Last night in Cusco was very nice. I thought of our guide today during the city tour. His right hand fingers were missing. He was hiding his fingers often inside his coat...I fell to sleep thinking of him, how hard is the life for him and the others living in Perú...I felt lucky...I thanked God for being that lucky over and over...
The next morning, Fernando, who is the husband of Iswet came to pick us up early from our hotel, Samay Wasi. We walked quite a lot down the steps with our backpacks (so called "Hoedoes"). We were starving, so made an illegal stop(!) at Jack´s for a quick bite and went to the bus terminal of First Class. There are many buses daily departing to Puno from Cusco, but we prefered a more comfy bus with a guide and some stops along the road to see some more Inca ruins. Starting from the beginning of the day, I felt sick, I had a terrible headache and stomachache, my intestines were almost being squeezed...
Well, due to these factors, I was quiet and a little unhappy...We paid about (I guess) 25 or 30 USD for this bus and 20 soles more for the entrances to the sites. I did not remember even much where we have visited, we visited some cathedral, some Inca site, one village with a poor museum, where there was the most noisy band in the world, 3 or 4 men proudly and harmoniously peeing to the wheel of a truck...With that mood, I wanted to get rid of that bus as soon as possible...We passed through nice and scenic roads, made a stop at the highest point of the route, some 4365 m. and arrived in Puno at about 5 pm.
As soon as we picked up our backpacks, we met Alvaro, a man in his early 50s, with a big smile and went to our Hyundai minivan. He took us to his albergue (hotel, home, travel agency...everything...)and we moved into our room. It did not look clean, but was big enough, though did not have cable TV...The hot shower was lukewarm and the bathroom was next to our room. However, Alvaro and his wife closed the gap by offering us a free huge kettle of hot water with Coca and Anis tea and their beautiful smiles...We also had free internet and the hotel was pretty close to the main square. Puno is not like Pisco or Nasca, it was much more quiet, clean and compact...It is located right next to Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake of the world, with a 3850 m. altitude. Because of the high demand of tourism, the city developed more than the other cities, I think we saw most number of tourism agencies and restaurants serving pizzas, more American or European type of food, great cappucino (made by machine) then ever in Puno. After taking some rest, we went to downtown to have our dinner and upon having a look at Calle Lima, the most popular street, we decided to eat at the square, at a restaurant called Mouny or something, which served great pizzas. After the dinner, we came back home, showered and went to bed, as the next morning was some sort of adventure for us!!! Qué aventura!!!
Early in the morning, we woke up, Piril was coughing due to the altitude and "lukewarm" water at the hostel, we had our breakfast and met our travel companions. Mindy, Tim and Ashish were all engineers from San Fransisco Area, they know each other through Tim and were traveling for 2 weeks only in Perú. Mindy had Chinese descent, Tim was originally Vietnamese and Ashish was from India. They were all born in their home countries, but raised in the US...Mindy sounded very lovely but a little high maintenance, we found this out when she talked about hot shower at Isla Amantani, Amantani Island on Lake Titicaca. The tour we signed up was a 2 day-1 nite one, which included the 3 hour boat ride, visit to the floating island of Uros, a homestay at Isla Amantani and Isla Taquile before heading back to Puno in the afternoon. Well, for a long time, I haven´t seen classical Turkish bread, like baguette, so I loved the breakfast, even though it was the same butter and marmelade as usual...We had our breakfast, jumped into a minivan with the other travelers, a Dutch family of four, some Japanese guys, us and a French couple...We came to the port(!) at
Lake Titicaca,our guide showed up and we started our trip to Isla Amantani (Amantani Island) as Uros Island to be the first stop on the way. The boat is like the small sightseeing boats we have in Istanbul for Bosphorus Cruises, it has a upper deck and a covered area. We, the photographers just climbed to the upper deck as we were really excited to take pictures. After a 45 min journey, we came to Uros Island, which is known as floating island, as it floats on the lake and it is artificial. Our guide showed us how these islands are made...It seemed to me like a total tourist attraction, as I felt myself watching a play at the theater. We learned that the Peruvian Ministry of Tourism
is supporting these people to attract the gringoes visiting the islands...We paid an additional 10 soles for a little tour on the little rowboat to the other floating island. Then we took our boat to Isla Amantini, which is the largest natural island in Lake Titicaca. The journey took some 3 hours, we chatted, sat at the deck, listened to music, slept...Finally we arrived in Isla Amantani. The first thing I saw was how steep the island was...There were ladies sitting at the harbor, possibly sharing the tourists in our group. We expected a young host but our guide chose the oldest lady there...I was a little disappointed, however I got confused and ashamed after some minutes!!! She started climbing the island from the uneven steps just like a goat, when I was hopelessly trying to
climb with my big backpack, she just grabbed my backpack and climbed all the way up within minutes, as I was almost crying, with my shrunken lungs and big body...I decided to keep myself hungry ever, as I saw how unfit I was and how could one be fit...She was a least 60, she did not wear such good shoes as I was wearing, she had some worn sandals, that was all!!! Well, when I finished climbing, I had almost no energy left...I thanked God for allowing me to quit smoking and decided to lose most of my excess weight as I was almost breathless at the top...We were the luckiest (!) of all as our house was the highest one on the island...The house was made of mud and brick, the toilet was just a whole on the ground in the garden, in our room, there were two beds, with some dirty sheets and a dirty table with a dirty tablecloth on...
I did not care much about the dirt, I was just really tired and hungry..It was about 2:30 pm, aunt Inés, our hostess brought us some lunch, vegetable soup with cumin,potatoes and rice and muña tea...Muña is some sort of herb that grows wild on the island and has a wonderful aroma...After the lunch, I was ready to take a nap but there was another program arranged by the guide. It was a long hike upwards to the top of the island to see the Templo del Sol (Temple of Sun). I was dead tired and for me, it was impossible to do such a hike, so I opted out! Piril went there, I slept, then I woke up and took some great pics of sunset from the island...When she came back, she told me that it was a very strenuous hike and most people had trouble finishing it...Well, then aunt Inés appeared at the door again and tried to tell us something. She spoke very little Spanish because her native language is Quechua.
By the way, the language is only called Quechua in Spanish or other languages, they called it something else. When the Spanish Conquistadores came to the Ands, the natives were yelling as "Quechua, quechua", which means "don´t harm us" or "don´t leave us"...She had brought us another soup and some pasta with rice...There was no electricity on the island, so we used a candle and our head lamps. After half an hour, she appeared at the door again with some costumes on her hand. She told us that we were to wear those clothes and we were supposed to go to the "Cultural Center" to listen to local music and dance...We smiled, wore the clothes, I looked like a penguin, Piril looked like a 19 Mayis girl (19 th of May, Youth Holiday in Turkey, where the young people dress and dance at the stadiums)...and aunt Inés took us there. We met all the other folks there, as we all looked like penguins and local street vendors...The orchestra of young fellows played music, we danced, danced and climbed back home happily and tired...We had brought a bedsheet with us, so we laid them and slept...Piril got so sick that night, she was coughing and could not sleep much. In the morning, we woke up early, this time uncle Vicente came to the room with some pancakes...He tried to sell us some handicraft but we refused as we had little soles with us...I gave them some evil eyes and some shampoos and uncle Vicente was happy:))) Well, aunt Inés and uncle Vicente took us down to the harbor, we said thanks and goodbye before jumping to our boat.
The other folks were also complaining about the food, hike etc. but this was the package, no more, no less...Then our guide showed up, we boarded the boat and went to Isla Taquile in an hour. Isla Taquile is a smaller island, local people speak Aymara language. We did a 2 km hike there, better views and less inclination, so I was able to do it. Piril was feeling better, so she did it as well. Isla Taquile has a small main square, we were all gathered there, looked around a little bit and he took us to lunch. The lunch was 13 soles each, with vegetable soup, trucha (trout) and coca or muña tea. We shared one and our guide came to pick us up.
He showed us the way and said "just walk straight, it is a 10 min walk"...It took us half an hour and we walked on a unbelievable uneven steps...I was able to show off my great Japanese there as I convinced them to come to Turkey!!! In fact, one was already coming to Turkey in February, so I gave them some ideas...Ashish,Tim, Piril, Mindy, me... We were smiling at each other and discussing the meaning of 10 mins in the US and in Perú!!!Well, finally our guide showed up, we all boarded and came back to Puno in some 3,5 hours. I found myself a comfortable and shady spot and took my after-lunch-nap while Piril listened to music and all the others fainted on the floor or on the benches on the deck!!!Finally we came back safe and sound, I went to supermarket to get some Coca Tea. Piril was feeling much better, so we went out to our favorite restaurant on the square and crashed!!! We needed to go to bed early, as they were going to pick us up for a bus to Copacabana, Bolivia. Border crossings etc...We needed good energy, so we showered, placed all our "island" clothes to a separate bag to go to laundry right away and slept happily...This was our 16th day in Perú, we had loved it but there were so many more countries to go...Tomorrow was Bolivia, another country, another adventure...
The next morning, Fernando, who is the husband of Iswet came to pick us up early from our hotel, Samay Wasi. We walked quite a lot down the steps with our backpacks (so called "Hoedoes"). We were starving, so made an illegal stop(!) at Jack´s for a quick bite and went to the bus terminal of First Class. There are many buses daily departing to Puno from Cusco, but we prefered a more comfy bus with a guide and some stops along the road to see some more Inca ruins. Starting from the beginning of the day, I felt sick, I had a terrible headache and stomachache, my intestines were almost being squeezed...
Well, due to these factors, I was quiet and a little unhappy...We paid about (I guess) 25 or 30 USD for this bus and 20 soles more for the entrances to the sites. I did not remember even much where we have visited, we visited some cathedral, some Inca site, one village with a poor museum, where there was the most noisy band in the world, 3 or 4 men proudly and harmoniously peeing to the wheel of a truck...With that mood, I wanted to get rid of that bus as soon as possible...We passed through nice and scenic roads, made a stop at the highest point of the route, some 4365 m. and arrived in Puno at about 5 pm. 
As soon as we picked up our backpacks, we met Alvaro, a man in his early 50s, with a big smile and went to our Hyundai minivan. He took us to his albergue (hotel, home, travel agency...everything...)and we moved into our room. It did not look clean, but was big enough, though did not have cable TV...The hot shower was lukewarm and the bathroom was next to our room. However, Alvaro and his wife closed the gap by offering us a free huge kettle of hot water with Coca and Anis tea and their beautiful smiles...We also had free internet and the hotel was pretty close to the main square. Puno is not like Pisco or Nasca, it was much more quiet, clean and compact...It is located right next to Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake of the world, with a 3850 m. altitude. Because of the high demand of tourism, the city developed more than the other cities, I think we saw most number of tourism agencies and restaurants serving pizzas, more American or European type of food, great cappucino (made by machine) then ever in Puno. After taking some rest, we went to downtown to have our dinner and upon having a look at Calle Lima, the most popular street, we decided to eat at the square, at a restaurant called Mouny or something, which served great pizzas. After the dinner, we came back home, showered and went to bed, as the next morning was some sort of adventure for us!!! Qué aventura!!!
Early in the morning, we woke up, Piril was coughing due to the altitude and "lukewarm" water at the hostel, we had our breakfast and met our travel companions. Mindy, Tim and Ashish were all engineers from San Fransisco Area, they know each other through Tim and were traveling for 2 weeks only in Perú. Mindy had Chinese descent, Tim was originally Vietnamese and Ashish was from India. They were all born in their home countries, but raised in the US...Mindy sounded very lovely but a little high maintenance, we found this out when she talked about hot shower at Isla Amantani, Amantani Island on Lake Titicaca. The tour we signed up was a 2 day-1 nite one, which included the 3 hour boat ride, visit to the floating island of Uros, a homestay at Isla Amantani and Isla Taquile before heading back to Puno in the afternoon. Well, for a long time, I haven´t seen classical Turkish bread, like baguette, so I loved the breakfast, even though it was the same butter and marmelade as usual...We had our breakfast, jumped into a minivan with the other travelers, a Dutch family of four, some Japanese guys, us and a French couple...We came to the port(!) at 
Lake Titicaca,our guide showed up and we started our trip to Isla Amantani (Amantani Island) as Uros Island to be the first stop on the way. The boat is like the small sightseeing boats we have in Istanbul for Bosphorus Cruises, it has a upper deck and a covered area. We, the photographers just climbed to the upper deck as we were really excited to take pictures. After a 45 min journey, we came to Uros Island, which is known as floating island, as it floats on the lake and it is artificial. Our guide showed us how these islands are made...It seemed to me like a total tourist attraction, as I felt myself watching a play at the theater. We learned that the Peruvian Ministry of Tourism 
is supporting these people to attract the gringoes visiting the islands...We paid an additional 10 soles for a little tour on the little rowboat to the other floating island. Then we took our boat to Isla Amantini, which is the largest natural island in Lake Titicaca. The journey took some 3 hours, we chatted, sat at the deck, listened to music, slept...Finally we arrived in Isla Amantani. The first thing I saw was how steep the island was...There were ladies sitting at the harbor, possibly sharing the tourists in our group. We expected a young host but our guide chose the oldest lady there...I was a little disappointed, however I got confused and ashamed after some minutes!!! She started climbing the island from the uneven steps just like a goat, when I was hopelessly trying to 
climb with my big backpack, she just grabbed my backpack and climbed all the way up within minutes, as I was almost crying, with my shrunken lungs and big body...I decided to keep myself hungry ever, as I saw how unfit I was and how could one be fit...She was a least 60, she did not wear such good shoes as I was wearing, she had some worn sandals, that was all!!! Well, when I finished climbing, I had almost no energy left...I thanked God for allowing me to quit smoking and decided to lose most of my excess weight as I was almost breathless at the top...We were the luckiest (!) of all as our house was the highest one on the island...The house was made of mud and brick, the toilet was just a whole on the ground in the garden, in our room, there were two beds, with some dirty sheets and a dirty table with a dirty tablecloth on...
I did not care much about the dirt, I was just really tired and hungry..It was about 2:30 pm, aunt Inés, our hostess brought us some lunch, vegetable soup with cumin,potatoes and rice and muña tea...Muña is some sort of herb that grows wild on the island and has a wonderful aroma...After the lunch, I was ready to take a nap but there was another program arranged by the guide. It was a long hike upwards to the top of the island to see the Templo del Sol (Temple of Sun). I was dead tired and for me, it was impossible to do such a hike, so I opted out! Piril went there, I slept, then I woke up and took some great pics of sunset from the island...When she came back, she told me that it was a very strenuous hike and most people had trouble finishing it...Well, then aunt Inés appeared at the door again and tried to tell us something. She spoke very little Spanish because her native language is Quechua. 
By the way, the language is only called Quechua in Spanish or other languages, they called it something else. When the Spanish Conquistadores came to the Ands, the natives were yelling as "Quechua, quechua", which means "don´t harm us" or "don´t leave us"...She had brought us another soup and some pasta with rice...There was no electricity on the island, so we used a candle and our head lamps. After half an hour, she appeared at the door again with some costumes on her hand. She told us that we were to wear those clothes and we were supposed to go to the "Cultural Center" to listen to local music and dance...We smiled, wore the clothes, I looked like a penguin, Piril looked like a 19 Mayis girl (19 th of May, Youth Holiday in Turkey, where the young people dress and dance at the stadiums)...and aunt Inés took us there. We met all the other folks there, as we all looked like penguins and local street vendors...The orchestra of young fellows played music, we danced, danced and climbed back home happily and tired...We had brought a bedsheet with us, so we laid them and slept...Piril got so sick that night, she was coughing and could not sleep much. In the morning, we woke up early, this time uncle Vicente came to the room with some pancakes...He tried to sell us some handicraft but we refused as we had little soles with us...I gave them some evil eyes and some shampoos and uncle Vicente was happy:))) Well, aunt Inés and uncle Vicente took us down to the harbor, we said thanks and goodbye before jumping to our boat. 
The other folks were also complaining about the food, hike etc. but this was the package, no more, no less...Then our guide showed up, we boarded the boat and went to Isla Taquile in an hour. Isla Taquile is a smaller island, local people speak Aymara language. We did a 2 km hike there, better views and less inclination, so I was able to do it. Piril was feeling better, so she did it as well. Isla Taquile has a small main square, we were all gathered there, looked around a little bit and he took us to lunch. The lunch was 13 soles each, with vegetable soup, trucha (trout) and coca or muña tea. We shared one and our guide came to pick us up. 
He showed us the way and said "just walk straight, it is a 10 min walk"...It took us half an hour and we walked on a unbelievable uneven steps...I was able to show off my great Japanese there as I convinced them to come to Turkey!!! In fact, one was already coming to Turkey in February, so I gave them some ideas...Ashish,Tim, Piril, Mindy, me... We were smiling at each other and discussing the meaning of 10 mins in the US and in Perú!!!Well, finally our guide showed up, we all boarded and came back to Puno in some 3,5 hours. I found myself a comfortable and shady spot and took my after-lunch-nap while Piril listened to music and all the others fainted on the floor or on the benches on the deck!!!Finally we came back safe and sound, I went to supermarket to get some Coca Tea. Piril was feeling much better, so we went out to our favorite restaurant on the square and crashed!!! We needed to go to bed early, as they were going to pick us up for a bus to Copacabana, Bolivia. Border crossings etc...We needed good energy, so we showered, placed all our "island" clothes to a separate bag to go to laundry right away and slept happily...This was our 16th day in Perú, we had loved it but there were so many more countries to go...Tomorrow was Bolivia, another country, another adventure...
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