Puno

Puno from the Condor Lookout
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I arrived at Puno about 3am and got a few hours of sleep at my 1/2 star hostel.  Got up with the sun and snapped a few pictures before walking around much of the city in the early morning, including the condor lookout.

The market as quite interesting with everything under the sun on sale from car parts and stereos to goats heads and coca.  Absolutely fascinating.  So colourful and lively.

Puking in "Poo-no, not again!"

Puno Day!
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It was also Puno day, which meant a ceremony with local officials acknowledging the city´s birthday. Nothing too much more exciting than that, but it was interesting to see quite a few young people in army fatigues sporting bazukas etc.

In my enthusiasm to take in more of the local culture and cuisine, I bought a salteno, a pastry with chicken etc.  Similar to empanada, but bigger, I figured it would tie me over for much of the day...Boy, was I wrong!

Around 12pm, the rumbling began in my belly...an hour or so later, things got....how shall I say...desparate....and then worse.  My body was doing all it could to purge itself of whatever I had ingested.  On top of this, or perhaps as a result of the dehydration, I began to develop symptoms of altitude sickness (gasping breath, light-headed etc), perhaps as a result of motoring up the condor lookout too quickly...

Young Female Soldiers
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Shivering one moment and boiling hot the next, I remained in bed, hoping the worst had passed. Unfortunately, the worst was still to come.  In an almost halucinagenic state, I proceeded to get sick multiple times, at one point I even lost feeling in my arms...quite disturbing.

Figuring that a warm shower might help, I turned the tap.  No luck.  Apparently, hot water was only available for one hour at 5am...guess I missed the fine print on the sign outside advertising aqua caliente.  At any rate, my goal was now to wake up at 5am, bathe and get ready for my trip on Lake Titicaca.

Rocket Launchers
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Fortunately, I was able to convince the woman on duty to make me some coca tea.  She also offered me another blanket, in addition to the two already piled on my bed.  Despite being dressed in longjohns and a sweatshirt, I was still cold, shivering and tolerating aching joints.

At any rate, I fought through (with some help from cipro and immodium) and was even able to keep down a mango.  At about 10pm, I awoke from my daze and felt a bit better...just a few hours more and I´d be on a boat...JOY!