As we were riding, a young child dashed out in front of the bus and we had to swerve to miss her (probably missed her by less that an inch.) I do not know how we missed her- in doing this we ran off the road and the road was banked on a downward sloping bank. The bus could have gone over but it did not.  At that speed someone should have been killed.  We all thanked God for saving the girl and ourselves.

We arrived in Puno the town of Titicaca, an ugly brown mud town.  Yet it was perched on a high setting overlooking the Lake, one of the highest navigable lakes in the world.

In the morning, we rode a small boat out to indigenous village, which was actually floating, on reeds and compost. In the morning, it was gray and cold as we approached the small hamlet.  About 7 families or 25 people) live on the floating reed islands.

Their homes are built up with reeds and they grow vegetables, farm and fish from their homes.  We took a ride in a hand made reed boat and listened to these indigenous people sing songs in their native language.  From here we traveled for over 2 hours on this huge lake to a very large terra firma island between Bolivia and Peru.  We ate lunch on this island and watched the locals sing and dance in their traditional brightly colored clothing.  After a lunch of Guinea pig, we hiked to the top of the mountain where we had significant views of Bolivia and its magnificent snow covered mountains.

Later that day we boarded a boat, traveling back to our hotel.  I climbed on to the top deck for the ride home and as we pulled away from the peaceful shore line, the sun god bathed me in its warm healing rays and like a lover, the winds soft hand caressed my face and I listened to the metronomic sycophantic sounds of the engine. The god morphine was too strong and I was lulled to sleep.  I slept yet I did not sleep- I was awake yet I was not, I did dream.  I dreamed of far away places and far away cultures; of Incas and their sacrifices and way of life.  How incredible they were and how much has changed in such a little period of time. I was pulled away from my insights by a ravaging storm.

God shown His power and it was fire, brimstone, hail and bursts of bright light.  It was scary but it ended as soon as it had started

Well after a few days here we traveled back to the states, which took about 36 hours of travel time.  I have fond memories of my times in Peru and the study of the Inca civilization.  I find it amazing how they built such amazing temples, structures, roads, governmental agencies and so on.  Their structures remain a mystery.

This was the first tour I have been on.  The advantage of the tour is that everything is done for you: the air, bus and train tickets, the guides, the hotels, the food and the places to see. This is a huge advantage for the person on a limited time frame that does not have the time to do the necessary ground work.  On the other hand there can be something said for being able to serendipitously travel with the flow of the waters.  There is a certain level of excitement in planning ones trip, being able to do things when you want to, taking chances with ones schedule and embracing the unknown.  Allowing the flowing river of life to take you, can be quite exciting.

BT