The next morning we were to say goodbye to Bolivia and hello to Peru. We packed up Swampy around 10am (lie in... whooop) and headed for the pre-inca ruins of Tiwanaku. We had an extremely sweet but sadly very boring tour guide on the truck with us for the first time that morning. The idea was for her to tell us about the ruins before we got there and then take us around the site when we got there. However, the majority of the bus actually fell asleep as she told us about the 200 odd different types of potatoes in Bolivia and how they are grown. Therefore, lots of us decided to save money and not go to the ruins, as we´d see some much better ones in Peru anyway. Instead I spent the next few hours or so looking at some little market stalls and playing with the local children (much more fun) before helping with lunch for the group.

After lunch and back on the bus, I managed to convince a defiant minority to put some Britney and Backstreet Boys on the sound system and a short singsong later we arrived at the border of the two countries, which is seperated by the beautiful lake Titicaca. On the way to Puno we made a stop a very interesting temple of fertility (to be left to your imaginiations) where we had a somewhat inappropriate tour from a few local children.

When we arrived at our hotel, we were so excited by the luxury that we actually ran around the second floor screaming with joy for 10 minutes and then preceded to jump on our beds yelping (a double bed each, a bath tub and a TV in every room (yeehaa American Idol), guys.... don´t take these things for granted)! Then that night, just as we thought things couldn´t get any better, we had our most delicious meal ever at the Inca bar... i had a kingfish (caught in lake titicaca) with a red curry dressing and rice! delicious! i have been craving fish like crazy, being one of the 5 veggies on swampy, we only get veggies and never ever fish! was heaven on a plate to have my first bit of fish since rio!!!

The next morning was an early start... up at 6.30 to pack for our excursion to lake Titicaca and then we were out of the hotel within the hour. Unbeknown to us, a fleet of Tuk-tuks (funny bike taxis) were awaiting us outside, so the 30 odd of us hopped on in pairs and took over the streets of puno (hilarious) as we headed for the markets to buy gifts for the families we would be staying with that night. These tuk-tuks, were two seats, cast upon a metal framed tricycle with a peruvian man furiously pedaling away behind us on a bike. I was foruntate sharing one with mette, however sophie and charlotte ended up in literally a wheelbarrow attached to a bike- priceless! After stocking up with rice, pasta, fruit and colouring books, we boarded our boats on Lake Titcaca.

The name, lake titicaca implies that it is a lake, and indeed it is. The largest and highest navigatable lake in the world in fact. However on our boat it seemed like we were in the ocean! The sea was a bright blue all around us and went for as far as the eye could sea. The lake is also home to thousands of people who live on Islands and floating Reed Islands, some of whom we were about to meet...

After a 3 hour boat journey, sleeping, sunbathing and learning the native language of our home-stay families, we made our first stop at Taquile Island. We then had a one hour walk up hill to the main Plaza, but the views along the way were absolutely gorgeous. Once at the Plaza we had a scrummy traditional lunch, accompanied by a local man on his panpipes and an explanation from our guide about the different traditions on the island. After buying a few more hats and gloves, we then had a 641 step walk down to the other side of the island wher our boat was awaiting us. It was a beautiful walk and we met lots of locals along the way who wanted money for photos!!

We then set off for Amantani Island which is where we stayed the night with a local family. On arriving at the port, we were greeted by all our mamas in their traditional outfits, all busy knitting (they never stop as it is thought of as lazy). WE were like terrified orphans walking up to the colourful mamas and papas. I felt like a refugee, i just wanted someone nice to pick me our of the bunch! Charlotte, Sophie and I paired up and we were amongst the last to be sorted with our mama/papa. Everyone else was picked up by their mamas, but we were picked up by our papa. After a very long walk with much panting and sweating carrying our day packs, we had to stop. The views were amazing, but the little cobbled, stone steps proved a little too much for my unfit body. I think the extent of my unfittness reached its peak when we sat down to ctach our breath, and an old man with a walking stick overtook us, and seemed to run the steps past us. Hugely embaressing. We eventually got to our house, and showed our room. It was a very cute room with 4 beds, and in the wooden headboards a little locked safe if we wanted to keep our valuables in there. One small mirror and a singular light. The bedspreads were all hand knitted and as colourfull as the dresses we had seen all the mamas wearing. i felt completely at home! the toilet was a little building about 8 m away from our bedroom and there was no light, or flush there. We had to use a bucket, fill it with water and whoosh away our waste! NICE!! We were given hats made by our mama so that she could identify us in a crowd (we all look the same apparently) and then we went to meet the others at the village football pitch where lots of the locals had come to watch the boys (and some of the girls) play. There were lots of teams Swampy, our fellow and rival truck named Doris, and the Peruvians who were very used to playing football at such altitude. Papa came down to play the football for the peruvians, which was great to watch but our loyalties clashed when swampy played the locals. I just cheered and whoooped for both!

Once it started to get dark, we headed back up to our house for dinner. WE tired our best to speak Ketchua (the native language) and asked if we could go into the house, offered our gifts and asked to help out in preparing the meal. Mama was on the floor cutting potatoes into a ceramic bowl filled with water. she was cooking over a wood burnign stove in a big ceramic pot. Soo old school, but it smelt amazing. She didnt really want us to cook, as we were the guests but we were allowed to wash up some of the plates. Our starter was a delicious soup to start, which i wolfed down thinking this was all that we were getting. Pretty full, we were then given a vegetable stew with rice. It was sooooo yummy! We met the son for dinn,er he was 15 and was going to be playing at our dance that night. He played the guitar. Only papa ate at the table with us, Mama and the son ate on the floor. We thought this rather strange but i think it would have been rude of us to ask them to eat at the table because it is obviuosly just not done. Our papa was a coca leaf farmer, so we then had some coca tea, where we also added a kind of peppermint, which made it even tastier! It was very heartwarming to sit in a durty, dark , cosy little kitchen with the family and feel so at home drinking the coca tea that warmed me to the core.

We then went to our rooms to be dressed up in traditional clothing. i had a lovely green petticoat and a green skirt over the top ( a girl has got to match hehe). a lovely white crisp blouse with colourful flower embroidary. We then set off to a very packed community centre for a bit of Peruvian dancing with the rest of the group and their families. Everyone looked great, even the boys had ponchos and hats. The dancing was extremely tiring and by 10, we were all exhausted and headed home for a good night sleep, although I was woken by the loudest rain I have ever heard crashing down on our tin roof and had to hide under the covers.

We were woken early the next morning by our brother who looked a bit worse for wear after our big night. Had some pancakes for brekkie then Santiago walked us back down the hill to the boat ready to leave the island. We then bid a fond farewell to all the families who gathered around to say goodbye as we set off for our next stop.

We then travelled for two and a half hours to the floating reed islands of Uros, where we learned about local life. The islands are incredible - the villagers flatten the natural reed islands and anchor them to the ground under the lake, then continue to build them up every year. We got dressed up in local clothing once again then took a short ride on a tortura reed boat.

After another farewell, we got back on the main boats and travelled back to puno. The excursion had been absolutely fantastic but I couldn´t help feeling a bit funny about the whole thing. It´s really sad that the villagers had to rely on our money to make a living and I couldn´t help but wonder if they somehow resented us coming to stay (although they never showed us if they do feel that way).

It was worse on the floating islands where they literally put on a show for us, singing songs as we said goodbye and we didn´t get a chance to really speak to them and show them that we wanted to get to know them. They just saw us as potential customers of their homemade crafts.

I know that the villagers want to encourage tourism, but that´s obviously because they want our money, I´m not convinced they want our company. Its just a shame that there´s no other way for them to make the money because we are clearly affecting their cultures. Yet on the other hand, I suppose who are we to try to stop their cultures from changing if that´s what they want. (Ethical rant over, sorry, it´s just something I ask myself alot).

Anyway, when we got back to Puno we spent the rest of the day looking around the town but by the evening a giant rain/snow storm had taken over the city and the sloped streets were literally gushing like rivers. That night we ran back to the Inca Bar for food (we couldn´t resist). arrived totally drenched and had a nice meal. i was shattered so went back to the hotel and slept. Was awoken by Chelsea who somehow came into my room and started jumping on the bed, accompanied by Clint! Somehow managed to persuade me to get out of bed, get doled up and go out dancing. Partied until 6am where i just got back into the hotel, packed up and then it was time to go. Slept on the bus like a baby! What is with me and getting really drunk before a big truck day eh!