…But not ketchup.

Their version of ketchup is sugary and watery. I think they consider it a punishment for foreigners requiring any such unncessary additions to a food as perfect as the Peruvian Potato.

OK. Where were we?

Puno.

Puno looks like a town fresh out of a World War.

Most of the buildings are unfinished and made of mud bricks. Not exactly ideal living conditions.

We later found out Peruvians pay less taxes on unfinished structures. Not the best recipe for a picturesque town square!

Oh, here’s a water shot. Slightly better.

I don’t exactly recall what we did in Puno besides buy some cheap hats and scarves and go to dinner. So, let’s move on to that.

We watched these Peruvian dancers having much more fun than we were and ate some decent food and really bad pizza.

Sure, it looks all right, but it’s soggy and served not hot.

I just looked around my bedroom, wow this place is a pigsty!

We also had the first of 1,245 bowls of Quinoa Soup. I like Quinoa Soup. Until the sight of it makes me want to hurl, that is.

I ordered chicken in some creamy spicy sauce with a hunk of flavorless cheese product placed neatly on top.

It was creamy. But not spicy. LIARS! I threw the rest of it at a Peruvian dancer in protest. I was shocked when they continued to have a better time than we were.

We headed to a salsa club that night to watch our perhaps gay tour guide dance and drink the free super sweet Pisco Sour’s promised to us. It was actually a really fun night.

The following morning we headed to Taquile Island. We took bicycle driven taxi’s to our boat.

Lake Tikicaca!

Taquile Island is gorgeous, with breathtaking views wherever you wander. We walked to the other side of the island where we were harrased by children selling crappy bracelets. I wish I would have bought more!

Now enjoy some scenery pics. Put on some nice World music on your favorite internet radio station. Or just the usual porn, if you prefer.

After seeing all this pretty crap we had lunch with an amazing view.

And more Quinoa Soup… (we still liked it at this point)

And we also enjoyed our Cocaine Tea. Sorry, I mean perfectly legal Coca leaf tea. It tastes exactly like green tea and it’s NOT like snorting a big line of Peruvian Flake. Just a slight caffeine buzz.

I ate in silence, filled with anxiety about tonight’s homestay in some local Peruvian strangers’ little mud hut….