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Becca, Zoe and Katy's Peruvian Adventure
Heya!
Ive been assigned the journal entry for our Peru/Bolivia trip so here goes....
Ok, so our original plan was to head from Cusco to a place in Bolivia called Copacobana, where we could go to the Isla de Sol but unfortunately there was a strike on so instead our first stop had to be Puno, which is not meant to be that attractive but from there you can get to the floating islands on Lake Titicaca, which was something else we were quite keen to do.
So we were back on the night buses again, which didnt fill us with joy, but we thought it couldnt be much worse than spending 17 hours on a really smelly bus, as was the case from Paracus. However thats where we were wrong- although not as long I dont think we have ever been as cold. We had seats right at the front of this coach, surrounded by very large windows that I swear werent sealed properly because the whole night we had an icy draught come in. Despite 1 and a half valium I still couldnt sleep! Becca much to my disgust only took half and slept like a baby which just made me want to poke her all night! That was the last time we made the mistake of not taking our sleeping bags on the bus!
We arrived at Puno at about 6 in the morning and as we got off the bus a man came up and offered us a hostel- which we were very thankful for- it was quite pleasant as well! We booked a tour of the floating islands straight away and then went to bed for two hours.
9 o clock and we were up again and set off for the port.
We got on a smallish tour boat and set off.
The islands are manmade almost entirely from reeds. They are really clever and basically look like an island of straw. A lot of the inhabitants have lived there all their life, just in little reed houses, no bigger than a large garden shed which house about 6 people.
When we arrived we had a bit of an introduction to the islands and they passed around some reeds to eat- I thought actually surprisingly tasty!- not sure about the others!
Much to mine and Beccas joy, perhaps not quite so much Katys there were stalls selling goods as well. In shopping mode, not really thinking I promptly went and bought a reed mobile and a rather attractive reed duck handbag- possibly not the two most useful and convenient purchases when you are just about to embark on a week and a half tour of Bolivia. Im sure you ll all be pleased to know that they are still just about intact! Unfortunately the ceramic pencil mug I bought on the next island is not!!
The islanders use the reeds for just about everything they do- most of the handicrafts are made of reed or are woven and they also make these reed sort of viking looking boats to sail from island to island- which we went in of course, not possibly the most secure of boats but quite fun!
The islands were all quite similar though in the last one they had a little cafe that sold cusqueña much to our joy and Becca and I ordered a largeish bottle to enjoy on our way home.
We headed into town in the afternoon and had some lunch and then wandered around the centre. There wasnt really a lot there and we all spent a rather nice two hours sitting on a bench enjoying the sun, while admiring a rather attractive blue building.
After this we headed back to the hostel and all had a long awaited shower and pretty much got ready for bed at about 7 in the evening- wild party animals that we are!
Bec and I were sharing a room and were enjoying hollywoods sexiest and most beautiful on the tv(homework for miami), when we decided that we fancied a bit of supper fom the corner shop. It was at this point Bec realised she didnt have her giblet ( for all those like me who dont understand the word giblet one of those coats without sleeves)- the love of her life apart from Nathan of course! Thinking back she was pretty sure she had left it on the boat in the morning, so a very gloomy Bec and I set off on a bit of a mission. The man at reception- bless him- phoned the tour company we went with and tried to get hold of the captain of the boat but to no avail so we decided to head down to the port on the off chance someone was there- quite unlikely at about 8 in the evening but never the less. The problem was made worse by the fact we had already booked our bus tickets to La Paz for 7 the next morning so it wasnt as though we could go back the next day!
We got down there and luckily Bec is observant and remembered the name of the boat so we asked a few people about and managed to locate it only to find a door that was padlocked- ahhh!! We managed to find quite a helpful man just as Bec was dangerously close to picking the lock or breaking the door down, who told us that the captain was usually around at about 6 in the morning. Thank god peruvians get up so ridiculously early!! So a plan was made to get up and go down there for 6 the next day and then head straight to the bus station! We unfortunately missed who was hollywoods sexiest and most beautiful but at least Bec went to bed a bit happier!
The next morning we arrived at the port and headed to the boat we found the night before. To our dismay no-one appeared to be around and Bec climbed on board again and peered through the window - sure enough giblet was inside staring at us from the seats where we had been sitting, which kind of made it even worse coz now we could see it but couldnt get it. Determined Bec went off to find someone and came across a group of men standing on the doc all smoking pipes, and asked for "captain por inka dos" and they all started shouting for someone called Sergio who subsequently emerged. In beautiful Spanish she told him "mi chumpa es en la Bateau" and he came down and unlocked it for us! Mission accomplished!!!! Bec was so pleased she has vowed to call her first child Sergio (sorry nathan)!
It all ended very happily and to celebrate we got a funny bike taki thing, which had a bicycle and two seats on the front, to the bus station. Basically some poor peruvian had to cycle with Becca, myself and all our luggage which wasnt light! He was very sweet though and agreed to take our photo at the end- though I think he was more interested in taking a photo of his bike than us- sort of chopping our heads out the photo- but never mind!
We met up with the others and boarded our bus to La Paz which is the next stage in our journey.......
Lots of love from us all
xxxxx
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