After arriving in Puno on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca (the other side to what I had already done) we had to deal with a slightly odd taxi ride with a guy from a hostel crammed in the boot who then at first refused to pay the taxi driver, just because we ha negotiated a free ride if we agreed to stay at the hostel!

We finally got sorted with a room and then walked to the port, stopping off at the artesan markets where I finally bought a man bag (it's only taken 3 days worth of shopping round and deliberating!). After a tuk-tuk style ride back into town we walked around the centre for a bit and then had an early night to prepare for our trip on the lake.

We had decided to do a trip to the islands in Lake Titicaca independently ourselves, rather than go through anorganised trip, as we hoped it would give us a more authentic homestay on the island with a family. After paying the 'captain' and having a bit of a surreal chat with Hutch whilst on the boat we headed off and stopped first at the floating islands of Uros.

These really were brilliant and it's pretty amazing how a whole civilisation has found ways of existing on the reeds of the lake, using them to make everything from the springy 'ground' of the island to all the houses.

Then it was 4 hours onwards to the island of Taquile where we had to hook ourselves up with a random family who greeted us at the port. We met Bernardo who led us up the steep cliff from the port up into the village for what seemed like ages. As we wound our way through the village we noticed how all the locals walked whilst knitting using a ball of each colour that would hang by their sides, and also how all the men wore hats similar to those worn by Wee Willy Winker!

After stopping for some dinner of trout freshly caught from the lake, Bernardo led us on to his house where we would stay the night and we then had some free time to explore the island. As we set off, his 2 youngest daughters 5 year old Florencia and 7 year old Uzneita decided they wanted to come with us and lead us off up the hill. They were adorable and we were quickly joined by the equally so Deisy, their eldest sister.

We basically then spent the next 4 hours or so being led around by these 3 girls and teaching them hide and seek, though Deisy knew when the time was right to start heading back and found us the perfect spot to what the sun set over the lake!

We gave the family the gifts we had brought for them and then had tea, though we were a bit disappointed not to be able to share with the family themselves, but the afternoon spent with the young girls had definately been something we would not have been able to do had we gone through a tour.

It was yet another freezing night spent fully dressed and under tons of blankets and using candlelight to get around (getting used to this now!) but it was worth it, even if the breakfast of soup followed by an omelette with chips and rice was a little to be desired!

Our return boat wasn't untill 220pm so we walked to the beach, by no means a gentle stroll, for a little bit of chill out time and then slogged it back to the port through the village that really did feel like a civilisation a world apart from my our lives.

After killing a bit of time the following day we then got our bus to Cuzco, though again not without some dramatics from the people at the hostel who threw us on the bus at the very last minute without even a ticket, after going AWOL for an hour which left us wondering if they had just done a runner with our money!

The bus journey started off fine, but when it then broke down a couple of hours out of Cusco I should have sensed that it was a sign of bad things. An hour later we were back on our way, even if the bus sounded anything but healthy and we landed in Cuzco where I realised I had been pickpocketed whilst I had been sat in my chair. Despite frantic searching of the whole bus we couldn´t find the goods and that horrible sick feeling started to sink in. Not the best start to Cuzco, which I had been really excited to get to, but I was determined not to let it spoil anything and to stay positive.