Lake Titicaca - Prettier than it sounds!

And we´re back in Peru again!

We spent our last day in La Paz shopping at the Witches Market which is full of more cheap alpaca wear (which we bought way too much of again!) and strange superstitious goods including dried up llama fetuses that were hanging from all the stalls! It was mildy horrifying to see my baby pets strung up like that, but apparently you can bury them under the front step of a new house and it will bring good luck to those who live there!

From La Paz we headed to Copacapana on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca and hopped on a boat to Isla del Sol. We weren´t sure where exactly we would be dropped off on the island, but knew that we may end up at the Escalera del Inca at the South end of the island. We learned the hard way that "escaleras" are stairs in Spanish as we had to climb this giant stone staircase from the beach to our hostel -- not an easy feat with a huge backpack at an elevation of 12,000 feet! We could have hired a porter to do it (ie. a Bolivian kid the size of my backpack itself), but we decided to tough it out and gasp our way up!

It was worth it. A local kid sold us on a $3 hostel a the top of the staircase which had hot water and unbelievable views of the lake right out our window! We´d planned on exploring the North end of the island the following day, but due to a combination of the altitude and some bacteria-infested tomatoes that we had on a pizza the day before, we were both completely out of commission of the next day. It was like having the worst hangover ever, but without the fun of a drunken night before. We finally got out of bed a about 4pm (because we had to eat something!) and immediately went back to bed afterwards.

The next day we took a boat back to Copacabana and caught a bus to Cusco where we are now! Cusco is pretty awesome so far and I had the best french toast of my life this morning at a place called Jack´s Cafe -- seriously, it was incredible. We´re just in the process of researching our trek to Machu Picchu and have decided to do the new 4 day Inka Jungle Trail as an alternative to the traditional Inca Trail. It involves mountain biking, hot springs and apparently amazing views from vertigo-inducing heights. Choosing a company to do it with is a bit overwhelming --does cheaper mean we´re more likely to die? We´re not sure. We´re compiling our research, however, and weighing the pros and cons, so I´m sure we´ll make the right decision in the end!