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We have made it to Cuzco. Our schedule has been pretty grueling as we wanted to get to the Inca trail before the rains set in. Up till Cuzco we have been moving pretty constantly and with purpose, after the Inca trail we have no idea what we are going to do and I am really looking forward to a little less purpose and more relaxing into the adventure.
From Arequipa we got the bus to Puno on Lake Titicaca where we had booked am Airbnb on one of the floating islands. The bus trip was pretty spectacular, climbing up through the Andies, the land is very arid with lots of wild Alpacas grazing the scrubland.
We arrived in Puno on the shore of Titicaca and was greeted by Luis our host. Luis is very soft-spoken as most lake people are, he does not own a car so he navigates on land via taxi. His English is a bit better than our Spanish (which is not saying much). As we are heading to an Island I ask if we need to bring food and can we cook, there is much confusion about this and we buy food to cook thinking we will have to cook our own food. As is our way we buy too much food and we head to the boat.
Getting into the boat and heading off into the lake I was really filled with a great sense of adventure, the lake is quite similar to Lough Ree with lots of reeds. The birdlife is really abundant also, the sounds and vibration from this place are familiar but also strange, the altitude really plays with you also. We arrived at Lius’s Uro to be greeted by his wife Silvia and very cheeky and very cute (and she knows it) 3yo daughter Bella. Bella jumps into our arms and gives us lovely hugs.
The light here is really special, for some reason the water reflects in an almost hyperreal way, the sun is very hot and being at 3820 meters you can really feel the effects of the altitude. Our room is cosy and feet from the waters edge. The whole island sways when a boat goes by, the island itself is only a meter deep of reeds ancored to the lake bed. It is an odd sensation floating and walking around. During the day the sun is very hot but as soon as the sun goes down it gets very cold.
We had a lovely day learning about the history and culture from Luis and his family. We cut reeds and dressed up. It was a bit challenging at times I have to admit, the altitide was giving me a really bad headache and depending on the wind direction there can be a bit of a “pong” but overall it was realy beautiful day. The next day we just got to really chill out and realx on the island. Chatting to other travellers and reading. It was the first time we really got a down time day and it was glorious.
Aweful bus ride to Cuzco but we are here! This has been our goal and it feels good to get here. Cuzco is very busy and full of tourists but it is really pretty also. We checked into our trek and relax. We are starting the Inca trail on Monday the 14th. It feels good to have gotten to this stage as this is all we have planned and we can take things a bit slower after.