Day: 11 - Lima and the finale of Lovefly's Saga....for now

Well folks – I regret to inform you that this is in fact the last blog post for this Lovefly saga. We woke up early to catch a flight to Lima; and amongst all the commotion with the strikes, everything somehow miraculously went off without a hitch. This was the leg of the trip that I was most concerned about; spending over 3hrs doing research on the most reliable airline prior to booking, even if it was $70 or more. The last thing we needed was to miss our flights back to the States, so this was a remarkably refreshing feeling when the flight landed in Lima and we knew that as long as we didn’t let our guard down and do something stupid like go out to a Cevecheria and eat some raw fish from a questionable restaurant in the sun-stroked patio and get sent to the hospital to get our stomachs pumped. Whelp as you can imagine, we did exactly that – well sans the hospital.

Before I get to that; after deboarding the plane, we stored our luggage in the airport lockers, hopped a cab, and went sailing off to find a well-regarded Cevercheria to get our last fix. We had already toured the Miraflores area of town but had yet to actually see downtown Lima, so our Cabby dropped us off downtown at what we hoped to be our settling place for lunch. Unfortunately for us, Lima is a very Christian city and this being a Sunday, well everything was more or less shackled up. This was quite unfortunate as eating raw fish, I would generally like to partake in a restaurant of a relatively high amount of credibility, not just one we find on the street. Having not eaten at all that day, we were in that stage of the nourishment cycle where it didn’t matter what or where you ate as long as you got something to replenish your soul. Weighing our options, having been rejected by two choices in the guidebook, we decided it was probably best to seek out the more gringo of places as if all these Americans were partaking in Ceviche, if someone was going to go down well we were all going to go down. The Ceviche honestly was quite scrumptious and the restaurant itself didn’t even feel terribly touristy upon sitting down. The only questionable portion of the meal was the fact that I had ordered “Leche De Tigre,” or “Tiger’s Milk” which is actually quite disgusting when you type it out – it’s the runoff juices from the ceviche with little bits of seafood just chilling within the glass. It certainly gives you the most powerful “whizzooom kick!” you’ll ever experience, and along with the fact that it’s perhaps the most powerful hangover cure known to man (unfortunately neither of us were hungover in the least), this would have made for a marvelous drink after a night of challenging a Peruvian local to a Pisco Sour drinking challenge, alas it was incredibly questionable, and well, ha not going to sugarcoat this one but it was pretty disgusting.

To calm y’alls curiosity, we did not get sent to the Peruvian emergency room fortunately, we survived this test against our travel will and chutzpah, although I will admit I think the Tigre did get inside my head a bit as I would occasionally stop wide-eyed thinking it was about to take on a full scale blitzkrieg on my body….I ended up being completely fine.

We then made our rounds through the city center, which was quite glorious – fantastic architecture, beautifully colored with various pastels. This is part of the reason I’ve begun to become Team South America over Team Europe as you can find so many examples and experiences with European culture and architecture in any (well, I’ve only really experienced Peru so this is a slightly broad assumption), city – but then there is so much diversity that accompanies that European influence. It is such a beautiful array of various themes that melt together to make one glorious country. Ranging from the native culture; the ridiculously diverse nature landscapes/elements; the immensely happy and warmhearted locals; the inexpensiveness of traveling; all the amazing architecture and culinary endeavors – this is so similar to European cities, but might just have so much more to offer. I digress – the city center was quite a site, and also stumbling across local plazas that were also accompanied with majestic architecture continued to make this into a very satisfying end to our journey.

We didn’t spend terribly much time in the City Center though, and I wouldn’t exactly recommend going here if you only have a day in Lima, as outside these awesome plazas the downtrodden economic state of Peru became quite apparent. Everywhere we’d turn we either run into a massive Miner Protest (yes the protest did in fact even make it all the way to Lima), or some slightly shady areas. We decided that we had seen enough city, so we caught a cab and ventured back to Miraflores considering it was honestly one of our favorite parts of the trip. We soon found out that it wasn’t just the initial travel endorphin rush, but that the Miraflores neighborhood was in fact a remarkable place to spend one’s afternoon. It was actually quite a bit of luck we had that we had a bit of confusion with our cab driver when we told him to let us off at Parque de Amore, as we came to find out that the park was actually quite a bit longer than we had initially thought. We actually had only stumbled across the very end of it, the actual Love Park with all the intimate sculptures, flowerbeds, and couples was a ways down the ocean front. This made for a fantastic walk as we decided we would go back to that café we had stumbled upon the first day that overlooks the ocean and just sip back on a latte before heading off to dinner and then the airport.

After scoffing down a churro and a latte, we trekked around the Miraflores area to find that restaurant we had loved our first meal upon landing in Peru – La Red. Again, we soon found out that everything was closed including La Red, so we spent over an hour seeking out another restaurant and could not make a decision as nothing was open except for extremely overpriced and touristy restaurants. We decided we actually would have better luck finding a safe and decent restaurant for a similar price at the airport; and thank god we decided this as of course the last possible leg of the journey we ran into a little bump.

Apparently only a select number of Taxis are actually allowed into the airport. We just assumed that any Taxi would do, but the one we hopped in politely told us we had to take a cleared cab company. We were a tad unsettled by this news as we still had an alright window of time to get to the airport, but had zero idea how we would find a marked cab. We then opted to seek shelter in a nearby hostel as we figured they’d be able to speak English and we’ve found that hostel caretakers are generally incredibly friendly and resourceful. Even though we had never booked at this hostel, they helped call a cab for us, only to notify us that the next one to be available could be over half an hour at a minimum. Our luck really took a turn when the hostel worker then notified us that a cab was actually already on it’s way to pick up a passenger and as long as that passenger was ok with us riding with him, we could tag along. Fortunately, the passenger was more than happy to have us along as we split it with him and he had actually been traveling mostly alone for his stint in Peru so was more than happy to hang out with some fellow Americans.

We safely made it to the airport and soon found we had not only entered into an airport, but a lovely warm sanctuary where all our wishes were granted. I was flying first class with United back to Dallas, and having never flown international first class before, I was unaware of seriously how well they treat you. First off it was fantastic how we were able to skip the entire line of people who had been waiting there for about an hour but for some reason they wouldn’t allow any of them to check in? So we awkwardly shuffled on past and fortunately was able to sneak Emma through with no questions asked. Then after making it through security we were invited into the United lounge where they greeted us with an extensive buffet of various finger foods, fruits, sodas, waters, and of course the crème de la crème, a fully stocked open bar with all top shelf liquors. Having spent the past 12 days, not exactly in the worst conditions, but just in quite tired conditions, having all these amenities was quite something.

It was slightly humorous sitting in this lounge as it being our first time, at least to ourselves we were, well ok….I was….like a little kid in a candy shop. Along with the fact that we were wearing our backpacking attire, and threw our huge packs into a corner, we sort of stuck out as quite the contrast to the demographic that was composed of mostly businessmen or upper class travelers.

After trying out every possible fingerfood, a couple delectable farewell Pisco Sours, and just relaxing for a bit; it was time for Emma to depart for her flight back to NY. We bid our farewells as she boarded her plane and I returned back to the lounge to find a friend in the barkeep. I must say that having spent literally 24hrs, 12days straight with a single person, it’s an incredibly odd feeling that moment that person leaves your side. I traveled mostly alone when I studied abroad in Europe, which I do recommend to anyone who has never traveled by themselves, but I must say that it is an absolute blessing to have someone to travel with, especially someone who shares very similar interests to you, who knows how to work together seamlessly through any conflicts that arise, who puts up with your excessive need to take photos at every opportunity, and who happens to be your best friend.

Another odd feeling is finding a way to conclude this blog. I’m still in the mindset of reflecting and illustrating in my memory what occurs next in the Lovefly saga, only to realize that I might accidentally continue and depict my entire flight, what I had for lunch upon landing in Dallas, and how grateful I was that my old reliable car, “Bosco,” started up on it’s first try! Alas, that would be honestly miserable for you as the reader.

I will honestly say that landing back in the States was an odd feeing, our time in Peru then felt too short and I was personally longing to get back. This was a country that showed us so much insight into a culture that was incredibly foreign to us. Being accustomed to the luxuries of America and Europe, this was a window into These windows are what Emma and I both seek to be a huge part of our lives. It baffles me as to why there are so many who certainly have the opportunity to do such, but choose to remain secluded in their comfort zone back in America. Peru, although economically downtrodden, is perhaps one of, if not the most beautiful country I have ever stepped foot upon (don’t worry New Zealand! I haven’t forgotten about you; I’m coming for you next!).

My final words about Peru are……So many have asked us this question: “why Peru?” We honesty were a tad taken aback at first because we didn’t think Peru was honestly that obscure of a destination. But to answer that question: why Peru? This is a place where you can see so much contrast, diversity, nature, architecture, various foods, and just so so soooo many happy and kind people concentrated within a two week period. No other place I have ever visited or perhaps even heard of has this to offer. The nature alone is unparalleled to anywhere else I have ever been (again, New Zealand, relax yourself, I will visit soon) – we went from an ocean that also encompasses a vast desert (Lima), to the Amazon Rainforest (Posada Amazonas), a city mashed together with such a jumble of Peruvian/Incan and conquistador heritage (Cusco), a breathtaking site that surpasses honestly anything your eyes could ever gather the must to create Machu Picchu), an incredibly massive lake 4,000 meters above sea level (Lake Titicaca), and a majestic European influenced city that sits at the foot of a precariously deadly volcano (Arequipa). If you’re reading this right now, then well you’ve most likely read all my other posts and know how much I can go on with illustrating the vivid recollections of our travels; so I will leave it at that with the hope that this again, did Peru that absolute justice that it deserves as being an absolute must see for those looking for an outlet into a world that isn’t something we are familiar with.

I would just like to thank all those who accompanied us along on this journey through reading this blog (particularly Emma’s mother; thanks for the love Beth!); sending us emails, and sending us your love. And also to all of our gracious hosts and amazing people we met, although many we met for just a day, or simply a very brief encounter/stint of time; you all had an influence on us. Those who deserve individual accolades goes out to our Amazon father: Silverio the legend himself; and to our beloved Chicago cohorts: Kristina and Ankur.

This was an unforgettable journey; the greatest trip I’ve personally ever had in my life, and honesty the first trip I’ve ever felt that I wished there was no end in sight to heading back home. I hope I did Peru the justice it certainly deserves in illustrating the absolute beauty of this one of a kind nation. Peru will always hold near, dear, and true to us, but the travel bug is already overwhelming us and it’s time to plan for our next jaunt!

Until next time!

Love you all and thank you endlessly,

Andrew and Emma

Day 10: Oye, Oye, Oye, Hail Mary Arequipa!

Waking up and slowly coming to the realization we had made it to Arequipa, it hit us how lucky we were that we safely made it and were back on track to making our return flight to the states, and perhaps most of all that we weren't stuck in Puno for another day. 

We decided to take one of the free walking tours offered by the city of Arequipa in the morning to get a decent overview of the city and the layout, and then make our way around on our own. The walking tour was actually surprisingly informational, especially compared to the other tours such as the Sacred Valley and the Machu Picchu tour. Meeting in the Plaza del Armas, our guide took us around there explaining some of the history with the Spanish invasion, and reconstruction from the many earthquakes they've had. Then visited a church nearby where he provided his own interpretation of the symmetric stonework/designs; walked through a small school with some great cloisters where we tried some queso helado (not cheese flavored but just same process to make cheese). We then visited the museum where Juanita (Peru's most famous mummified remains - a 14yr old girl who was sacrificed to the gods to prevent further volcano eruptions), a Colca Canyon info session; walked across the oldest bridge in Arequipa; randomly wondered through the oldest hotel in Arequipa and then the oldest road; went to a baby alpaca store and learned the difference from real baby alpaca to synthetic (I only took away that it felt very similar but was 10x more expensive); went to a cafe with the "worlds best coffee," which is made with Tunki coffee (and thus began the start of my collection of various coffee bags from countries I've visited, much to Emma's chagrin); went to this organic chocolate shop which seemed to be run by gringos but offered great variations of chocolate ranging from chocolate tea to chocolate coffee and well just numerous chocolate bars; they also offered micro brew beers from all over Peru, and some smashing deserts; then lastly we visited a restaurant where they taught us how to make Pisco Sours and we got to taste some. 

There concludes a ridiculous run-on sentence but perhaps the shortest way to give an overview of all the sights we saw without delving into wordy transitions and unnecessary details. 

We departed the tour group and decided to tour the Santa Catalina Monastery. This monastery was incredibly impressive just by its sheer size. The infrastructure was literally a city within a city, with over 20,000 sq. meters of buildings. This was perhaps the largest thing I've stepped foot into. Not only was it massive, but it was astonishingly beautiful, with walls brightly colored red with adjacent walls in other sections that were a bright sea blue. There are only 25 nuns who live here now, but at its height the monastery was home to nearly 500 nuns. Our guide, Carmen, was such an incredibly sweet Peruvian who gave a great informational tour and laughed along with Emma at my unnecessary picture taking. 

Overall, we thoroughly loved Arequipa. This was perhaps mostly due to the fact that it had an extremely European feel to it. It's called the "White City" as the Spaniards who conquered and settled it made all the walls out of white stones. The streets were mostly cobblestone and close together with a European flow to it. There weren't an overwhelming amount of street vendors shoving their products at you as you walked by; the streets were remarkably clean, the stores were also very clean and modernized, and just overall there was an obvious sense of more wealth here, as if the Peruvian mafia had their headquarters here. For those seeking the European charm in South America, Arequipa is a great place to go to get your kick. 

At this point in our trip we both were starting to miss our typical cuisine we are used to back in the States - well primarily just missing that sweet magnificent godlike strings that of pasta. We swung by a cafe close to the center of town where we indulged upon some surprisingly delicious pasta carbonara. Of course the heavy cream and bacon/egged dish knocked us off our feet, quite literally as we were exhausted after, so we trekked back to the hostel where we took a quick siesta. 

^Pisaq Rudolpho at it again having some Pisco Sours during our Siesta

With our engines refueled we set off to explore one of the local markets. One has to tred carefully when exploring the local markets as one aisle may contain that exact souvenir you’ve been seeking for our mothers (i.e – see picture below!); or run the risk of exposure to salmonella, parasites, and other pathogens from the profusely potent and just simply revolting meats and fish that appear to have been sitting out all day long. The latter was what we encountered the majority of the time exploring this market; thus we chose to high-tail it out of there and refresh our souls with some queso helado.

We followed this up by repaying a visit to the Chocolate shop we had visited earlier that day on the tour. As mentioned, they had a great selection of local craft brews from various breweries around Peru. For those of you who know me (and those random folk who somehow stumbled upon this blog through the keywords “peru craft beer”) know that there is very little else that puts as big of a smile on my face than a genuinely wicked craft brew. It was quite a lovely and quaint experience as we had our own little table nooked into the corner of the balcony overlooking a decent amount of the city; along with sharing a couple of local beers and a chocolate cake – this was an absolutely glorious way to kick off the conclusion phase of our journeys.

From there we headed back to the hotel, but with a little pitstop at the local Starbuckeria. Much to Emma’s chagrin, I had made the executive decision to start my own coffee bean collection from various nations I visit. I already had bought a bag of Fair-Trade coffee from that really nifty coffeteria we stopped on the tour; and typically I wouldn’t dare to think to stop at Starbucks for a bag to add to this collection, but the bag was really debonair…..it had a really adorable macaw on it contrasting with a very simple white back. Amidst Emma’s rolling of the eyes; I was quite smitten with this find.

For dinner; looking back I’m surprised I suggested this idea being the last evening in Peru; but we decided to get Ramen noodles from the local grocery store. At this point we were just extremely tired of eating out at restaurants every meal of the day – it had nothing really to do with the Peruvian cuisine (although that as well was getting slightly tiresome as they tend to use very similar spices in most of their dishes); we just simply wanted a fast easy meal where we could nom away at our own pace. This actually was perfect considering one of the most enjoyable and cultural aspects of traveling tends to occur when you’re hanging out in the hostels mingling with other foreigners. Having private rooms opposed to the classical dormitory living; and also the fact that most of the hostels we had been staying at weren’t atypical of European rowdy hostels; this was the first one we actually got to hang out a bit. I don’t recall Ramen ever tasting that darn good, but gosh-golly-willackers, that certainly hit the spot. This sacred stryofoam cup of steaming sodium encrusted noodle soup; along with enjoying the company of a table full of Germans, Israelis, and I believe Australians? (all of whom were stranded here past their intended departure date due to the strike) – made for such a fascinating and refreshing evening.

Day 9: Another Kind or Bump in the Road

I believe in my last post I indicated that our travel experience was put to the test with the boat predicament - well that statement now holds no substance. Today was simply put - a challenge...

What was originally expected to be a relatively quiet day of just lounging around and meandering our way to Arequipa quickly turned awry. We did lounge around and take it very casually in the morning, simply walking around Puno and exploring the city. I guess before delving into the chaos that soon ensued I should preface it with an illustration of Puno.  

Puno honestly doesn't have terribly much to offer. The one thing Emma and I will most likely take away is their over abundance of photo-copy stores, there literally were more than we could count on our way from the hostel to the main square - Plaza Del Armas. Aside from this oddity, they didn't have much to offer unless you really are in desperate need to photocopy something, I'd recommend nixing Puno. 

The architecture and just overall appearance of the city accurately depicts the economic despair the citizens are in. There are so many, and I mean at times nearly every brick building, that is still only a quarter built with bricks, or walls crumpling down. There's one Main street which we walked down and actually had a great lunch of quinoa soup, sandwiches, lattes and a frozen lemonade in a very quaint courtyard. Aside from that street and the plaza del Armas that had relatively photo taking worthy pictures, I'd say skip out on the dilapidated streets of Puno and take your camera elsewhere. In fact, we were both surprised that Lake a Titicaca is the second most traveled place in Peru, as having seen all of Peru while midst writing this, we would have most likely altered our travel arrangements and focused on seeing places like the Colca Canyon (the deepest canyon in the world with delightful condors); the Nazca lines (some shapes mysteriously drawn into stones that you can only be seen from the air); Ica (an oasis in the dessert where you can go sand boarding or dune bugging); or lastly the Inca Trail (one of the worlds most popular trekking trails; a four day challenging hike to Machu Picchu taking the same road the Incans took). Alas, setting that aside we are still very glad we did travel to the Lake. It certainly was an experience and it was very beautiful and an excellent insight into the culture and daily lives of these locals, not to mention most who visit the lake don't exactly explore Puno at all. We were more or less just surprised how raved about it was, but if time allows for it, it's certainly worth a stop. 

Ok - now where the chaos comes into play. We were all set to leave the hostal, packs packed, and set off for the bus station. I also was still feeling ill from stomach pains from who knows what Incan spell was put on me, so a nice 6hr bus ride on the luxurious Cruz del Sur bus was highly anticipated. Unfortunately, there was no such bus....

There happened to be a strike in the nearby city of Juliaca from the coal miners, thus shutting down the roads all around. These strikes can be entirely unpredictable as at any moment they can turn quite violent, road blocks, cars burning, etc, well I'm sure you've all heard your fair share of strike stories in other countries. We had actually been forewarned of these strikes by the professor from the jungle, but he only warned us about the amazon area, so we were unaware that these strikes stretch as far as the Juliaca area. 

This caused quite the predicament for us as they said to come back again the next day at the same time to see if the strike was lifted, but that wouldn't get us in until 8pm on Saturday to Arequipa and we had a Sunday morning flight to catch to get back to Lima and then back to the States that evening. If the strike continued we would have been stranded and the only places we could fly out was Arequipa, or well Juliaca which was clearly out of the question; everywhere else you had to travel through Juliaca as Puno is in the very far southeast corner of the country, half of Lake Titicaca is actually in Bolivia. 

^Emma reflecting and analyzing the situation while eating a 26cent questionable icecream/gelatin thing...

We talked with a number of other travelers and Peruvians who were in similar predicaments as us, having to also get back to Lima by Sunday, but they were just as lost as us. One very nice couple in their mid-20s, Natives of Lima, were quite helpful and told us that we could take a cambido, a 10person van, that would take an alternative route to avoid the strike. We followed them to the place where the van picked passengers up, a random street corner outside the terminal, no pickup signs, the couple said that the vans come sporadically and not sure when the next one would come, and the passengers were solely locals. 

Don't worry mother, we quickly evaluated our surroundings and decided this wasn't the best idea for a couple of easily targeted gringos. I had noticed other bus companies that traveled to Arequipa and decided we should check with them and as a last resort try our luck for the following day with Cruz del Sur. Well we found out that the Julsa bus company was still traveling to Arequipa and we could get seats and still get in later that night. 

We weighed our options for over an hour as even though they were taking an alternative route, we'd avoid the strikers but we would be taking side roads and would be traveling the last leg of the journey come dusk/night. We talked with the attendants for the company for a while and they assured us that they have radar trackers on all their buses, showing us their monitors, that the side roads would just be at the very beginning to avoid the strike and we'd be back on the main roads by night, and all their other buses that were running on the hour were making it with ease. Additional reassurance was the sight of some other gringo/traveling tourists on our bus. 

We did our little travel jig, ate some Oreos, and were off. The bus ride was actually quite smooth, not as many speed bumps as before, and the only odd experience was the bus driver pulling to the side of the road, hopping out, and meandering over to a roadside stand where he grabbed some coffee and some food. He didn't just grab the food and drink but actually proceeded to sit down at the stand and eat for over ten minutes as we all sat on the bus watching him nom away. These Peruvians sure like to take their time. Earlier when we were waiting for our bus, we watched the driver of another bus that was about to depart brush his teeth aggressively for over eleven minutes, the eleven minutes was only when we had started timing, no idea when he actually started. 

Anyways, we flawlessly made it to Arequipa just a little past midnight, caught a cab to our hostal, and ran into another little hiccup. Emma, being the goofball that she is, had accidentally made our reservation for earlier that week at this hostal. Fortunately they did have beds available, but only in the dorms, which wasn't an issue, but Emma did get some serious eye glares from me being almost one in the morning. 

Day 8: Lake Titicaca - How Many Speed Bumps to Puno

Having to wake up at 4:30am is never the most ideal situation....Having to wake up while not going to sleep until 11pm is even less ideal...Having to do both while sleeping on a bus that for whatever reason decides to take the road with speed bumps every two miles and breaks like you're about to hit a moose is just plain chaos. Whelp, we did just such. The bus, Cruz Del Sur is actually a remarkably nice and luxurious bus with seats that recline into a bed, free blankets and pillow, and a very smooth ride, except when you hit a speed bump every 20minutes. 

Fortunately the bus was 40min late for arrival which worked well for us considering the earliest ferry to Lake Titikaka doesn't start operating until 630am. We safely got to the port, at around 5:45am, maybe closer to 6, which wasn't terrible but we immediately got swarmed by local merchants who tried getting us to purchase boat tickets. Even though we told them we were going to do such and even though there was only one boat operator, they kept coming back. Aside from being ridiculously tired, it just became even more ridiculous when a local set up his shoe shine shop literally on the seat of the bench right next to us and even more local merchants came to get their shoes shined. 

The morning was a little chaotic, as stated we were extremely tired which didn't help the case, but our plan was to stay on the island of Taquile at a homestay. When purchasing the boat tickets we found out that the earliest return from that island wouldn't get us back until 6pm and we had a 3pm bus to catch to Arequipa. The Lonely Planet Peru book was quite lacking in information for this leg of the trip as it failed to mention that, or really what to expect when hopping on one of these boats or even purchasing the tickets. 

We decided that our first option was to try and stay at one of the reed huts on the first island of Uros, only 30min boatride with frequent trips back, and the second option just to get a place in Puno for the night. Well after all the chaos of trying to buy a ticket and communicate when the return boats would be with a guy who struggled with understanding our broken Spanish and didn't speak a word of English, we finally were able to get on board and departed the port at 7:45am. Luckily for us, our boat tour guide, and our entire boat spoke Spanish, clearly we were the only clueless gringos on board. 

We stopped off at Uros, the island made out of solely floating reeds, which was fascinating, and we could actually understand most of what the tour guide was saying as he spoke quite slow which was a bonus. Oh, it was also a bonus that we even had a tour guide as the book conveyed that we would just take a boat an get dropped off at these islands. The third perk, and the best of them all is we found out there was another English speaker on board! This Italian woman named Elena who is currently a PHD candidate in the literature department of Harvard - she was truly our godsend for the day. 

^that is not Elena - just a local chef

Having gotten to the reed island, we couldn't exactly figure out where on earth we were supposed to find a place to stay and not really speaking any Spanish, well we decided that wasn't going to be an option. The island was something unlike anything we've ever seen before. It's exactly what it sounds like, a bunch of reed huts atop a bunch of floating reeds. You have to step very carefully or you could find yourself sinking through a couple layers, surely still far from the water though due to the unfamiliar feeling it seemed like the lake was right there. Unfortunately we only spent about 15min on the island and then departed for what we all thought was an hour boat ride to Isla Taquiles but ended up being about 3hrs. 

This was slightly excellent as it did allow us to catch up on a bit of sleep, but being on a boat that long when expecting only an hour isn't the most enjoyable. Taquiles was extraordinary and certainly worth the trek. The layout and look of the island itself reminded me a bit of Capri in Italy, as it basically was a giant hill. We were expecting to climb over 500 steps which we had been forewarned about but what we didn't realize was that Lake Titikaka is actually a higher elevation than Machu Picchu and Cusco! It sits just over 4,000 meters above sea level while Cusco is about 3,300. Thankfully we came from the slope side instead of the cliff side so while still tiring, it was nothing close to what we could have experienced. Upon reaching the top we were greeted with 360 panoramic views of the lake, which looks just like an ocean as you can barely see any land. It's actually a remarkable sight as its so high up the at times it looks like the clouds are almost touching the clear blue water. 

Taquile is about 7km long, only natives reside here and live an incredibly tranquil life. They don't allow any cars, buses, or even bikes here as that causes too much commotion. They don't have a police force even though they are broken into 6 different provinces. Remarkably enough they don't even allow dogs as dogs are commonly used as watch dogs to sound an alarm. A very utopian type lifestyle but sadly it is clear they are quite economically disheveled and rely heavily on tourism. We walked around the main square which was quite downtroddened but was brought to a nearby restaurant where we were served especially local dishes of quinoa soup and fresh caught trout. Emma smartly and cautiously opted for the alternative option of an omelet - I of course dabbled with the trout. 

During lunch we got a quick lecture in Spanish about the traditions on the island, of which there are many. The most notable tradition is the use of these elf-shaped hats knitted with mostly red but also other brightly colored yarn. These hats are worn by men only, and signify whether they are single, married, or widowed. The single men's hat is half in the red pattern, and half white. The married men's hat is all in the red pattern, and widowed half in the red pattern and half brown. All of the hats have brightly colored, rainbow-like, puffballs on the end. Also, the way they wear these hats signifies something about them, as young boys wear them with the flap to the back, and the older single boys wear them to the side. At first when we saw these outfits we figured it was solely for the sake of the tourists but after hearing more we realized that these traditions are still very much alive. 

After lunch we walked around for a little, saw the local market, and departed for the boat by walking about 20min across the island and down the absurdly steep and uneven steps we had read about, which were even worse than Wayanapichu at times. One of the woman in our group actually ended up stumbling and twisting her ankle, but fortunately didn't appear to break anything. The real fright was that she had been carrying her 2.5-3yr old on her back, but fortunately the child was fine, just merely jostled. We finally made it back to our boat, and jaunted off back to Puno. 

The majority of the boat ride was uneventful for the most part, we got, or well I got a wicked bad sunburn even having applied sunscreen on (being 4000meters closer to the sun really is no bueno), and I caught up on writing this blog. Emma occupied herself with either sleeping or watching the 3yr old gallop around the boat and him interact with a couple native children. But the real excitement, or well fright came when we were still over half an hour out from the dock and it started thundering and lightning. Basic number one rule of thumb with boating is never get caught in a lightning storm, and well yup, that's exactly what happened. The locals oddly enough didn't appear to really assess the danger as much as the rest of us tourists did, even though the lighting was basically giving us this 180 panoramic showcase. An incredible sight, but not so much when you're on a metal structure in the middle of a body of water. Not to mention the boat itself didn't appear the most reliable having stalled a couple times when docking at Taquile, and not to mention it had mufflers attached to it with a sketchy engine - I don't recall ever seeing a boat with a muffler before let alone two. 

Alas, we made it safely to the shore right as the intense rain just began. Hopped in a cab and made our way to the hostal we had chosen from our guide book. Everything ultimately fell perfectly into place (knock on wood for our last three days) - it was best we didn't stay at the homestay as we would have really struggled with our broken Spanish and their zero English, not to mention we have no idea what it would have been like with this storm; we were able to see both Uros and Taquile and spend the entire day on the lake opposed to us anticipating getting back to Puno at around 1pm an having no idea what to do; the fact that the hostal had available rooms; and lastly the ability to catch up on sleep finally and not be rushed tomorrow morning. I'd say both Emma and I are relatively experienced travelers, but continuously we have been overly impressed by how well our scheduling, our contingency plans, and just our luck has had it. Although we've packed so much into such a short time frame, not one single place have we felt we missed out on or wished we focused more time on. 

Well once we retreated the storm, which had apparently turned into a hail storm once we sought refuge, we snagged a quick dinner at a nearby restaurant, nothing to rave about as I got a very very well done steak and Emma actually got fettuccine Alfredo which wasn't that bad tasting. After the grub we called it a night and hit the much needed hay.