23-10-10 - PAY DAY!

Well next adventyure after the Inka Trail was a trip furtehr south to a town in Peru called Puno, which was to be our base, whilst exploring Lake Titicaca. We had a 7 hour bus journey down to Puno, again these buses are awesome compared to the one´s in the UK. Had a last night in Cusco last night to celebrate the Inka Trail properly!! So was pretty tired in the morning, wasn´t sure if it was cause of the alcohol or the amount of Salsa dancing i was doing (attempts....there were quite a few people who were amazing!). Bus journey wasn´t too bad, was kind of just looking forward to listening to tunes and sleeping (the sleeping part didn´t happen though).

Puno is a small town, very pretty and relaxed, with not too much to do, surrounded by mountains on one side and Lake Titicaca We chilledthe first night there, and for some reason i have recently been having cravings for cheese and so have been ordering alot of cheese dishes tonight being no exception. Also Peru has this cheese that is all they seem to really have (no chedder or anything), but is like ´Haloumi´, its ACE! Enjoyed the food, although couldn´t help but notice a gentleman on a table next too us, looking suspiciously like a bond villan and kept thinking he was going to bring a white cat out from under the table!

24-10-10

Today was an early start again (every bloody day is an early start...7am is now a lie in!!). Today we were to go out to Taquile Island (in middle of lake) for a short trek and lunch and then onto a peninsula to stay with a Peruvian family.

We had a guide who was doing our Lake Titicaca bit who´s English was very good, although i feel he might´ve watched ´Sex in the City´ or ´The OC´ too much as he kept saying ´for sure´ all the time. He also had the most bizarre sense of humour i´ve ever heard, he told us about when Chile and Peru were at war....."Chile had a lot of money, where as we had none, and so were stock piling on guns and planes...so it was not looking good for us. However, before anything got started, Chile had an earthquake..........HAHAHAHAHAHA!". Never seen someone laugh about an earthquake so much.

Taquile Island was very quiet although had alot of tourists, think its the people who live on the Island´s main income. Was very peaceful and quiet, was sereane. Can´t elaborate really as we just walked and ate, then got back on our boat, although i will say this...burnt my shins at the bottom, so now i look like one of those warner brother cartoon characters when they´ve eaten a hot chili, and they go read from the bottom up, but i´m just a prolonged version!

After this we went to the Peninsula where we were to be staying the night and wearing traditional costumes. We got there and apparently the people we were supposed to be staying with didn´t know we were coming. All was sorted, whilst that was happening played football with some local boys, good laugh. However playnig in hiking boots....not so easy to control the ball, like playing with bricks on your feet.

Myself and a mate met family we were staying with, no-one here speaks English apparently so i was put to the test as my mate didn´t know a bloody word! We were put in a room, and the two daughters came and talked to us (14 - Terease and 17 - Sandra). We done quite well, and my spanish was tolerable although Terease kept correcting my pronounciation, which was funny as i did sound as you´d expect, not bad spanish with a wierd welsh accent! They found it funny though. So we had dinner wth them, which was a CARB fest!! Had potato soup, followed by potato stew with rice, and lots of it. Of course trying not to be rude we had to finish it, so i felt like i´d eaten a weeks worth of carbs...the thing is Peru are big potatoe growers and this is what they got here. After we dressed in local clothing, kind of like a feminine Clint Eastwood look. Then attempting dancing which was in school hall. We danced with the daughters, whilst the mum looked on (Natalia), and i think they found it hilarious as my hat kept falling off.....people in Peru must have very small heads!

25.10.10

Woke up after a great nights sleep, couldn´t actually move either thouh as we had like 6 blankets, we were woking up by the noises of several different farm animals scattered around the Island and glorious sunshine.

Girls were getting ready for school (which i was chuffed to see as alot of children in Peru work instead of going to school) and the mother brought us some breakfast......about 20 pieces of bread!! My stomach still hadn´t come to terms with last nights Carb fest, and we could not finish this food, felt bad but i think my stomach was about to hit the floor and i´d be stuck until it digested, which could´ve been several years!! We said our goodbyes and made our way back to the boat, never met the father as apparently when they can ´t farm the land they move to the city to get work for a few months. On way down i noticed that the Peninsuala was completely silent and just a wash of how simple life can be and still be happy washed over me....I then realised, its because there are NO CARS here, they walk everywhere, leading (what seems to me i suppose) very simple lifes and are very happy!!

On way back went to the Floating Islands that are just made out of reeds, were people used to live on them, but they are mainly now for tourists, still pretty impressive though!! Rest of the day was spent wandering around Puno for a cake shop, i was just wandering in general, like a sheep following the crowd, inanly feeling ever more bored until i decided to take a nap.

TOnight was the night we were to try Guinea Pig, and also the group leader wanted me to play guitar after this show at the restaurant, which i reluctantly excepted as the group had been nagging me for a while, and some were going home soon. The guinea big was an experience. Was mainly just skin, with little meat on it, although i literally ate all of it....brains and eyes too..mmmmmmmm, cant´t really describe the taste, it was just white meat and tasted ...good i guess! Wonder what pet i can eat next!? The impromptu song went well, had not lyrics or anything and so just made it up on the spot, other tourists in the room seemed to like it too, made people laugh and made one girl in my group cry...she said it was because of the lyrics in the chorus, who knew my words could be so moving....there were lots of other people crying, but i later found out it was because their ears had started bleeding!!

That night we went out afterwards for our last night in Peru...was a cracking night!! On to Bolivia tomorrow, where it is our last night with a few people as the first half of the trip finishes and also we get a new guide. It will be a tough act to follow as our guide Alim has been fantastic and a star for us all, couldn´t do enough for us!!

Onto Boliva and political uprest....EVOOOOOO!!