Today was another clear, sunny day in Puno. Unfortunately, the high altitude (i should correct myself, 3800m above sea level) was taking its toll on a few of our group members, including Amanda. The city wasn't going to let us have anything but a relaxing day, but even so, we were still able to fill the day. The morning was slow; i went out and did a bit of shopping for some food and drink that hopefully would relieve her of terrible dizziness and nausea brought on by not enough oxygen intake. At first, only pharmacies were open, and by our tour manager's suggestion, i picked up an electrolyte formula. According to Amanda, it was the worst tasting drink she had ever had, however i think all the good medicines typically followed that rule. After that, i found the huge indoor market used by the locals. After looking around for snacks, i came across peruvian animal crackers in bulk. I didn't really know much spanish for this situation, so thinking back to how much they would cost back home, i gave him 5 soles. To my surprise, he started loading a massive bag and i had to tell him that was way too much. After, i picked up some herbs for tea which i figured would help. Pretty sure it was thyme but i'm not entirely sure (im not too good with herb identification but Amanda seemed to know it). As she slept through a chunk of the morning, I walked about the streets a bit more and decided to check out the nearby cathedral in the city square. It was massive and was so intricately designed and decorated. It was amazing to find such a church in this lesser populated city. When I returned, Amanda was awake and after a few card games, we decided to head out for a walk. We stumbled across a local restaurant that ran on a set menu. This confused us when we were served soup without ordering. The soup was massive and delicious (it resembled chicken noodle with various other things like nuts and squid). By the end, we couldn't eat another course, so we got away with a great lunch for 2 soles! That's less than a buck after conversion. After lunch, we made our way on foot to the marina. Puno is a city alongside the highest altitude lake in the world, lake Titikawa (prob spelled that wrong too). It was a really nice walk that used up most of the afternoon. The rest of the late afternoon was pretty casual. We had another late dinner as usual and although this was an included dinner, it was multiple courses and massive. Contiki sure doesn't skimp on us. I had more alpaca for dinner - it's amazing meat and i don't think you can get it back home, so I'm taking advantage of it. My appetite has been way down during my stay in Puno and i did get a bit of a headache. Seeing as our liquid containers started bursting the same way they would on the plane, i can only imagine a fair bit of me wants to burst too. We leave the high altitude tomorrow so I hope everyone feels better from here on out!
The cathedral
Lake titikawa
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