16 August: Llachon to Puno

This morning we woke up and had breakfast at our homes-stays. Our Mamma made us these sort of donut things and boiled eggs. And then it was time to head off on the boat again.

We spent part of our day (well, the bits we weren't on the boat for, cause that was 3hrs back to Puno ... which @UselessRob and I spent arguing the likelihood of time travel. I'm the non-believer.) on Taquile Island. Which gave us quite an uphill walk. I must say I hope all this walking at altitude preparation that we are doing helps us on the Trek!

Again, the place felt supremely touristy as we were surrounded! But it was a bit better when we stopped for lunch and our guide explained a bit more about the community that lived on the island. I'm fascinated that all these groups of people seem to have a "hat system" to indicate marital status. Admittedly this was the first where it was the men who were always wearing hats that indicated it. It even went so far as to show which unmarried men were on the prowl, had a girlfriend or weren't interested, purely by how their hat hung (the hat's looked a bit like nightcaps)!

I'm also amazed that they all seem to have a policy to try living together before marrying. Although here it's for a set period of time, a year. And they apparently don't have sex during this time (sure?!). The other interesting thing about this island group tho, was that they all rotate what they are responsible for on the island weekly. For example, for a week some families will run the restaurants catering to the visiting tourists, while others will sell the hats and what not and others will farm and so on. Then next week they'll all swap. Fascinating! I think this was also the place where they shine a reflected light from a mirror in their pocket into the object of their affection's eyes. If the other person is interested, they'll reflect the light back, but if not, they'll throw a rock at you!!

We had the most delish trout for lunch too. And then it was back to Puno with us for a nice hot shower. Then we finally had some free time. And this time I really mean *free*, we actually got to pick our restaurant ourselves for the first time and our Tour Leader went off and met up with a friend of hers.

@UselessRob & I went to have a drink while The Ageing Aunt did some more shopping and the 2 Aussie girls went and collected laundry and then we all met up together for a few more before moving on to find ourselves some dinner. There was so much laughing, it really is a great group :) After dinner, The Ageing Aunt went back to the hotel and the 4 of us went back to Positive for another drink.

So, @UselessRob & I finally kissed this evening. Haha, I suspect the rest of the group thought that it had already happened a while ago. But I think it's tricky when you still have to spend 2 more weeks in close confines with someone if you're not sure they're going to reciprocate. Needless to say, I'm smiling.

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