Puno

The ride to Puno was quite different to our previous rides. I rode out throughout winding hills until the landscape made a dramatic turn into vast flats, which were quite welcome since Tim and I had done over a million turns since Nazca. I kicked my feet up onto my cruise pedals and forgot about steering for a while. Unfortunately these flats are at about 4200 ms and cos my bike is not fuel injected (like Tim's) is was struggling for air, though gratefully due to my acclimatisation I was not.

Just past half way the road took a dramatic turn for the worse and became filled with potholes, though these weren't the real hazard. The drivers over here try religiously to avoid every hole and thus swerve haphazardly from one lane to the next, its very scary when a truck or bus is coming straight at you on your side of the road and will only drift back at the last moment, also when you are in the midst of overtaking they will swerve right into you and this almost pushed me off the road numerous times.

Puno is next to Lake Titicaca and one of it's many attractions are the "floating villages".

These floating islands are the home of the Uros tribe, one which pre-dates the Incan civilization. According to their legends, they existed before the sun, when the earth was still dark and cold. They were impervious to drowning or being struck by lightning. They lost their status as super beings when they disobeyed universal order and mixed with humans, making them susceptible to contempt. They scattered, losing their identity, language, and customs. They became the Uro-Aymaras, and now speak Aymara. Because of their simple and precarious lifestyle, the Incas thought them worth little and accordingly taxed them very little. Yet the Uros, with their basic reed homes outlasted the mighty Incas with their huge stone temples and mountain-top enclaves.

I immediately took a boat out to see them, and though it was great, it began to rain just as we got there, and then began to seriously hail. I was very glad that I had left early and not got caught in the storm though.