Peru

We{ve arrived in darkest Peru (is that the right adjective?)
We{re still on the shores of the massive Lake Titicaca in the small city of Puno. Tomorrow we plan to visit the floating islands, which are acually made of reeds and inhabited.
Last night we stayed on the Isla del Sol in the Bolvian portion of the lake.
It was a gorgeous setting. The view from our $5 hotel room was worth a million (though, breakfast unexpectedly cost another $5...however, I should mention that the Titicaca region seems to be the breakfast capital of South America: eggs, fresh bread, fresh juice, the coffee{s still fake, but I had good hot chocolate this morning).
Before venturing on to the lake, we spent a couple nights in Copacabana. It was a nice base, though we{d walked every inch of it before we were halfway through the second day. Oh, we did make one earlier foray onto the lake, in a little paddle boat. I vetoed the swan shaped ones, but I think Rhia wasn{t too heartbroken.
We also watched a ceremony one morning at which people who are headin out on the highway deck their cars out in bouquets and get priests to bless them, some alo shower their cars with champagne. Of course, you{re guaranteed to have a safer drive when your windshield is sticky and strewn with flower petals.
Meals tended to be more of the hunk of meat and lots of starch variety, but every place also offered fresh trout from the lake, which was quite good.
So, on to Isla del Sol. The day got off to an inauspicious start.
I{d continued to battle signs of a cold in Copacabana. That morning (no idea which day of the week that was) the congestion plus altitude--still at about 3800m there--resulted in a nosebleed that wouldn{t quit.
We debated hopping off our ferry to the island, but gladly didn{t.
The boat was probably the slowest I{ve ever been on, for no discernable reason. We could have got out and walked faster. We also had the pleasure of sucking in gas fumes fro the motor for the two hour ride.
However, it did get us to our destination on the north side of the Isla del Sol.
There a guide magically appeared to lead us on a trek to some Inca ceremonial sites and ruins on that end of the Island. He was very good though, so we were glad he was along. He, and most of the group we arrived with left us at that point. Just day trippers, I think.
Rhia and I found a nice spot on the rocks with views in all directions to have a little picnic lunch.
It was a great and relaxing time. We were glad we each managed third tuna sandwiches though, as the trek to the south end of the island turned out to be longer and steeper than we{d expected.
Perhaps it{s not such a wise idea to tackle a 9 km, mostly uphill trek, when you{re already at altitude and trying to shake a respiratory illness. Nonetheless, this is what we did.
Parts of it weren{t exactly fun, but it was certainly worthwhile. We took it very slow, having no boat to catch at the other end, and used our water and powerade wisely.
The views of the island, of the lake, of the Andes in Peru to one side and Bolivia to the other were breathtaking (...groan). Most of the time our only companions were sheep grazing on the hills. It was stunningly quiet and clear. At one point we met a fellow blowing his little flute and herding pair of burros with big bundles of sticks on their backs...pleasant moments like that.

By the time we reached the village where we hoped we would find a room, we were totally bagged. Way to tired to put up much of a fight with the woman who blocked the path with two llamas and three tots and insisted we pay to take their photo.
We did find a room, put on all our warm clothes and got some great trout for dinner while watching the most spectacular sunset ever.

So, I woke up this morning feeling like death warmed over, but honestly, I{m much improved already.

We took our time heading down an ancient stairway to the lake to meet our return boat.
While we were waiting there another boat arrived from the mainlnd and a bunch of folks got off with supplies including a coffin.

They had flowers and a couple cases of beer--we suspected some kind of wake. There were burros there to meet them and we wondered whether they would enlist the animals to get the coffin up the steep hill.
Nope. And they didn{t carry it among two or four men either. We watched in disbelief as they rigged a sling up on one guy{s back, loaded in the coffin, so that it hung way out over his head, and then this poor fellow carried it up the hill on his back. He{d probably need it himself when he arrived.

We made it back to Copacabana in time to retrieve our larger bags, change our Bolivianos for Soles, have a bite and catch our bus to Peru.

It was a pleasant ride. Even the border crossing was made entertaining buy a shoe shine kid who read the countries off people{s passports then tried to guess where in the country they were from. He knew some big cities in Canada, but Halifax was a new one on him. He seemed pleased to learn it though. He must have run through a dozen states before another guy took pity and said he was from Alaska.

So, yeah, Peru. Here we are. The last South American country on our trip.
We{re both pretty excited for Macchu Picchu, which we should hit in a couple days.
Take care all.