puno - oh no!

it´s morning here in puno and emily and i have been scrambling the last 30 or so hours to figure out what to do next. the hostel we chose here had some mixed reviews, but we were optomistic and signed up. whoops!

well, we have barely gotten a taste of the city and feel anxious to leave, but i really dont think it is Puno´s fault. soooo, we are going to give it another day. we found a different guesthouse across the main square and are going to trek our hopeful bootays over there to check it out.

i think both of us were expecting a little, quaint lakeside town, easy to access ferry boats, and less of a city vibe, but it´s huge here! we came around the bend in our bus and saw all of the lights sprinkling the hills around the lake and the busy streets filled with vendors and shop fronts just below us and maybe both had a moment. an anxious moment.

breathing here is a trip, also. i keep trying to put words together to describe it. it is like you are permanently excited and anxious about something. but don´t include the butterfly stomach feeling, just the isolated throat and mouth area. we are crazy high up! in the mountains by an amazing gigantic lake! woowee. just trying to catch my breath up here is a incredible feeling. i haven´t yet, quite honestly.

our bus ride here was something else. we booked it last minute and got lucky. the bus was comfortable and clean, and had these huge windows. driving out of Arequipa while gazing through these windows couldn´t have been better. i really loved the city, it was a wonderful first stop. so cruising by the colors and people was great way to say goodbye. once out of town we started winding through the mountains and hills. rich brown slopes with slightly white tops, and vegetation i had never seen before. when i looked really close i could see the alpaca munching away in groups, just blending in to the mountainsides. such a feast for my eyes! then taking the curve around and down to get our first glimpse of lake Titicaca (which apparently is translated to Brown Cat... i know, right? what?) was just expansive. huge and deep gem blue splattered below and against brown tumbling mountain. ayiyi. our bus stopped at a lookout point and we ran to the summit point to capture that photo op. running. whew. in that altitude, for like 50 yards socked me in the chest. crazy crazy that simply our location on this earth can do that to us. make my body feel vastly different. 

i think it is time to let this city take hold though, get a little lost. the map they gave us at the hostel only covers about a 6 square block portion of Puno, so this should get interesting. all i need to do is find the lake shores, somewhere to take it in. according to Andean myth, this was the lake that gave birth to the sun, as well the father and mother of all Incan peoples. i can get into that. i could go for a little rebirth, too.