The past couple of days have been a blur. Am hoping for some downtime this weekend!!! We are planning on going to Baños in Ecquador. It is a favorite vacation spot doe to the hot springs. I could really go for that!!!

This leg of the trip, Cusco to Puno, isn’t quite working out like I’d expected. It began when our travel agent arrived at our hostel in Cusco at 7 a.m. on Sunday to tell us that the “luxury” train ride we were expecting had been cancelled. Instead of 11 blissful empty hours, our time would be spent bumping our way across Peru by bus.

So far, not bad.

As we all boarded the bus, a guide hopped aboard and began yelling. He yelled about the buildings we passed, about the river (apparently a tributary of the Amazaon), about each village we passed. I loved my mini-disk player, but it was not nearly powerful enough to drown him out.

The high point of the tour was a literal one, 4,300 meters (14,000 ft)! I got off the bus and took a couple of photos. Got a little light headed. There’s not much oxygen at that level!!!

Our hostel in Puno has hot water!!! This was cause for major celebration!! Tuesday morning a taxi picked us up from our hostel and took us to Lake Titicaca for the tour of Uros (floating reed islands) and Taquile (the real island where locals put you up).

We had about 30 minutes on one of the Uros islands. It happened to be one with an Adventist school. Jo found an Adventist lady and we purchased some simple pottery from her. She seemed genuinely pleased to meet fellow believers and said something about us being sisters even though we didn’t know each other. It was an odd feeling to be so connected to someone who seemingly didn’t anything in common with me.

The trip to Taquile took three hours. Now, when people reference being on “a slow boat to China”, I’ll know exactly what they mean. This little diesel engine had one speed and it was NOT fast!

Arrive on Taquile, we hiked up to the main part of town. The people on Taquile have a unique social structure. They are totally independent. They have 22 elders and a mayor who act as police, judge and jury. Their social status is denoted by the way they dress.

• Black-brown hat on a man means he’s a village leader.
• black-brown skirt on a woman means she’s married.
• Stocking cap with pom-pom draped down the right side means a young man is looking for a bride.
• A girl with the top layer of her multi-layer skirt pinned up, means she’s looking for a husband.
• If a young man wants to speak to a girl, he must throw a rock at her feet. If she picks it up, then he is allowed to speak to her.

It was great to relax in the afternoon as the rest of the tourists left. Jo and I stayed in a house near the main square. There were a couple of generations living in the quad-like complex. We were given a room upstairs. Very dusty, but also tidy. Odd combination! The “facilities” were behind the complex and down a path. A cement hole in the ground with pads the shape of feet on either side. Very interesting.

We had dinner at a local restaurant on the main square. By the time we got out, it was pitch black and raining. Did I mention there is almost NO electricity on the island! Jo and I had to feel our way down the path toward where we remembered our compound. At one point I had gotten ahead of Jo and and she had to use echo location to find me! What a riot!!! We finally felt our way along the wall to where a path led down to the house. We made it!!!

I slept well…under 8 blankets and countless layers of dust! I had to take three of them off because they were crushing me! The rain poured most of the night and the winds howled! It was a very odd feeling to be not only in a foreign country, but on an isolated island where the local language goes back centuries and has nothing in common with any language you know!

We passed a very quiet morning on Taquile. I order eucalyptus tea. It came with bugs, and I have to admit that I lost some of my zest for adventure! 🙂

After a very hot shower tonight I am feeling much better!

We’re off to Lima tomorrow morning and then on to Quito on Friday.