The day after I last blogged we went on another trip to Lake Titicaca´s islands. Our main stop was Taquile island, but we stopped at "the floating islands" again on the way. It was better this time because everything was explained to us in English, which helps.

We went to a different island and we were told that we were 17 metres above the floor of the lake. It´s incredible because although the islands are a bit bouncy, they are very sturdy, and it´s easy to forget you´re above water. It was a bit cringe-worthy at that island because you had the option of dressing up in the local clothes. The women wear amazingly bright coloured clothes in many layers, but I would have felt uncomfortable trying them on.

From the island we took a trip on a reed boat (shown above) and we had another cringe-worthy moment when all the island´s women sang songs before we set off. Those songs included Twinkle, twinkle, little star in English which was a bit odd. Some of the local children then joined us on the boat and were very cute, dancing, singing, cuddling etc, and then at the end of the boat trip the eldest one swiped the hat off the youngest one´s head and started demanding money for this cuteness. Genius.

We then had a 2.5 hour journey to Taquile, which is a communist island. The children tried exactly the same trick there. At one point Dan was taking a photo of me, and a local girl jumped into the shot before we could argue, and then demanded a sole. Cheeky or what?! The island was beautiful, although it was so over-run with gringos that it felt a bit like a theme park. I had an amazing lunch of grilled trout, overlooking the island, the lake and Bolivia beyond. Then it was 2.5 hours back to Puno.

We had the next day to kill as we were catching our coach to Cuzco the following day. We managed to waste it quite well with internet time, wedding plans, phone calls home, coffee and cake, reading, playing cards etc. It was actually quite nice to chill out, and definitely lovely to speak to our families.

The following day we took our last Peruvian coach (thank god) from Puno to Cuzco. Everyone we had met along the way had raved about Cuzco and thankfully it has not disappointed us. I was expecting quite a dusty, tumble-down city, but instead we have discovered a smart, clean and cosmopolitan city. There are hundreds of good places to eat, as well as lots of museums, temples, and of course Macchu Picchu. Today we have been to the Gallery of Pre-Colombian Art, to a great cafe called Jack´s Cafe (yay!) for hot chocolate, around the llama-laden shops and the stunning cathedral. I also had an awesome pedicure and now have yellow toe nails. Dan couldn´t be convinced to have one. Shame.

It´s weird to think that we still have two weeks in Peru and that Cuzco will be the last city we stay in, but in that time we´re flying to the Amazon and back, and doing the Inca Trail trek. We are now on the look out for the venue of my birthday dinner too.

Hope you´re all well,

Lauz and Dan xxx