Puno, Peru, to Cochabamba, Bolivia

While all the touristy amenities (and kind people we met) in Cusco were lovely, we were happy to move on to Puno and away from the crazily inflated prices.
We arrived in Puno, a fairly small, scruffy city, just towards the end of their ¨Virgen del Candelaria¨ festival. The entire city celebrates the Holy Virgin by getting decked out in outlandish costumes, dancing, marching around with brass bands, eating lots of Jell-o, and drinking from 11 a.m. on. Unfortunately we seemed to have missed the biggest parts of the festival, but we were still lucky enough to hang out one afternoon with hordes of dancers and revellers in one of the squares. The people were incredibly friendly there- we were just standing around feeling like gringos and taking pictures, when all of a sudden an old guy dressed in drag with a mask invited me to dance, then Ace. I was also offered to share innumerable plastic cups of beer, and we spent a while talking and passing around bottles of Cusqueño with a group of artisans with the most amazing hand-made costumes- all fiberglass skeletons and horns and animal skins. Some of the women were in a rather disturbing combination of the quaint local dress- think felt bowler hats and braids and long sleeved, brightly colored embroidered blouses with puffed shoulders and vests- worn over skirts so short you could see their butts and stilettos.
Anyway, we had a lot of fun taking pictures and talking to locals. One night we were lucky enough to be able to meet up with Raphael and Tereza, our friends from Macchu Picchu, and introduce them to our favorite café. We also took a day trip out to the floating islands (the Uros), where we got to see how the communities live on their 70 man-made islands they have been building and re-building for hundreds of years from floating totora reed roots. It´s pretty touristy at this point, but still fascinating. We also went to Taquile, one of the natural islands of Lake Titicaca, which also has a really interesting, unique cultura of it´s own. It´s famous for the incredible weaving and crocheting culture- the men even crochet their own hats for their wedding, which they wear from then on. The way that government officials distinguish themselves is by wearing those brightly-colored wool caps with the ear flaps and tassels, which I find awesome.

After our three nights in Puno, we headed into Bolivia for a few days of relaxation in La Paz before Ace had to fly out. My sweet parents offered to pay Ace´s entrance into Bolivia so he didn´t have to go back to Lima. The trip was fairly short and uneventful up until we reached Copacabana, the main town in Bolivia on our route. From there, we were supposed to change buses and continue on to La Paz. However, five hours later, our bus was still not there. The group ended up basically camping out in some random hostel´s common area all day, pestering the poor bus company guy who was supposed to be in charge and clearly wanted to be drinking a beer somewhere instead of dealing with us. Apparently the bus that was on the way to pick us up fell off the little raft that was ferrying it across a stretch of Lake Titicaca- oops. Somehow, supposedly, they had to dredge it up and send a new bus all the way from La Paz again. Anyways, in spite of the excitement, we made it to La Paz that night.

Our time in La Paz was lovely- we just relaxed, shopped, explored, and ate well. On Valentine´s day we did a bit of souvenier shopping, ate the best pizza we´ve had yet in S.America , went to a theater and watched ¨Red¨, and met up with our friend Claire-Marie for a drink when she arrived in town. A lovely last day together. Yesterday I dropped Ace off at the airport (sniffle) and hopped on my bus to Cochabamba. It feels really, really weird to be traveling alone! It´s amazing how little I talk to anyone during my day- just the cab driver and the receptionist at the hostel, maybe a little chitchat with the waitress. I am now in Cochabamba, very impatient to get to the animal refuge and start making myself useful, but stuck for today due to a transportation strike. Hopefully the buses will be running tomorrow and I will be on Inti Waru Wassi by tomorrow night!