Día en Puno

n my Today got off to a less than pleasant start, but more than made up for it as I arrived in Puno. I got up in Arequipa at 630am. Last night I tested my shower to see if hot water existed. It apparently did not... so I went to the hostel owner to ask where to make the fire to make the water hot, yet she was no where to be found. I played around with some switches and eventually I had hot water (now this was all last night). This morning, I was not so lucky. I tried and waited and waited and only cold water came. I enjoy being clean, but not suffering, so I tried washing some of my hair and quickly tossing it up. When I got my stuff all together to check out, I asked about the water situation, and she said that there was hot water, I just had to turn the knob to a specific degree (there was only one water control knob, mind you). She then offered me the downstairs bathroom to use, and because my bus left 30 min later than I originally thought, I accepted. Now, in this shower I had 3 drizzles of water, all of which were 50% steam as they left the shower head. This was also unpleasant. I finally figured out that if you move the cold water knob at a certain angle, it would catch the screw sticking out of the wall, and voila- 10 min later I had the best shower of my life. So, I left the hostel and headed to the bus station. The bus ride was okay; it was supposed to be 5 hours but took 6 because a lot of the road was unpaved, so we went off-roading in our double decker bus. This frightened me quite a bit, so I just shut my eyes and convinced myself that if the bus fell over, I wouldn't be hurt that bad. On the bus I met a French girl (she and her friends were French, and she let me get up to go to the bathroom and I said Merci because hell if I know what language I'm supposed to be speaking, and then we started talking). She and her friends are all med students that have traveled in South Asia, Africa, and now here (and Europe, of course). We only talked for a bit, but she was nice and it's always good to talk to someone other than myself.

At the bus station in Puno, someone from my hostel was waiting with a sign saying "Kelly Rollan." I sure hope that was me, otherwise some other sad foreigner is still waiting for a ride. We got to the hotel and I have my own HUGE room, HUGE bed, bathroom, and free breakfast for ten dollars. I LOVE South America. I'm staying here for two nights, and so happy. It looks like a regular nice hotel, just without the fancy mini-soap and shampoo (and towel). So life is good on that front...

After settling in, I went travel-agency shopping for my trip to Lake Titicaca tomorrow. Lots of people do an overnight stay on one of the islands, which I REALLY want to do... but none of them get back till 3:30 or 4pm, and my bus to Arequipa leaves at 3pm on Weds. Definitely not worth missing, as I've already paid for the bus to Lima and it's tight schedule-wise as is (I just realized that if the bus takes 6 hours again, I'll only have a 30 min layover in Arequipa, which is fine, as long as it doesn't take any longer and I get stuck out there. That would be miserable). So anywho, after visiting 5 or so agencies, I found one for a full day for 35 soles (just under 12 bucks), and the girls were really helpful and nice, so that sealed the deal. They are SO amazing, in fact, then when I asked what I should do Weds morning, they suggested a place to go and I said I was a little nervous about going alone and making it back in time for my bus. So one of them said one of the two of them could come with me, not as a guide- just as a friend, to help me find all the right places. This made me so happy - I love when people are that nice. Everyone in Peru has been really great, and I really hope Weds works out so they can come.

After I organized my tour, I just walked around town. Saw the cathedral, some other parks, churches, and when window shopping. I did buy one scarf that I bartered for with an 11 year old. That was weird. Oh, I'm wearing leather-y looking shoes today, and some freaking 5 yr old followed me for 5 minutes asking to polish my shoes. Dude, I am not the shoe-polishing type. It was so annoying, so see if I ever try to look decent again. I walked around for about an hour trying to find a dinner place that was recommended in Lonely Planet. I'm pretty sure it doesn't exist, or is now invisible. I ended up eating pizza and soup at a cute little place off the touristy street. They loured me in with a free pisco sour, but the pizza was actually amazing. Originally I was sitting upstairs with two Frenchmen who were smoking... it was so awful I moved downstairs and another Peruvian lady let me sit at her table! ha. Sometimes smoke doesn't bother me that much, but I was using my scarf as a filter and it was still really horrible. So I very much enjoyed sitting downstairs. After dinner I headed back to the hotel (9pm is my self-imposed curfew), and after this update I'll go unwind with some TV and head to bed. Got to get up at 6am tomorrow to get ready for the trip on the water. Ha, I can't believe I'm here!! I can't wait to tell my middle school geography teacher. I'm really excited to see the islands and get lots of good pics tomorrow. I get back around 5pm, after which I'll go meet up with my new travel agency friends to make plans for Weds, then I'm sure I'll have an exciting update for tomorrow (let's hope so).

Hope everyone has a great night... adios.