Puno Cont.

After the long uncomfortable bus ride, we arrived in Puno, home of Lake Titicaca. I have to say that I was a little disappointed. Sure, the lake is huge, but for some reason I was expecting something a little more scenic. It didn't really matter to us - we were just happy to be off of the bus and into a new place to explore. After walking around for about an hour, we checked into a hostel, dropped off our bags and walked towards the water to check out options for exploring the island on the lake. They had some artificial islands close in which would be a half day tour and natural islands farther out that would take the entire day. We weren't thrilled about visiting artificial islands or spending the entire day on a boat, so we grabbed breakfast and walked around the city instead. In doing so, we found one of the most impressive markets we have seen thus far. We're pretty sure it happens every day because the following morning we woke up and saw the same thing. There were blocks upon blocks of people selling fresh fruit, vegetables, raw meat and fish and live animals for consumption. Walking past some guinnea pigs, I was drawn to their squeaking. Oh! It must be a pet shop! But then I remembered the guinnea pig (aka coy) listed on the dinner menu the other night. And then I saw the crated chickens. They were all staring into my eyes, haunting me. Save me! Save me! I asked Graham if he could create a diversion while I set them free. He grabbed my arm and pulled me along. I told him that I didn't think I could stomach him eating a guinnea pig and he agreed. It just didn't seem right.

In the afternoon we found a boat/museum to explore. The boat had been shipped over from England in 2000+ pieces a couple decades ago. It use to run off of alpaca dung but has since been converted to diesel. Pretty cool!! They are still in the process of restoring it but in the meantime you can sleep on the boat for 50 bucks a night. That evening we found a pizzeria to drink beer and play cards in. Had some of the best woodfired pizza we've probably ever had. For some reason pizza is a big deal in Peru - everywhere you look there are pizzarias with wood-fired ovens.