January 5, Cuzco to Puno

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We got up at 6am to get ready for our trip to Puno. I couldn't bring myself to take another cold shower, so I went without! I really wanted to take the tourism bus from Cuzco to Puno. They drive you there and stop at several scenic sites along the way to tell you about them with an English guide. It is about a 7-8 hour bus ride and lunch was included. First we couldn't find the phone card to call the company with the bus trip that we knew left at 8am so we could book seats on that bus. We went to a few little shops around but they were all closed, it was about 7 by this time. So the guy at the hotel let us use the phone and that bus was full! So I looked online at the other company I knew about from the guidebook. It turned out their bus left at 730 - it was 720! We would have headed over right away, we were all packed up and ready to go. EXCEPT that they still hadn't brought back the laundry we had dropped off on Saturday! The hotel employee called at 710, and they said 10 minutes, but it still wasn't there. So we decided that when the laundry showed up we'd hustle to the 8am bus and hope they ended up having 2 spare seats.

At 7:58 with still no sign of the laundry, we decided that wouldn't work. We just wanted to sit down and enjoy some of the continental breakfast. I ate a piece of the stalest toast I've ever had, a couple sips of warm (but fresh seeming) juice, and a cup of coffee. At 825, the laundry finally showed up. I looked at a couple of bus lines online, but it seemed all the buses left at 8 or 8:30! I managed to find some random information that there may be a bus leaving at 9 for Puno. We went ahead and took a taxi over to the bus station and sure enough, the bus left at 9am! The tickets were only 1/3 of the tour bus, there were lots of empty seats, big windows, and no stopping so we got there faster.



We both dozed off and on. It was a very beautiful drive, and they even gave us a little snack.











We arrived in Puno just after 3pm. We took a taxi to an area where one hotel sounded pretty good but there were many others close by. The guy tried to charge about 4 times what was listed in the guide book! I said, no way, and we got it for about half the price he started with. We dropped off our stuff and headed out to lunch.



At lunch (very late lunch), I decided to try something I'd been meaning to try the whole time we were there. Not because I thought it would taste good but because I wanted to try as many local specialties as I could. Mom, if you're reading, you should stop right now because you will be horrified. One of the Peruvian specialties is cuy, or guinea pig. I didn't have one as a child or else I probably wouldn't have been able to do it. They are served whole, like they just dropped them in the fryer.



Gross! Anyway I did order it, and I ate it. There wasn't much meat to it, as you might guess. I can't say that it tasted all that good, but it did (of course) taste like chicken. I thought I was being all polite and eating it with my fork and knife, but the waiter told me to eat it with my hands.



Chris was probably gagging the whole time but he tried not to look at it.

He ordered trout, which likely came from Lake Titicaca.



It didn't taste all that fresh though. After lunch, we decided it was time to do some shopping. We hadn't bought a single souveneir! So we headed out and got a sweater and gloves for me, a hat for Chris, and some goodies for others! We wandered through an indoor market area that was less touristy, they sold food as well as clothes and other stuff.





They had a fresh juice shop that we had to sample.



We also picked up a pair of sunglasses each, we were planning to take a boat tour of the lake the next day and we could tell the sun would be brutal. We brought our treasures back to the hotel and headed out again. We later had dinner in a cool bar and had a pizza, which wasn't very good.



The bar was nice though. Back to the hotel about 8pm. Tried to find a movie in English, but almost all of them were dubbed. No Fox Life! Boo! We went to sleep around 9, exhausted from the days of activity.

Costs:
past two nights in hotel $50
laundry S/24
taxi to bus station S/4
2 bus tickets to Puno S/70
departure taxes S/2
waters S/3
lunch S/70
2 pairs of sunglasses S/22
dinner S/38

Homebrew!

Brewed again this past Sunday. Even with our new storage system, we're running out of places to store the beer again! I guess we'll have to drink faster. But we need help. Any volunteers?

We brewed IPA, which we still don't have a name for. We finally got caught up on the labeling. It takes a surprisingly long time to label 50 bottles of beer, so it is annoying when you fall 1-2 batches behind. We get behind when we don't have labels done. Chris finished the label for the Honey Weizen (Hoppy Spring!) as we were brewing, and I love it!



I had finished the label for our double brown last week. We are low on printer ink AGAIN so it kind of looks more purple than brown!



We have two more kits and I want to make them so we can order more! I get so excited for new beers! I think we'll try to brew this weekend, between studying and making Super Bowl snacks, because we're heading up to Burlington next weekend.

January 4, Macchu Pichu!

Yet another early rise, at 520 to catch the train to Macchu Pichu. Unfortunately it was rainy and cold outside and neither of us had our jeans! We had only packed one pair each and they were very disgusting from the jungle, so we had left them at the laundry at the hotel. We asked the guy about them before we left but he said they wouldn't be ready till after 8. Also - no hot water in the shower. Yuck. The morning did not start off well, in other words. We found the station without too much difficulty. We got on line for the ticket window - we had bought our tickets online the night before but only were able to print vouchers for the tickets and had to take the vouchers to the ticket window. It seemed we were the only people who didn't have our tickets, all the other people on the line were locals and probably getting tickets somewhere else. Some guy in a security uniform asked us what we were doing, and pulled us out of line and brought us to the front to get our tickets. Sometimes it pays to be a gringo, I don't think we had a chance of making it through that line in the 40 minutes before the train came.





We sat in separate seats on opposite sides of the train. I sat by a mom, dad, and ~7 year old who were all excited and having fun. That was cute.



I dozed on and off on the train ride. It wasn't too bad.



We got up to a town called Aguas Calientes and found the place where we buy MP tickets.





They only take soles. Then went to find the place where they sell the tickets for the bus that takes you from AC to MP. And of course they only take dollars. Then a third line to wait to get on the bus.



I was really starting to wonder if it would be worth it.





Once we got up there, though, I realized it was SO worth it! MP was amazing. I can see why the Incas wanted to live there. It really feels like you are on top of the world. The mountains are beautiful. And the site itself is unbelieveable. It is so big. It could really hold a whole town. There are llamas that live there and just wander around, they let you pet them but they kind of ignore you. And I was surprised at the variety of flowers up there! I'll just put the grab bag of photos below.

































































We spent 4 hours walking around and felt like we weren't done but we had to leave to get on the train!



The bus ride back was steep but kind of fun. In AC the train was a little late, so we got some water and some snacks.



Then we left on the train, happily we got to sit next to each other on the ride back to Cuzco. We were exhausted. The train seemed to take forever.





When we finally got back, we went to Trotamundos (yet another LP recommendation) and had a little snack of sandwiches and fresh juice. Yum!





Then to bed and passed out! (I can't remember what but I think we watched the end of a movie on Fox Life.)


Costs:
2 RT train ticket to Aguas Calientes: $96 each
breakfast sandwiches and coffees S/23
2 tickets to Macchu Pichu S/248
2 bus tickets to MP $28
post-MP snacks: water, ice cream, chips S/13
dinner S/43