Puno to Cusco

I can´t believe we have actually made it to Peru. It´s only beenabout 2 and a half weeks, but I feel as if I have been away for months. We have seen and done so much, changed our surroundings so often that the past few weeks have seemed like some long adventure, and there´s still more to come.

We arrived yesterday evening in Puno. Unfortunately this was only to be an overnight stop on the way to Cusco. Shame really, there were a number of things I would like to have seen there. Such as the floating islands made of reeds - the locals actually build islands using reeds which are grown on the shores of Lake Titicaca, and then live on them. It´s a very strange practice. The reeds rot after a while and the whole island will sink into the lake. So the people simply build them again. Personally I´d rather bricks and morter but whatever gets you going I guess.

We really only had time for dinner and drinks, so all 4 of us thought it would be the perfect chance to try some authentic Peruvian cuisine. We picked a restaurant out of the book which was highly recommended for the traditional food. So off we went. The menu seemed to have a mix of the traditional stuff and the usual international stuff as well. Tom ordered the Llama this time, Tadhg some chicken dish with salad, can´t remember what Niamh ordered but it looked really good! And I ordered guinea pig - why not? The guinea pig was brought out deep fried, and still looking very like a guinea pig. It was as if the through the little rodent into a pan and then onto my plate - complete with head, eyes, claws, everything! Charming. What was I to do but dig in. Tasted like friend chicked - I know that sounds like a cliche but honestly it was like eating friend chicken. I have to say I really enjoyed it.

Tom seemed to enjoy his llama too, devouring every last morsel and then ordering desert. Tadhg was put off his food when he caught glimpse of a small green caterpiller crawling out from under his lettuce. That was enough to send him back to the hotel to bed - poor guy. Though at least the lettuce was fresh! Niamh also seemed to enjoy hers, so apart from Tadhg, we were all happy enough with dinner.

About 2 or 3 the next morning, poor Tom was not feeling so well. The llama perhaps did not agree with him. The rest of us seemed fine, but it looked very like Tom was suffering the horrible effects of food poisoning. I have to say I was quite worried, he was really sick. And to make things worse, we had to sit on a bus the next morning for 7 hours. On the bus Tom seemed to slowly be getting better. He got some well earned sleep which he really needed. By the time the bus reached Cusco last night, he was almost back to his normal self. Though he did skip dinner last night, probably for the best.

So now its Thursday morning, and tomorrow we begin our 4 day hike into the Andes to find the lost city of the Incas, Machu Picchu. The prospect is so exciting. I cannot wait to get started. Today I think we´re all going to chill out, stock up on supplies, all that.

Thats all for now folks, perhaps I should try to get some more sleep. Its early here!
C