Trains, boats, moto-taxis and buses!

Another blog entry title involving a variety of transport names can only mean that we've been on the move again and that I've been a little absent from the computer and therefore have some catching up to do! We are currently in Arequipa, Peru and thoroughly enjoying it. It's a beautiful and clearly wealthy city with a big choice of watering holes and eateries for us to indulge our food cravings. On my sister's advice we went this afternoon to a creperie in the city which lived up to her praise and I ploughed my way through a Nutella and banana crepe as good as I could find in France.....delicious.

So...where have we been? After a final relaxing day in Cusco we made our way (with plenty of time to spare) to the railway station to catch our 'First Class' train to Puno. On arrival by taxi the gates were closed and we were informed that the train had in fact left early due to a strike taking place later that day. We were ushered into the station office and told that we would be refunded our money and have to catch a bus to Puno. Bearing in mind the thought that had gone into our decision to blow our budget and book the trip on the Andean Explorer and the fact that the rail company had our hotel contact details and made no effort to let us know about the change to the train time, we were a little upset to say the least. After a heated discussion in broken English/Spanish with the poor woman who was on duty we managed to get her to arrange for the train to wait for us (and the other stranded passengers) at the next station, a mere 50km away! She called a taxi for us (although they refused to pay the extra cost - by this time we just wanted to make it on board and realised that any further arguing was not going to get us anywhere) and along with another passenger we were driven (at about 150km an hour) to the next station where we had in fact beaten the train. Drama over, we boarded and found our seats. It was easy to forget the unfortunate beginning to our journey once we'd had our welcome drink, spent some time in the glass roofed viewing car and relaxed at our linen clad tables. Needless to say, the extra expense of travelling on the train 'First Class' was really worth it (and all for less than a single ticket from Bath to London!) and we thoroughly enjoyed the journey. We travelled high in the Andes through hail and snow, past herds of Alpacas and Llamas and over a pass at 4300m - a spectacular trip.

As the train pulled slowly in to Puno we were afforded our first view of Lake Titicaca on whose shores the town sits. Puno is a small town and, the main street aside, quite run down. We stayed in a nice little hostal though and met up with a few friends whom we'd met on the Inca Trail (we were all following a similar itinerary for the few days after leaving Cusco). Our short stay in Puno was actually a lot of fun, catching moto and cycle taxis, visiting the islands of Lake Titicaca during the day and spending the evening playing Jenga in a local bar with new friends.

Rather than over spending on a tourist sightseeing boat, we decided to head down to the port early in the morning and hop on a local boat for our trip to the lake's islands. Local boats offer cheaper transport as they deliver food and people to the floating Isla Los Uros and Tequile. The floating islands were incredible. To think that people live on floating islands made of reeds is almost unimaginable until you see and step on them. Although very 'touristy' now, the islands are still really worth the visit and our explanation (although entirely in Spanish) was very interesting. We took a trip from one island to another on one of the islander's infamous reed boats and were sung to (in Engish and French nonetheless) by local children (who collected and shared out their money in true entrepreneurial spirit at the end of the ride!). From the floating islands we set sail to Isla Tequile (about a further 3 hours). The weather had picked up by the time we set foot on land and our view of the island and the lake were wonderful. After walking the 500 steps up to the 'town' we enjoyed a lunch there, had a walk around and then made our way back to the dock for our return trip to Puno. Some travellers choose to spend the night on the island but I must admit that we were quite pleased to be returning (it's a small island and easily explored in a couple of hours). The trip home was a cold one - as soon as the sun disappears at that altitude the temperature drops very quickly.

The following day we caught a bus to Arequipa (where we are now) with our new friends, David and Anne-Marie from Quebec, Canada. Here we've visited the beautiful Monasterio Santa Catalina and the incredible museum housing Juanita the sacrificial Incan ice mummy (along with other similar mummies) found on mountain peaks in Peru. Feeling a little under the weather for the past couple of days, it's been great to be in such an easy city.

Tomorrow we head out for a 3 day 2 night trek in the Colca Canyon where we hope to see Condors and mountain peaks. We also get the chance to visit hot springs and spend the night in the canyon itself. After that our plans have changed yet again and we have decided to make our way into northern Chile (rather than Bolivia) but I'll write more about that later as the plans unfold a little more.