Puno and Cuzco (20 - 24 May 2008)
We crossed the Peruvian border without any hiccups and headed for Puno, our first destination in Peru. Puno is only a three hour bus ride from Bolivia and is, like Copacabana, set right on the shore of Lake Titicaca.
After doing some calculations, we realised that we only have five weeks for Peru and Ecuador. Five weeks are not enough! What to do? The plan is to try and postpone our flight from Ecuador to Argentina by a week, giving us six weeks in total - still not ideal, but at least better than five. So, with the limited time in mind, we put together a very tight schedule for Peru. This tight schedule meant we had one day in Puno. So we had planned it to a tee.
The main sight that we wanted to see here was the floating islands. So on arrival at our pre-booked hostel (never a good idea to pre-book a hostel, but we had no time to search for one) we immediately booked a boat tour to the islands for that same afternoon. Next up was some sightseeing in the town itself. We walked to the Plaza de Armas to have a look at the massive cathedral and to grab a bite to eat.
I immediately noticed how different the people in Peru were from those in Bolivia. They were friendlier and more welcoming. We had the cheapest lunch we could find (Peru is more expensive than Bolivia) - it was two bread rolls with a pink sausage and mustard. I loved it, mainly because it tasted like the hotdogs my mom would make on a Saturday afternoon! I also tried the unofficial national drink - Inca Kola, a bright yellow fizzy drink with a bubblegum taste. Delicious!
Even though we were crammed onto a boat full of Israelis, the tour to the floating islands exceeded my expectations. The famous floating islands are built using the buoyant totora reeds that grow abundantly in Lake Titicaca. Centuries ago, the Uros people fled into Lake Titicaca when the Inca and Collas tribes threatened their lives. The lives of the 700 inhabitants are interwoven with these reeds, which are partially edible (the call it their bananas) and are also used to make their houses, boats and other crafts. The islands are made by cutting the reeds into half a meter pieces and layering them onto each other. These layers are constantly replenished from the top as they rot from the bottom. The surface has a weird spongy, springy feel to it. Even the seats we sat on were made from the reeds. We had a very warm welcome as we arrived, with the women helping us from the boat and greeting us with a kiss on the cheek. These people are amazing (very touristy but still amazing)!
We returned at around 19:00 and popped into a small pizzeria. I was blown away by the delicious and cheap pizza. Oh boy, I already love Peru!
The next morning we took an eight hour bus to Cuzco. As luck would have it, we arrived slap bang in the middle of the Corpus Christi festival, which meant that the town was super busy with a lively festive buzz! We checked into the hostel and then set out to do some sightseeing. The San Francisco Plaza was converted into one massive open-air restaurant selling the traditional chiriuchu meal - a plate of various traditional foods including roasted lama, algae with fish eggs, savoury bread, dried corn, local lama cheese, chicken and guinea pig. This all for 12 Soles (equivalent to about R30,00). We took a seat and were served out plate of chiriuchu and two Inca Kola’s. We even had a band to liven up the already vibrant atmosphere!
It would have been the perfect night if our hostel was a bit better - the walls were paper thin and we could here every breath our neighbours took, not to even mention the noise from the street. So due to this, we went on a hostel-search the next morning and settled in Hostal Rojas - a more expensive but lovely choice with a very rude owner.
We spent the second day doing research on various Inca tours to Machu Picchu - the traditional Inca Trail was fully booked till October when we checked four months ago, so we decided to book an alternative trip when we got to Cuzco. We finally settled on the ‘Inca Jungle Tour’ which is a four-day tour including cycling and trekking to Machu Picchu. We strolled along the Plaza de Armas during the rest of the day, admiring the extraordinary floats in the Corpus Christi parade.
The people in Peru are truly a delight. They are all very friendly and helpful. We were sitting in a local eatery when one of the local women started talking to us. She was giving us all kinds of advice: from what food we should have in Cuzco to how to cure a sore throat (apparently gargling with coca tea and rubbing on some Vick’s Vaporub). People would also just randomly walk up to us (usually when we are standing with our noses in the Lonely Planet) and ask if they can help with directions.
We planned to get to bed early that evening, because we had to get up early the next morning to start our first day of the Inca Jungle Tour with a five hour bicycle ride. At around midnight, we were woken by a group of Israeli’s returning to the hostel from who knows where. I fumbled in the dark for my earplugs in a desperate attempt to get some shut eye. But to no avail - earplugs are inept to Israeli voices. It sounded as if the group was sitting in the courtyard having a discussion about something hilarious and the laughing caused one of them to have an uncontrollable coughing fit. By 2 am I was livid! I charged out of bed like a buffalo on attack and snatched the door open to find five of them sitting directly in front of our room! In fact, one was actually leaning with her back on our door. The audacity! This fuelled my fire and I snapped at them: “We can hear every single word you are saying and it is F*#+^%~ing annoying!” They stared at me with gaping mouths as if they could not believe what I was talking about. I kept my stare until one of them finally spoke nervously “sorry…” I slammed the door and listened to them leave. VICTORIOUS!!! In hind sight, I must have been a super-scary with my huge, deranged eyes and bad bed-hair 
Unfortunately, the adrenaline from the battle kept me up for another two hours and I did not exactly feel like a princess when we woke up at 6am. But alas, Eon and Chantell 1 - Israelis 0 (well, for that night - but they probably have a score of about 50 against us).
Click on image below to view the gallery for Puno and Cuzco: