Traveling and Tired

So much has happened in so few days. Seems like there's never time to document things. A night on Lake Titicaca was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. I stayed in a small house with one of the local families who cooked traditional meals, dressed me up in their colorful clothes and danced folklore with me. Buckets of fun.

The islanders predate the Incans by a long way. The floating islands were a lot of fun to visit--entire peopled islands made of reeds. There the people speak Aimara, an ancient dialect that sounds pretty much nothing like Spanish. On the bigger islands the people speak Ketchua. Those who have more interaction with the mainland speak Spanish as well.

I sat on a fairly long bus ride to Desaguadero to see if I could get across the Bolivian border. I sat between two older woman whose dress and unfamiliar speech were pretty interesting. I got across Bolivia, but not for more than 5 minutes before they wanted to charge me $135. Not worth it so I took a little bus back to Puno.

Today I have felt reasonably tired. There comes a point after enough traveling when one starts to consider the things he misses at home. This has been a crazy, enjoyable and exhausting ride. I have no idea how many hours I've put in on buses across South America. I just bought my last one for 160 soles. Another 20 hour ride and my adventures on South American roads are pretty much over. There's something I'm missing from home and today sinto un pouquinho de saudade.

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