Upstairs, Downstairs

Hi everyone! I went to Puno this weekend and it was awesome.

It didn't start too well but that wasn't a problem when we got there because we had such a good time. The bad start happened before we even left Cuzco when we found out that they had sold us the expensive seats even though we specifically asked for the nice cheap ones. But hey ho!
the trip out was just fine. We arrived in Puno in the very early morning and we went straight back to sleep as we were really quite tired. We spent Friday mooching around the town and having a look at their rather freaky dancing.
Then on Saturday we had our awesomely amazing day. First we went out the Uros, which are the floating islands in lake Titicaca. They are really amazing. I would upload a photo but the blasted computer is being all stroppy and won't let me do things. then in the afternoon we went to see the funerary towers at a place called Sillustani. They too were awesome and one of the best bits of the aftrernoon was that we got to visit a traditional Quechua house to see everything there and we even learnt the difference between a llama and an alpaca. I have come to the conclusion that the alpacas are coller because half of them have dreads.
Anyway, in the evening we went out into the town to see what we could see see see. and the result was that we saw lots of dancing. They all dance down the streets in troupes. With al different band between every 4 groups or so. They do this along a square route until 3am!!!! when everyone goes to bed, or not!
then they are up for 6am the next morning to start the official dance competition whichb starts from the stadium and processes around the streets again.
This is really loco. And it is also an even greater shame that i can't put some photos up because the costumes that they wear on the Sunday for the competion are trully amazing.

The journey home was even more eventful than the outbound one as the bus driver ploughed through a flock of sheep at one point, killing at least three of them. He also tried several really dodgy overtaking manouvers and almost ran into other buses on several occasions. So overall a really interesting weekend.

UPDATE: I have just had a look at ashley's blog post and she hasd managed to get the photos to upload. So follow the link on the right and it will take you to her thinger.

"House of the rising sun"

Ok this is a bit of a weird post because I am talking about something before it happens.
This weekend we are off to Puno for the fiesta de la virgen de la candelaria. I put the rising sun because the Incas thought that the sun was born in Lake Titicaca and then travelled accross the sky from there.
Its just a short one to say. Tell you about it when I get back.

"doctor, doctor. I think I'm a pair of curtains"

I am going to start this post by saying to everyone that i am absolutely fine. (I seem to start like that quite a bit). The reason is this: over the weekend I felt rather unwell. I cam into cusco to do my project on Mnday and found out that my teaching partner was also feeling exactly the same as me. So we went to the clinic in Cusco and found out that we both had a parasitic gut infection. My partner had Salmonella as well and I had traces of it. So yeah, I'm currently taking a lot of pills and on a very stiff diet. No fried or spicy food. No freash fruit or veg. No dairy products. This really isn't helping the situation with my already high carb diet. However it can't be helped and as mum pointed out to me today, what were the chances of getting away without any food pouinsoning at all. I am now going to reinforce that I am getting better and the situation is under control.
So yeah, te project is still going well.
the big plan for this weekend is a trip to Puno, on the shores of Lake Titicaca for the festivl of light there. It looks like its going to be absolutely AMAZING.

the weather has got a lot better over the last week and they are now in the process of repairing the damage done by the rain. They have already repaired one of the bridges accross the river and hopefully ours will be the next on the list as we have some awesome ruins and a big touristy market in Pisac.