Suzi 12/10/06

Joti! Icmayma Casiamgui? Kotacta Tukumgui. Which means (yup, as if learning Spanish was not taxing our brains enough!) "Hello! How are you? I´m from the mountains" in Quechua, the indigenous language of Peru. We met some local people in a bar who tried to teach us a bit but I think it's probably a losing battle to actually remember anything. Thought you'd like to share the experience with us though!

We returned safely to Cusco and enjoyed a relaxing weekend, looking round the cobbled streets of San Blas and getting ready to move on. We also tried Alpaca steaks for dinner on our last night and they were lovely, like venison taste wise but absolutely huge portions. Haven´t quiet been brave enough to try Guinea Pig yet though!

We are now in Copacabana in Bolivia and have just enjoyed the most fantastic 3 days touring Puno and Lake Titicaca. We first went to visit the Uros islands, which are floating islands, made entirely of reeds and anchored in the lake to keep them from floating away. There are 50 islands in the lake, all on the Peruvian side and the best thing was actually eating the reeds. You literally walk round the island, pick one off the floor, peel it and tuck in. Most versatile flooring option we´ve come across in the world!! We then stayed with a Quechua family on Amantani and climbed up the the highest point on the island, at 4,100m to see sunset over Lake Titicaca. Very beautiful. The families also put on a traditional fiesta for us with music and dancing and we had to dress up in traditional costumes to gain entrance! Boy did we look silly (although Thorsten´s alpaca woolly hat really suited him) but we had a great time and enjoyed dancing the night away with Andreas and Rafina, our host Mum and Dad.

We finished the tour visiting Taquile island, the economy and social structure of which is run wholly as a co-operative. There are 6 recognised communities on the island and all sell hand-made textiles in one shop, organised wholly by the communities, and run on a rota system. there is no police or official council on the island, there is simply a meeting every Sunday, which all islanders attend and any problems are aired and, hopefully resolved, at this meeting. Seems to work really well and was definitely unique. Really enjoyed the tour, really tired and sunburnt on our return to Puno but had a fantastic time!!

Enjoying the Southend-on-Sea of Bolivia now and off to La Paz tomorrow. Hoping to persuade Thorsten to hire pedaloes on the lake tomorrow but sadly no slotties yet!!

Finally, many congratulations to Robert and Ulla on the arrival of baby Leah and to Richie and Sam on the arrival of baby Isabel. Can't wait to see the photos, all the best to you all xx