Arrived into Puno on Lake Titicaca after along journey back along the way to Cusco, including Juliaca which is one of the least pleasant, most post-apocalyptic place so far. One main road partially paved, with a huge sprawl of truck mechanics and unfinished brick buildings. It looks like an earthquake has recently hit and no one has bothered to clean up! After a very comfy night at the hotel with (fairly) hot water, big beds and a good meal, we set off on bicycle taxis down to the port to get the boats out to the islands. I never thought a boat ride could be so boring until we took over 3 hours to get to Amantani Island for the homestay (via the floating islands) in a boat using a car motor :S The floating reed islands were tiny and a little bit smelly from the slightly rotting reeds, but it was interesting to see how they managed to float and how the people lived. When we finally arrived on Amantani, we were met by the local people we were to stay with for the night and taken to their houses for lunch (quinoa soup, followed by potatoes, rice and fried cheese). Just the walk from the harbour up the hill to the house had out of breath due to altitude (4000masl) and a cold picked up after the Inca Trail! After lunch we all met up again for a gringos vs locals football match which the gringos manfully lost 4 to 2, even after many many subs!!! The walk up the hill to visit a temple defeated me with earache about 3/4 of the way up :( However, dinner followed (rice, vegs, potato) and then the heavens opened which is pretty loud on a tin roof!! We retired to our pink roomand piled on the blankets as it was now very cold - even so cold I wore the Chicken Hat Jake had given me to keep me warm!!! This was the second outing for the Chicken Hat, having previously kept me warm once I climbed to the top of Dead Womans Pass on the Inca Trail. The next morning brought pancakes amd jam, before the boat ride back to Puno via Taquile Island, for more walking and handicrafts. Today we have said goodbye to Peru and !Hola! to Bolivia and we're on the way to La Paz for The Death Road and the Witches Market - hopefully not strikes and people throwing dynamite!!
