Short flight to Juliaca airport this morning and another random greeting at the luggage belt. This time it was a traditional Peruvian band (including the mandatory pan pipes, thought about requesting Careless Whisper but not enough time). On top of the belt was lots of dolls in traditional dress from different areas. Also seemed to be depicting some sort of church ceremony, may have been a funeral, not sure, good to have something nice to look at whilst waiting for ones luggage!!

Juliaca is 3800 metres above sea level and the altitude hits you quite quickly. Felt thirsty and a bit of an achy head but not too bad (yet!!). On the bus we started our journey to Puno, but within 20 minutes had to stop with a flat tyre!!! Gave a good opportunity to see how cars drive on a dual carriageway in the Andes, just so you know, it's the same as everywhere else.

Once we got going again Julio gave us some more info about the highlands. They generally have 2 seasons, dry from April to Oct and wet from Oct to March. During wet season there is 2 types of weather, rain and more rain, and we moan in the UK!!! The main source of income is exports of alpaca wool and fruit and veg. The alpaca comes from the cameloid family (didn't know that, love the name), and has different cuts/grades of wool dependent on age. The younger the animal the softer the wool and the more expensive. Baby alpaca wool (younger than 2 years) sells for 5 times the original price in the UK and China! They also eat alpacas here, alpaca soup, alpaca pizza, alpaca steak....... Quinoa and potatoes are the main food exports, apparently they have 3000 indigenous types of potato, once again, my kinda place!

Just before arriving at the hotel, we got our first look at Lake Titikaka, pretty spectacular, with the town in the foreground and mountains behind. Unfortunately, just after this, the altitude sickness started to really kick in for a few people, with one of the group fainting. It's really weird, different people have had different symptoms, fainting, headache, pins and needles, feeling nauseous, cold, blurred vision, the list goes on! Fortunately I felt a bit spaced and a thick head but nothing too bad. Going upstairs in the hotel is a challenge as you run out of breath really quickly!!

Quick briefing in the hotel, and some coca tea (good for altitude sickness and for "Vigorous sex" we later found out from an advert!!), then took a walk round Puno. Quant little town, quite a few colonial looking buildings and lots of Tuk tuks - motorised and non motorised (which are basically tricycles with somewhere to sit). Stopped briefly at the main square which is dedicated to those who fought in the war against Chilli (most squares in Peru are dedicated to war heroes), and then onto the main shopping street. Lots and lots of brightly coloured hats, bags, clothing, and alpaca products (obviously).

Lunch was in a traditional restaurant, where I had the best vegetable omelette, filled to bursting with various veg, hmmm, not very traditional I know, but avoiding quinoa for as long as I can, it really is the dregs of the barrel as far as veggie food goes, you never know, it may taste better here, will try at some point. Took a walk round after lunch and found some brilliant T shirts with a Llama logo, instead of Puma (as per pic), we found it highly amusing so bought some, the others didn't seem as impressed, perhaps the altitude sickness kicking in. Anyway I have a new T shirt for Reading festival which only cost a fiver, result!! Nicole also bought some pan pipes for her dad, I'm trying to resist the urge....they are everywhere you go though. Next stop, the coffee shop where we had a drink called Mochja energy, basically coca leaves, honey and lemon, tasted great and another attempt to bring the big A S under control! Jane had papaya juice which looked like orange frog spawn in a glass, not particularly appetising!!

Nice walk back, stopped in the supermarket to get water and came across some packets of Nerds, used to love them, cherry and watermelon flavour!!

At the restaurant for dinner we were greeted by a band, with, you guessed it, pan pipes. To be fair they did play some good tunes, upbeat, enough to get the shoulders shimmying. If you try hard enough to concentrate on the guitar and drums you can drown out some of the pipes, I will NOT be converted, they are the weapons of dodgy self help gurus and those awful relaxation CDs.

Had a really interesting conversation over dinner with one of the group, Maryanne. She really is an inspiration. She has spent the last two months in Bolivia, working at an orphanage and a home for mentally and physically disabled children. The stories that she told us were really quite harrowing. Examples being that at the home they lock up to 54 children in a room together with no stimulation or interaction (many are autistic or have severe mental disability). They have one TV, 3 mattresses and a toilet, but as some are not capable of going to the toilet themselves they just sit in their own mess. Also many are teenagers and therefore sexually active, so they rape each other, and beat each other up. Many of the workers there don't understand their disability and so treat everyone the same, which is generally by shouting or tying their hands behind their backs as punishment. Sounded awful, as a volunteer, she was also hit at times by the children and left on her own if other volunteers weren't there (usually up to 3 are supposed to be there at a time), really quite a frightening experience. They did manage to start to make a difference by trying to train the workers how to interact with, and treat the children, cleaning the place up and trying to raise funds to help. The orphanage was as bad with children coming in beaten by their parents, many of them scared and desperately unhappy. The orphanage does however have a supervisor who really cares for the children (unlike most), but Maryanne found she had cancer, so the volunteers raised money for an operation for her. She also got her boyfriend to bring clothes donated by friends and family to the orphanage and again helped to raise funds which will be used to pay for teaching the children and upskilling volunteers. You could really feel how it had impacted her in a positive way (she talked about how the children made every day a joy), and the negative impact of seeing such awful things, and subsequently feeling guilty about leaving. Real food for thought, especially when you know there are many such places across the country.