Puno - Lake Titikaka - Arequipa - Lima

We took the first class train back to Cuzco which was just lovely, great big comfy chairs, waitress service and amazing views. We arrived back in to Cuzco and were transferred to our hostal. It was so nice to be back in normal surroundings and to have a hot shower and toilet avaliable at any time. We sent all our stinky clothes of to the laundry (can I just add the laundry came back with each individual item of clothing ironed, folded and in individual bags, my underwear sorted in to colours and all for abour a fiver, amazing)and went to bed, absolute bliss a feathered mattress and duvet!
We had one free day in cuzco and spent the day buying our final Peru bits and catching up with home via video calling! On our way around the streets we were given a flyer for an ENGLISH bar & restaurent! It was definatly fate, my eyes lit up and we headed staight over...I had a lovely pot of English tea and a jacket potatoe with English Heinz beans and cheddar cheese...such a treat. Brett had shepherd pie mmmmm!
We spent the rest of the day here, chillling, reflecting and reading all the english papers and magazines!
On the Saturday we were up bright and ealy for our 8am train to Puno, we were on board at 7am and the first ones aboard. We took the first class train, which was very cheap and well worth it. It was a 9 hour train journey and the views along the way were amazing.
The train takes you up to quite a high altitude, which we are now used to! It took us through the Andean mountains where we could look down on to deep valleys and the Huatanay River, we went through the Andean Planes and stopped at the highest point La Raya where they had a market with all handmade perivian clothes. We went through towns and markets where the stalls were taken done just before the train went by and put up again as we went through. When we went through the towns we went slowly as we were on the roads and streets, people came out of there houses to wave and see the train and we often had children chasing the train.
The last 2 carriages of the train are viewing cars, there was a bar and seating, all comfy leather chairs and the last carriage is just for viewing and completly open. AT one point when we were going through the town we had to go inside as the children often throw rocks at the train! Nice!
We were served breakfast and lunch aboard, all the waiters were dressed in black tie and served every one at exactly the same time! We had bands and other entertainers going through the train and a fashion show!
The 9 hours flew by and before we knew it we we had arrived in Puno. Our hotel was in the middle of no where and when we arrived we arrived with a tour of 50 english tourists!!
Another early start we were picked up at 630am for the start of our tour of Lake Titikaka and the floating islands!
Once all aboard we had a two hour slow boat trip to the first floating island called Uros. When I say floating islands they are actually floating islands and are built using layers of buoyant ´totora´reeds that grow in the lake. When we climbed on to the island it was like stepping on to a water bed, it was quite strange. We were greeted by the president of the islnad and the locals. There are 100´s of islands here and they range from having 20 residents to 200. Each house is made from the reeds. New reeds are put on the top of the island every few weeks as the ones below rot away so it is constant work for the people here. The people don´t generally deal with money they make things to sell or exchange items with the other islands. The island stays in one place by basically anchoring it to the ground. If they get new neighbous they don´t like they just cut their anchor ands move away to another part of the lake.
When we were here it was very cold, they are at a high altitude but it must be a hard way to live and they can´t have fires as they will just burn the island away so cooking is restricted too. You won´t see an Islander actively walking around over the age of about 45 as it is so cold here they suffer from a very young age from arthritis! Nice!
Once we were on the island we were allowed to look around and were given a demonstration from the president of the island. He showed us how the islands are built and how they float. The ladies of the island cooked us all fresh bread and then we were shown all the goods they had to sell. MOst of the items were hand made and very pretty. No doubt you´ll see these in a place in Billericay on our return!
We were at the island for a few hours and were then taken by their boat, also made out of the reeds across to a neighbouring island where we caught our motorised boat to Isle Taquile.
Isle Taquile has been inhabited for 1000´s of years by Quechua speaking islanders. Its about 7km and is a very traditional old styled island. The islanders still live the same way they have for the last few thousand years. They all wear traditional clothing and stick to all the traditions of the past. MOst of the women here work the land whilst the men knit.....very interesting!
ON arrival at the island our guide informed us of the 500 steps up and the long hard walk down...I thought my walking days were over and was still suffering from the Salkantay trek but had more to do, we were at a higher altitude than Cuzco so the breathing was still a problem...so we began the walk up and up and up....
The views were amazing here and we could see the snow capped mountains of Bolivia. The kids here have cottened on to tourists and make friendship bands to sell to the tourists and if they see a camera they shoot over to get in the shot then ask for money as you took there picture, cheeky kids! They were lovely kids though as were most of the Perivian kids we met, they were so cheeky but sweet with it. They woudld tie bracelts on to us and not take them off insiting we paid and then hold our hands so we couldn´t remove them ourselves. We just laughed with them and distracted them by showing them pics of them selves on the cameras! The island is famous for its weaving and we watched as chairs and tables were weaved in front of us!
Its a very different way of life here and the islanders are so isolated from the real world but its the way of life they have all chosen.
After the adventures of Puno we got a bus to Arequipa. We boarded a very luxurious bus, with lay down beds it was all very nice...until...we began driving...we think the driver had a death wish he was driving so fast round the country roads we were petrified. The guide aboard didn´t speak English and didn´t understand our spansih for tell the driver to slow down. We were going through mountains and he would break at the last minute and swerve round them, he ran over 2 stray dogs along the way, it was awful. After about 6 hours aboard we finally made it our destination by this point Brett was in a rage at the crazy driver so we swiftly had to get away as I think he probably would have punched him!
We arrived at our hotel in Arequipa and went out for a lovely Pizza and a few beers, nothing crazy as we had a tour the next day.
Our day tour was of La Compania Church, Plaza de Armas which is the cities main cathedral and finally the convent.
Arequipa city is other wise known as the white city and is funnily enough all white. It sits right by several active volcanos and is a very pretty place.
The day tour of the city was fun, it was a walking tour (joy!) with another couple, who were on there honey moon! We started of in the cathedral which was amazing, it had the most interesting organ I had seen and some lovely features. We went to the church and then finally to the convent, well, i am still a little traumatised and very grateful that i wasn´t bought up in Peru several hundreed years ago as now I would be a nun!!! Back in the day in Peru, familes couldn´t afford to pay for two weddings so they would pay for the first daughter to marry some one suitable and at 12 years old would send the 2nd daughter of to the convent and they would have to learn to become a nun. Not only is this bad enough, in my eyes, they were never allowed to see their family in person only through a wooden wall! Although if my parents had sent me to a nunary I wouldn´t want to see them but i suppose i would be a nun so I would have to forgive....very sneaky! Lucky for me I was born in Engalnd (incase you didn´t know) and Mum & Dad Tadman kept me so I could marry Brett and now I am here! Brett did find it quite funny, i don´t think he has seen me ask so many questions on a tour...my questions were mainly...really they came here at 12 and never left, there was no way out, did they not rebel etc etc. IT was a very interesting tour and an amazing place. We saw how the nuns lived then and how it all worked. There are still about 30 nuns living there now, a very interesting place, I´m glad we went.
The church had a wine bar so we went there for a drink after with the american couple to discuss the day!
From Arequipa we flew back to Lima, where we had a couple of days to get organised as we were heading to Sao Paulo Brazil!
I can´t believe our time in Peru is up. Before heading to Peru I was sooo worried about going there but we LOVED the place, the people were so friendly and it is such a pretty place with so much history. I could have stayed there longer but we must move on....Goodbye Peru and Hello Brazil....