Thin Air

Sorry for the silence.... we are focusing on breathing her in Puno. Got in on Monday eve after our 18 bus ride (I somehow thought it was only 14 hours) from Ica. We imediately felt the effects of being at 12,000 feet. It was hard to get out of my bus seat which surely has a permanent mold of my a_ _! This picture was early on and not at all how we looked toward the end of the trip.

Helen has come down with a throat infection which we were certain was altitude sickness, but were greatfully wrong. Had a doctor make a hotel call to our room and she is on the mend.

We have been staying close to the hotel for 2 days but I have been venturing out. Puno is a nice town, the city center is compact and easy to walk or $2 Soles will get you anywhere you want to go in a motor-cycle rickshaw which the kids love. I talked my way through a hair cut yesterday (all Spanish) and we have been outfitting ourselves with winter wear.... it's cold at night here.

Meghan and I are going to split off tommorrow for 2 nights on 2 of the lake islands. We will be staying with host families and visiting their small communities. I have been looking forward to this.