Where did we leave off?  Oh yes, I was getting eaten alive by spiders while I slept soundly.

We were called for breakfast as the sun was rising, so I hopped out of bed to snap photos of the breathtaking sunrise and flowers on the property!  After brushing our teeth with ice cold water, we headed to our last meal with the family.  We had pancake (yes, one, singular pancake).  Delicious, but I was mucho hambre afterward.

We hiked back down the mountain to be at the boat by 7:00 am and once everyone was there, we were off once again!  This is Amber 🙂  This time to Taquile island!   We went on a short hike and learned about the people on Taquile island.  Our tour guide said many of the people live to be more than 100 years old due to their stress-free lifestyle and vegetarian diet (except they eat sheep on special occasions).  We also learned that they have two types of guinea pig, one type they keep in the house and eat.  The other type live off the land, and when someone on the island has something wrong with them internally, they catch a guinea pig and put it in the bed with the sick person for the night.  In the morning, a *doctor* cuts open the guinea pig and whatever problem the person was having, the guinea pig will now have.  Also, if a woman wants to know if she is pregnant, they will use the same technique and then cut open the guinea pig to see if it has babies.  Very strange, huh?!  Who needs ObamaCare when you have guinea pigs….?

We finished our hiking before heading off to lunch on a peninsula.  Again, breathtaking views while we enjoyed our fresh caught fish with rice, fries, and veggies.  The fish was excellent.  Then…back on the boat for a 2.5 hour trip back to Puno!  I slept the entire way, which was muy bueno.

Once we got to Puno, we were taken back to the hostel and given a room to store our bags (but we werent allowed to be in there) while we went out to explor Puno.  Well…turns out, there isnt much to Puno except one small Plaza de Armas and a street with restaurants and bars.  We found a pizza restaurant to camp out and watch the USA v. Portugal game while everyone ate dinner.  I passed on dinner since I was still full from my huge lunch.  What a depressing end to the game, but it was fun to sit there and talk with all of our new friends!

After about 3 hours in the restuarant, we headed back to the hostel and sat in the room (oops) and played a game.  We were all so, so, so exhausted, but still had 2 hours to kill before being picked up for the bus station.

We waited in the lobby at 9:00 pm, just like we were told, and by 9:15, we asked where our van & Vicki were, and the guy at the desk casually says, *Vicki says she cant make it and you should all take a taxi*.  We all perked up, and luckly, we had a native Spanish speaker that was able to sternly tell them that we paid for transfer to the bus, and Vicki cant just NOT show up.  It all got figured out and provided some good laughs, and we got to the bus station eventually.

I was hopeful that we would have a breezy, cool bus ride, but these Peruvians love to cook their tourists in the bus oven.

At 5:00 am, we arrived in Cusco, caught a cab, and promptly got back into bed for more sleep, dusty, greasy, and dirty from our trip.

Feeling much more refreshed now!