5 posts tagged “cuzco”

Today we left Cuzco disheartened, still dissapointed about Machu Picchu.

Cuzco was a lovely little city.  It had shoe shiners on every corner and all the women carried Blankets on their back with their life in, they even had Babys on their back, in little bundles.  They all wore traditional dress, of little shoes, leg warmers, puffy out skirts and a blanket wrapped round them, usually with a straw hat.

We got on the bus to Puno, early in the morning and arrived in the afternoon.  I love how here you have the ability to book a trip, five minutes before it starts... and so we did.

We got a minibus to the shore and jumped on a boat which took us to the floating villages on Lake Titicaca.  On our way to the villages, smoke started billowing out of the engine, from beneath our feet.  It was only the tourists who seemed concerned, so the guide took us to the top of the boat, so we couldn´t smell the engine overheating.  After a bucket of water from the lake, we were on our way again, and arrived at the floating villages.

Tradition states that in Colonial times, when the Spanish got all the Peruvians to work on the Silver mines, to escape, people started sleeping in the reeds in the lake.  They soon started cutting the reeds and laying them down for more comfort and eventually they made islands out of these reeds. 

Today there are over 40 islands, with people still living how they used to.  The group of islands we visited was called Uros.  The islands are 4 meters deep of reed.  They last for about 10 years and take 6 months to build.  The houses and boats are also made out of the same reeds.  We went on one of the reed boats, with thankfully, are very bouyant.

Lake Titicaca is the world´s highest Navigable lake.

After watching the sunset on the floating islands, we returned to Puno to sleep the night.

Sick of being in the hotel room, I was determined to get out of there.  We walked slowly to the centre of town, stopping quite frequently but as the day went on I got better and better.

So much so that I invested in a tatoo of my own :)

Ok, not quite in the hospital, still bed ridden but I Think Ian would appreciate another Manics title for my blog.

The cleaners brought me a TV to watch today, which was cool as I got crap American TV to watch.  Still feeling terrible.

Tony came back with a Tatoo today, with an Inca desgin on his chest.  It is quite nice.  Still not eating....

After a night of shivering non stop, no matter how many clothes I put on, and having a really bad stomach, I tried getting up for breakfast.  Everytime I stood up I went dizzy and fell back into bed.

Tony called the local doctor to the hotel, who came and confirmed I had an infection in my stomach due to something I had eaten.  She gave me a prescription of antibiotics and panadol, and told me I couldn´t eat fruit, vegetables, salad or anything off the street (I don´t know where she thought I normally ate...).  I spent the rest of the day in bed, while Tony cancelled our trek and went shopping for elligable food.

He cooked lunch and tea for me as he was determined everything I ate was cooked properly.  I managed a few bites of every meal and that was me done.  Everything I ate gave me cramps in my stomach so I gave up after a while.

The workers in the hotel were nice and gave us some leaves to make tea out of to help my stomach.

We arrived in Cuzco and went straight to bed.  It was a really uncomfortable bus and none of us got any sleep.

We got up for lunch and looked round Cuzco.  It has lots of lovely little streets and squares, with old buildings.  There are fountains and waterfalls everywhere.  It is very pretty here.  We booked to go on a treck to Macchu Picchu.  It was not the original Inca trail as you have to book about a month in advance and us being organised, we didn´t.  I also blame the Lonely Planet for lack of useful information.  The trail we booked was up the other side of the mountain for five days and four nights but you still arrive at Macchu Picchu but don´t see Incary type things along the way.

I was feeling a little sick and had a bad stomach.  Thinking it may be a bit of altitude sickness, I went to bed.