Another early start, although our Cruz del Sur bus is, horror of horrors, late leaving Arequipa. We largely retrace our steps of yesterday across the beautiful golden brown altiplano (beautiful that is aside from all the damned litter – come on guys, clean it up!). We’ve come to expect good food and good movies aboard Cruz del Sur buses (even in second class) and we aren’t disappointed, but the toilet situation is grim. This isn’t the fault of the bus company, however. Signs clearly state toilets are for urination only. Well, today we find out what happens when the rules are broken. A truly foul odor emanates from the bathroom every time the toilet is flushed – and this is a 6-hour bus ride. Christi almost gags!
Puno is enjoying a holiday today and the center of town is dead, so we walk down to the waterfront which is located on the shores of Lake Titicaca, another iconic destination in South America. We see the local Aymara people in rowing boats (a step up from the more traditional totora reed boats), and colorful paddle boats with which to explore the harbor. The 150-year-old MV Yavari is also docked permanently in Puno harbor. It was commissioned from a British shipyard by the Peruvian navy in 1861 to patrol the lake. The boat was shipped in pieces from Britain to South America and then carried over the Andes by mule train. It was not until 1870 that the boat was finally assembled and launched. Initially, it used llama dung as a fuel source but required so much of the stuff that it could never go far without stopping to refuel. At least there was plenty of llama dung available! Not surprisingly, the MV Yavari was eventually converted to oil.
Possibly the only restaurant open tonight is a rather tasty Peruvian pizzeria, and we take our first anti-malarial pills with dinner. Lariam is not for the faint-hearted, the potentially psychotic, or those with liver disorders. My first experience with once-weekly Lariam was in 1997. The night I took the drug I was guaranteed the most disturbing and vivid dreams that typically ended with me being murdered in a pool of crimson blood. Later, I met a guy in Borneo who swore Lariam gave him the most erotic dreams of his life. Lucky bastard.
Blog post by Roderick Phillips, author of Weary Heart – a gut-wrenching tale of love and test tubes.
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