Food glorious food

Well,you would hardly think it possible but our second diningexperience on Isla del Sol made Hagrid´s Hut look worthy of several Michelin stars! At least Hagrid´s food was nice when it eventually arrived (I´m prepared to overlook the cold vegetables). The second night, at a LP recommended establishment) we had exactly thesame long wait, same woolly hatted waiter, same lack of menu only this time there was no trout available and the little food thatwas on offer turnedout to be truly awful AND twice the price of Hagrid´s. The best that canbe said is that it didn´t actually make us ill. Given that in Bolivia taxis aren´t metered, and often the price isn´t known until it´s actually time to pay, this was our first nasty surprise (and we´re only talking about 15 dollars!) and so all things considered, I thinkwegot off quite lightly.

We spent a long day travelling to Puno. On the bus we were adopted by a tour agency who arranged everything for the next couple of days for us- accommodation in Puno, trip to the islands, " executive" bus to Cusco and first night accommodation in Cusco. This isn´t really our style and we felt rather like sheep but it was good to not have to do all the finding out and chasing around ourselves and everything turned out to be fine. They were profusely apologetic to us at the bus station in Puno for reasons that were completely unknown to us however we allowed them to grovel suitably and graciously accepted their apologies.

Puno is, there is no other word for it, a dump. The lake is very polluted around there and I have to say the Bolivian side of the lake is much prettier. The Islas Flotantes or floating islands, however, were fascinating. they are only a 20min boat ride from Puno, very heavily visited by tourists which presumably provides their income to allow them to continue their existence. There are about 40 islands, all entirely made out of the reeds which grow profusely in that area of the lake,and each island with around 12-15 houses on them, together with a central living and cooking area. The islands all float very close together. They are quite springy to walk on and because they rot from below,the islanders have to continually add new layers of reeds to the top. There was some concession to progress in that a few houses had solar panels which provided enough power for one small lightbulb but the cooking is all done outside on open fires. We didn´t ever find out about how they wash or go to the loo, maybe it goes straight into the lake or perhaps they use a pringles tin. They were quite friendly to us, esp. when I bought some handicrafts, and we got a great photo of us with the islanders.

It had been a long day but we were so determined to eat well that night. We chose v. carefully and I am very pleased to report that the steamed trout with chinese vegetables and pureed potatoes with spinach accompanied by a pisco sour(cocktail with grape brandy, lime juice,egg white and sugar) hit the spot very nicely indeed.

On our bus to Cuzco we stopped at various points of interest - museums, various inca relics and other archeological sites along the way. Or, as Ben put it, "old pots and stuff". Fair to say some of the stops were more interesting than others. We had an English speaking guide but the only problem was that his accent was so thick and he spoke so fast that we only got about 1 word in every 10 so a great deal was lost in translation. He was quite earnest and strait-laced and one of the places he was telling us about was called Saqsaywarman... which when spoken sounds very like Sexy Woman, so needless to say we were in stitches.

And so we arrived in Cuzco and despite the rain yesterday it is really beautiful . When we saw the scenery around here we wished that we were doing the trek to MP but no time now and we have organised our train tickets for tomorrow, to visit MP on Wednesday (it had better have stopped raining by then). It is so close now we can almost smell it!! We ate dinner last night - can you tell that I have my appetite back now?! - on a balcony overlooking the Plaza de Armas and our hotel is in San Blas, a breathless walk just a few blocks away (we did intend to stay in El Balcon, Fiona, but we are on the other side of town, and it´s just too much hassle to move with all our stuff. )

Time for some lunch, ciao for now.

J
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