Peru!

Well we made it into Peru with no problems. We got on a Turistico bus and they basically put us in front of the officials to get our Bolivia exit and Peru entrance stamps. Luckily no-one questioned me about that book and they´re letting us stay for 90 days if we so wish. We´ve already noticed how much more expensive Peru is, although cheap by British standards, and most of all how well equipped they are for tourists than Bolivia. Not that I´m saying this is a good thing!

Puno and the Islands

We spent a day exploring Puno and getting mobbed to near death by people trying to sell us socks, bracelets and shine our shoes (no matter how many times I try to explain mine are Gore-Tex and will be beyond repair if they shine them they still don´t get it). I can´t say I was exactly taken with Puno but the food is pretty good and Craig made some friends by letting the local children try on his sunglasses!

A guy who met us off the bus and took us to his hotel also claimed to own a boat, arranged a tour of the Uros floating islands for us. There are more than 40 floating islands which are made (and constantly being re-made) from totora reeds and are home to Aymara people. We visited the largest island which is nearly 4000m above sea-level and 2 hours from Puno. Stepping onto the island was a little worrying as they move around with the water but I relaxed when they demonstrated how sturdy the reeds are, and how thick the islands are. Amazingly there was a pre-school, primary school and post office on this island not to mention a lot of little houses. The people were so friendly and let us take photographs of their homes and children. We also got to ride on a dragon-headed reed boat complete with two children playing twinkle twinkle on their pipes!

Later we visited Isla Taquile which was fairly like Isla del Sol in that the entire land was covered with a terracing system used to grow grops on steep land and has spectacular views to the mainland. We wondered around the island for a while but began to feel slightly frustrated by our very slow tour group so adventured off by ourselves and made quite a few new little friends! The children on the island are encouraged to sell their parent´s wares which can get a bit irritating after a while as they don´t want to leave you alone. Luckily we had cake so when they arrived we shared a bit of cake with them. The story of the cake giving got out and we soon developed a fan club! I ended up buying a bracelet anyway but we had a fun afternoon!

Cusco

We´re moving on again tomorrow to Cusco where we´ve been recommended a hostel that serves Sunday dinner!! Can´t wait!