Puno

I am currently staying in a really nice hotel in Puno on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca. i've had a rough couple of days cycling through the andes, and the hot water in the shower felt so, so good. it is so crazy how rapidly the scenery can change. it only took about 20 miles of cycling out of arequipa before the desert started to give way to pampas grass. in the distance i could see the snow covered peaks of Chanchani, Misti, and Pichupuchu volcanoes. i entered a national reserve called Salinas y Aguada Blanca. along the road were signs that said, "drive carefully vicuñas crossing" Vicuñas are a type of camelid related to alpacas. they are an endangered species, and have thus far resisted domestication. i was so excited that i was cycling through an area with vicuñas that even though i was going down hill with an insane tailwind, i had the brakes on so i could look everywhere to see if there were any vicuñas wandering around. finally i saw some, dropped my bike along the side of the road, and started walking out into the pampas to try and get a good photo. i thought they would be really skitish like deer, but they let me get this close before they all started running away. man they are so awesome looking!
the indigenous people living in these parts raise alpacas. during the day they are let out to graze in the pampas, and at night they are hurded into stone walled inclosers. in Arequipa you could order alpaca steaks in the restaurants, but alpacas are mostly raised for their wool. baby alpaca wool is really soft like cashmere. i think alpacas are so awesome. anytime i saw an alpaca farm, i totally stopped riding to take pictures. most of them didn't turn out that great cuz they keep moving around, but you can see this guy's face pretty good. they are pretty cute, huh?

Between Arequipa and Lake Titicaca there is not much in the way of civilization. i ended up camping in a dry river bed the first night, and then sleeping in an indigenous family's house the second night. when i was camping, i woke up at around 2:00am and thought, "god it's cold." then passed out again. in the morning everything was covered in a layer of thick frost, and there was ice in my water bottles. rolling up a frozen tent with your bare hands is totally horrible.
i think i was camping at around 12,00 feet, and then started climbing. i was feeling alright considering the cold, but then my head started to hurt. by 11:00am i figured i was suffering from altitude sickness. my head was pounding and i was totally dizzy and nausious. i kept feeling like i wanted to fall over and pass out. finally i reached this little town with a restaurant. i ordered a bowl of soup, and was talking to the family who ran the place about not feeling very good. they suggested i drink some coca leaf tea. i'd heard before that chewing coca leaves can help with altitude sickness so i figured i'd give it a try. i don't think it did anything though. my altitude sickness didn't go away, and i didn't even get a buzz like you do from coffee.
after lunch my headache got a lot worse. anytime i had to climb uphill i kind of wanted to cry. at some point i got to this town called Crucero Alto, and there was a sign that said the elevation was 4,528 meters, which is about 13,500 feet. all the houses were made of stone with thatch roofs. i was feeling so messed up i almost asked one of the families if i could put my tent up next to their house and pass out for a while. but then i figured i might feel better if i kept cycling down to a lower elevation.

i ended up cycling down to this lake, and spent the night in this village called Santa Lucía. there were no hotels there, and this family who had a restaurant told me i could sleep in their spare room. they made me dinner, and then asked me if i wanted some coca leaf tea. i said sure, figuring it might make me feel a little better. i don't think it did anything, and it certainly didn't keep me up because i passed out immediatly after dinner. this morning when i woke up, my headach was gone, so that's good.
tomorrow i am going on a two day excursion to visit the floating islands of uros, isla taquile, and isla amantani. both tauquile and imantani have ruins on them so it should be a cool trip. hope everyone is good! love,
-jessie,