Fri 28 Dec 2001
7 hour bus trip to Puno. The bus was quite nice, and even screened some videos on the way. Unfortunately, I can't say either MI:2 nor Blank Cheque were particularly worth watching.
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7 hour bus trip to Puno. The bus was quite nice, and even screened some videos on the way. Unfortunately, I can't say either MI:2 nor Blank Cheque were particularly worth watching.
Titi means puma, and kaka (as long as you pronounce it correctly) means the grey of a storm, or the grey of stone. If you don't pronounce it correctly it's a lot less polite. (Similarly, Machu Picchu means Old Mountain, unless you mispronounce Picchu). The lake is shaped vaguely like a puma (more so if you view it from the top of some mountains in Bolivia and partake of certain herbs to improve the imagination, or so I'm told). The lake takes on a most remarkable array of colours, and the grey of a storm is amongst them.
First stop was on the reed islands of the Uros people. These people escaped the Incas by hiding on boats amongst the reeds, and eventually made the floating islands on which they now live.
We then went (very slowly... our boat goes at about 10km/h) to Amantani Island, where we stayed with some of the local families. In the late afternoon, we climbed to the Pacha Tata (Earth Father) temple, and watched a storm roll in from behind the other mountain, on which the Pacha Mama (Earth Mother) temple can be found.
Onwards to Taquile Island, and yet more climbing. We took the more gentle slope up to the markets. The women on Taquile Island always have a spindle in hand and are spinning wool wherever they walk. The men on the other hand are knitting the most amazing cloth with it. To be judged fit to marry, a man from the island must knit his marriage hat, and the knit must be tight enough that the hat holds water! The island is run as a kind of socialist democracy. And needless to say, they produce some amazing textiles.
We've altered our itinerary from that provided by Tucan to go back to Cusco for New Years rather than Lima. So after another 7 hours or so on the bus, we're back in Cusco. Blank Cheque was no better the second time round.
We had been informed that due to the fireworks explosion in Lima at Christmas, fireworks had been banned for New Years. If this had made any reduction to the number of such devices being thrown into the crowds at midnight, I hate to imagine what it would normally be like.
Getting up early on new years day to get to the airport and fly to Lima. I guess being a boring sod and going to sleep very soon after midnight has it's advantages.
We went to the cinemas and saw Harry Potter (with spanish subtitles)
Our flight out was not till the evening, so to pass the time we went to another movie. Lord of the Rings (again with spanish subtitles). The only downside to this was that when the characters spoke in elvish, there were no english subtitles. (I later learned that Oliver and Sally made a similar discovery when they saw LotR in Denmark).
One should never really expect cattle class seating in a plane to be comfortable, but I spent 11.5 hours flying to Madrid with less legroom than any plane or bus we've travelled on so far.
At Madrid, we hurried to change planes for the flight to London, only to spend an hour and a half waiting for them to find somebody's luggage.
... and at Heathrow, my backpack was nowhere to be seen. Eventually I thought I overheard the words "Mark Nettle" in an otherwise completely undecipherable anouncement, and as we headed towards the baggage enquiries counter, Katie spotted my backpack on the carosel for a different Iberia flight from Madrid.
Katie is staying with her cousin in London, and I'm going to visit Oliver and Sally.