Up at 5:30am to take a taxi to the Inka Express Bus terminal. Still raining in Cuzco! The bus left at 7am towards Lake Titicaca and I enjoyed yesterday´s train snacks for breakfast. The bus had a guide who spoke clear spanish and good english, and a hostess who brought us a drink after each stop. The whole day was very touristic, but interesting and comfortable, and contrary to our usual nightbuses, we actually got to experience all the sights on the way.

First stop was a small town called Andahuayhillas, which has 300 year old trees covered in red blossom and green moss, plus a party of parrots. It also had a colonial church (built on a former Incan temple) that was ornately painted and decorated in gold and silver. We also went to the museum next door, that had 3 child mummys that had been discovered from Incan human sacrifices nearby. A bit further down the road we stopped at another colonial church - this time painted by a local artist. All the walls were covered in graphic images of sinners in hell, and Catholics in heaven (apart from one bad priest) - a way to educate the local people.

Next stop was Raqchi, which has remnants of a huge temple made from stone and mud, plus royal houses and countless storehouses... a relic of when it was an Inca administration centre between Cuzco and Puno. Then to the highest point between the two cities, with fantastic views of the surrounding mountains, glacier and llamas / alpacas. Shortly after we stopped for a buffet lunch at Sicuani and enjoyed 3 blokes playing panpipes in ponchos.

The final stop was at Pupuja (I think), where we perused the museum full of artefacts collected from the pre-Incan archeaological site nearby, including statues depicting human decapitation. Other interesting items were a number of animal skins pinned to the wall, a cow skin sewn to look almost lifelike, and a lamb carcass hung from the ceiling!

The views along the whole journey were really beautiful - a wide altiplano full of farmland and homes, and mountains on either side. We passed through Juliaca, which is an ugly, growing city full of unfinished houses so that the inhabitants don´t have to pay tax on them. Finally we arrived at Puno around 5pm. While we were at the bus station we bought tickets to La Paz for Saturday, and then took a taxi to our hotel - El Buho (the owl). Feeling pressure to book a tour on Lake Titicaca for tomorrow, we failed to find two of the recommended tour agencies in the LP and eventually decided that tomorrow would be a rest day! Instead we went across the road for a drink and to catch up on our accommodation ratings and stayed for dinner. Mum flaked out and went to bed, closely followed by Alex and I. Everyone seems a bit knackered.

Day 108 - Rest day got off to a good start as Mum awoke feeling a lot better (we have counted that she has had 7 health complaints since being in Peru... and as she keeps reminding us, she isn´t normally ill!). We had breakfast at the hotel, and enjoyed handing over our hiking clothes for laundry (poor sods who have to deal with that lot). My main job of the day was to update the blog, and so had a good stint in the morning while listening to the Best of Roxette. Alex and Mum went and pottered about and we met up at 11:30am to go for a coffee and empanada, and then book a tour on the lake for the next day. Alex went off drawing while Mum and I walked to the lake, which is actually a fair drag from the main streets of Puno. We walked along the pier and enjoyed watching the curious pedalos and blue-billed birds. To come back to the centre we took a moto-taxi (tuk tuk) and on the way our driver managed to drive into an open manhole! I didn´t know what was happening - it seemed that the vehicle was breaking in two, and when we looked behind we saw the cover was open and a man was walking to the middle of the crossroads to continue working on it. It completely b*****ed up the front wheel of the moto. We felt really bad for our driver, so paid him and walked the rest of the way (which wasn´t far anyway).

We went to a nice little courtyard for a lemonade and a huge piece of chocolate cake (with two spoons - what´s that about?!). I then returned to the internet cafe to finish the blog with the best of Simply Red this time. People don´t realise how time consuming this job is! Back at the hotel I found Mum in bed, so we went out and did some shopping,m returning at 6pm to find Alex in bed. She felt too unwell to go for dinner, so had a shower and went to bed (making the bathroom floor entirely wet for me to step in in my bed socks later); meanwhile Mum and I went for dinner where I had a really delicious alpaca steak. Guinea pig tomorrow maybe? Last chance in Peru!

Day 109 - We got picked up at 6:30am for a tour on Lake Titicaca with a guide called Julio, who was enthusiastic, clear and engaging despite probably taking this tour every day for the last decade. After 20 minutes making our way into the lake, we arrived at one of the ´floating islands´, which have cheery communities living on reeds. The local people showed us how they formed and maintain the islands, and then showed us around the little villages and into their homes. We particularly enjoyed the fat ladies dressed in bright skirts and braids singing to us as we left on a traditional grass boat to the next island.

After the floating islands we cruised for about 2.5 hours into the main of the Lake to Isla Taquile - a ´real´ island 7 sq km in area that feels like it´s own little (almost Meditteranean) world. From the island we could see the snow-capped mountains of Bolivia as the weather was clear and sunny, despite being the start of the rainy season... we had to cover Alex up in a scarf again. The walk up to the main plaza was really steep (and four of the tour-guests decided to stay on the boat for 3 hours rather than see the island they had paid to come to), but had amazing views from the top. All the inhabitants still dress in their very smart outfits, and Mum had a good time trying to photograph them without them seeing.

Alex sat in the plaza and did some drawing, not noticing that the rest of the group had left to go to the restaurant for lunch. I had to come back and collect her, finding her stood at the side of the square, all alone and a little bemused. Lunch was quinoa soup and trout (which was a bit off since the islanders rarely eat it and are mostly vegetarian through necessity). Julio explained the different hats and their meanings on the island, which is thus:

• White and red hat = single
• Red hat = married
• Multi-coloured hat with a black felt hat on top = island leader

After lunch we walked across the island to our boat, which returned us to Puno 3 hours later. The strength of the sun hit us, and pretty much everyone fell asleep on the boat. Back at the hotel we packed for our bus to Bolivia tomorrow, and then headed out for dinner at a really nice restaurant on the main strip. The food was really good, but the guy outside on the street must have been doing too good a job getting people in to eat since the poor waiter was struggling to keep up with the demand. I thought about having guinea pig (Mum and Alex are barely eating so the duty fell to me alone), but just couldn´t face it in the end!

Day 110 - Our bus left Puno terminal at 7:30am and we did our best to spend the last of our Peruvian small change in the station. We boarded our bus to find it wasn´t the one we had booked on, and instead of being all in a row in the bottom, VIP section, we were sat spread out with all the riff raff. The journey to the border was comfortable and scenic though, and we even had an english speaking guide to tell us all about the conformities when we arrived.

First stop was the currency exchange shop, which was particularly weird as the lady asked for my passport and when I gave it her she threw it back to me and changed Mum´s money behind me. Then we went to two separate buildings on the Peruvian side to get exit stamps and finally made our way over the border to the Bolivian side 200 metres away. On arrival it seemed that the man who served Mum and Alex on the Peruvian side had given them the wrong date on the exit stamp (the 8th rather than the 9th, today), so they sent them (and many other victims) all the way back to the Peruvian side to get a new stamp! I just sat and relaxed in the shade while they both stomped off.

Once we were all back aboard the bus we drove a little way to the town of Copacabana, where we were told we would change buses to La Paz, leaving in an hour´s time. So we sat and had a picnic lunch and then took a look at the moorish-like church and plaza, where the police were just wrapping up an open exhibition to educate people about road safety. We were back at the bus office at 1pm, and then more confusion ensued as the woman hastily told us to grab our luggage and rammed us on a bus of a different company. We were totally confused why there was a rush and why we were sat at the back of a horrible bus whose windows would barely open, but at least we were on our way. However, just as we were leaving the city the bus seemed to stop at a police road block... after some time some kind passenger translators informed us that there was a bicycle race taking place on the road between Copacabana and La Paz, and we would not be allowed to pass until at least 3:30pm! Astonishingly it appears to be the ´Tour de Bolivia´ - and none of the bus companies knew?!!!!! So instead of suffocating for 2 hours on the bus, it turned around and took us back to Copacabana (bear in mind we never intended on visiting this town AT ALL), where the three of us are now sat in a row in an internet cafe, waiting for 3:15pm to come around for another try on the bus, and watching the yellow barriers being erected outside on the main street. The question is, will we be able to get back to the bus in the first place?!!!!