We take the plane from Cusco to Juliaca and are picked up by a taxi from the hotel in Puno, the town next to Lake Titicaka were we will spend about two weeks. We immediately see the change in the landscape. We're another 500 metres higher than in Cusco, but the landscape is very flat.

Once there we are stunned by the beauty of the place, and the hotel is so nice. The view from our window is breathtaking, the window, the length of the outfacing wall we can see the animal life just outside - llamas and rabbits, and the lake itself is just there. It is an enormous lake and stretches out on the border between Peru and Bolivia. On the lake lives a tribe or a people called the Uros. They are still living the way they always have, on man made islands - made of reeds! From the window we can see them fishing and collecting reeds. There is also a sign on the window that urges us to call someone if we want to open the window. In the evening the difference between the temperature inside and outside is so big that the window can shatter if we try to open it.

I laugh when I see the sign hanging on the door: 'Would you be so king as to let us know if you need any repairs'. Certainly. If not kings than we surely feel like queens here. When we return to our room in the afternoon, the bedspread have been removed and the sheets lifted, the heating is turned on and on the pillow is a chocolate with a card that says 'goodnight' in many languages. The view from the restaurant also turns towards the lake, and it's like it draws us in, like it has it's own presence in a way.

The air is incredibly dry here and we also have to take it slow because of the altitude. I walk up the stairs to our room, thinking it is at least a tiny bit of exercise but soon I turn to the elevators like everybody else, halfway up and people stop and gasp for air. It's just too strenuous.

We travel to a place close to the Bolivian border and take a look at an old Inca place called 'the Stargate.' It is said to be a portal between worlds. In the same area we can see some formations very different in shape from the other mountains we've seen - often very round and soft. These are strewn across the earth, looking like sleeping dragons. On the way there we see people working in the fields. We see the women wearing the traditional plaited hair, only here they have an extra flourish with pom-poms attached in bright colours. And off course the llamas are everywhere, the hotel even has a herd, and they are free to walk around. They look like sheep with very long legs and necks.

Puno itself isn't so special, after the Inca market in Lima and Cusco nothing can impress us, apart from the antique fabrics made into bags and ponchos. They are beautiful and a delicious break from the too brightly coloured tourist stuff. I always want to buy the hat the vendor is wearing, the real old stuff.

On the Bolivian side of Lago Titicaka we visit 'Isla del Sol' and 'Isla de la Luna'. The sun and moon islands. It is beyond breathtaking and it is so quiet here. After a day on the boats and the islands we end the trip in Copacabana, Bolivia. Cool. A bus takes us back to Puno. The moon is almost full. When we return to our room everything is prepared for us and we sleep with the curtains open. I can see the stars in the sky while I lay in bed and when it's about 5 am the sun starts to show it's face. The Uros are already taking in their fish nets. What a place.

One of our last days we take a boat out to the Uros and are astonished to see that it is actually exactly what it sounds like! We have an incredibly good meal - grilled trout. And Inca Cola - it's yellow and a bit bubblegum tasting, but when in Peru...