at 3800m the running is a lot lot worse, my heart felt like it was just by my ear it was that loud. in the end though we played for about 50 minutes with only really a 5-10 min gap when Garry and Jessie came on (they are not footie fans). the amzing thing is, We Won! mostly thanks to the ice hockey gaol keeping of Ed and the tireless running of liam who seemed never to get our of breath. \ after football we met some of our family and then got dressed up in local attaire(pics to follow im sure). then as if football wasnt enough we had to take part in some peruvian dancing which i think knocked us all for six. after all the festivites we got taken by our sisters to our family house for the night, we are introduced to our mama, and shown to our room. this is where i get my first surprise, we have normal beds, i expected a matress on the floor but it seems the built a house especially for their guests (they dont use this themselves though and we are never shown to their house- though we later hear it is a lot more basic). we hand over our gifts of fruit and veg bought at the market yesterday (no tips are given in cash here) and then get ready for dinner. southern Peru has been proven to tbe home of domestication of the potato so we expected to eat a lot here, though not as much as we did here. the portion sizes made supersize me look like diet food. it was amazing, we had a Quinoa (also local) soup to start which would suffice much most appetites, but afterwards, we were given a stew which was supreme, lots of corriander and pototaes. the only downside was the awkwardness of the encounter as we didnt really have the communication skils to converse correctly, but we gave it ago. after dinner i loked at the night sky and the dad pointed out the southern cross. i also got my first ever glimpse of the milky way, which was stunning. our bed sheets were the weight of lead. but the tranquility of the area meant we had one of our best nights sleeps on the tour Puno is a bustling little city by the massive lake Titicaca. this lake is 120km long i think so no small undertaking. getting their involved another long bus ride from Chivay.{everything involves a long bus here} though this time we were on our own private bus so it was a bit more relaxed. we stopped at a beautiful lake on near the top of the mountain, it gave me a chance to try our my polarising lens for my camera, so lets see if the pics turn out any good. on arrival in Puno i found that i had been given a secret closet as a room, it was hilarious, you wouldn't even realise you passed it if you didn't know where to look. it wasnt to be a big problem though as we ever spend much time in them. we ariived early after noon and we had till 7 before we had to meet up. so off we went to get traditional Peruvian pizza. after our meal we had a look round and 3 of us {on some stupid advice from me} decided to walk up 200 steps to a condor statue overlooking the city. Puno is at 3800 meters so this is no easy feat. you could hear you heart beating so much it felt like it was going to pop out. the view was worth it as you could see the whole city and the lake beyond. on the way down we caught a tuk tuk back to town which was hilarious as these 3 wheelers never seem safe.
after getting back to the hotel we went for a nice meal as a group. we heading to a rock and reggae bar, and danced and drunk our way back to the hotel. i realise i haven't mentioned the group much, the reason being is they are just a real great bunch of people. we seem to have hit gold for our group as we seem to do everything together, which no other group seems to. there is one or 2 characters but in reality i thought i might like a few of the group, when in fact they are all an amazing group of people. anyway i gtg as their is only one computer here and i have to share with the whole hotel. ciao stew so in answer the grammar issues, most keyboards, including this one have the letters worn off so i don't always know what i am writing. it is also a Spanish keyboard so the letters are different.
in answer to Cats question i have sampled the local delicacy of Cuy which actually was very nice. back to the trip. Chivay is the center of the colca region, which includes the worlds biggest canyon. we have to get up really early for our trip into the mountains to look for condors. off we get on our small bus for the 3 hr journey. after what is a really bumpy ride we reach the colca canyon which is massive. also at this point we see 2 condors which are the worlds biggest flying bird of prey. they are the most majestic bird of prey. after a while 9 turned up. i think there must have been some bait for them as there seemed no reason that they would pick that spot over others, after going for a walk along the top of the canyon we headed back down the hill to a small village where a man selling bracelets couldnt move his arm so this aussie couldnt pay him. they had a nice church, much like what you would find in a western. dinner was held in a trational way with muchos dancing and audience participation. lucklilly though i didnt have to pretend to have malaria so didnt get whipped. had the heater on back at the hotel this time so i didnt feel i was sleeping in the antartic. anyway off to puno tomorrow ciao |
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July 2012
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