Leaving Cusco, entering Puno, lago Titicaca, Arequipa, Ica, Paracas, islas Bullestrias --Lima

Sunday and Monday last I came back from visiting islands in the lake of Titicaca (this is the highest situated lake in the world). It's % Peruvian and 40% Bolivian. I decided not to go to Bolivia because this is just 1 day and it's just another town totally the other way that I have to go. So I have go come back some day to visit Bolivia and see it more than just 1 day. I arrived in Puno (a town by the Titicaca lake) the day before yesterday. I left Cusco 3.00 hours last saturday. I said goodbye to friends and to the children in the orphanage. I was horrible. The "mamita" cried, I cried, the children didn't understand but gathered in the small room to kiss me goodbye. Completely confused I went to pack my bag and Sandra and I decided to have a good farewell breakfast the next day. In the night we "celebrated" my going with some friends in various bars. It was a sweet farewell but one friend decided to go with me for a while on my travel which was very good news for me. The next day more crying when I had to say goodbye to Sandra. I left with my a Peruvian friend for Puno. We arrived in good shape arount 20.00 o'clock. Like al backpackers we found a hostal and went to check out the town. Next day we went to visit the islands on the lake Titicaca, which is so beautiful. We were in this small boat with other tourists from various countries. We slept on an island on the lake, an island with no lights in the evening, hardly electricity, very pure and simple. In the night we had to dress like the locals and we went dancing with the island people and Ricardo (my friend) turned out te be a very good dancer of these typical dances, so he taught me how to be an Indigena ;-) The people who live there are Indigenas and they speake a different language. Next day we visited ruines and other islands, the sun was shining and it was really lovely on the lake. Completely new to me. So worth visiting. Very quite and different from the other sings I've seen. Then we were of to Arequipa (the white city) which was also very nice. We spent 2 days here and visited as much as possible. The folowwing day Ricardo had to go back to Cusco and I had to move on to Ica-Paracas. With pain in my heart again we said goodbye at the bus terminal and we went our own way. I know, backpackers, this is the way to do it, but for me it's really hard. I had to travel for 12 hours on a bus, again on very small roads and this time completely alone. Apart from the bus leaving without me once (I had to go to the toilet) and me running behind the bus in this small village with all the townpeople shouting to the busdriver, everything went well. The countryside was once again beyond comprehension at certain points. I saw dessert, and dessert and mountainsites again, all in the same voyage. Arrived in Inca at 22.00 hours, tired, broken, a bit sad on my own, but I decided to go out alone. Found a very cheap hostal on the Plaza and had fun in the evening. Slept around 4.30 and had to leave for this small oasis (Huacachina) the next morning. As I'm used to not sleap to much I felt horribly good the next day. The trip was weird, but probably because oasises are weird, aren't they. In the middle of nowhere you encounter this wonderful green place that shows up behind very high dunes. After this I took another bus (collectivo, small local smelly bus) and arrived in Pisco. From there to Paracas, a small fishersvillage. Visited islands in the Pacific the next day, again a pleasure like . I'm like in this dream constantly, seeing incredible sights, experiencing unimagenary things. These islands provide housing for thousands of birds, seals and sealions. What a magnificient day again, in a speedboat, dolphins around us......please tell me that I'm not dreaming....And there was much more, I went to a national park as well but it's getting to much to explain. I will continue another day and I will make this blog more fun to read, because right now it's like a sommation of facts. I have to do it like this, because during traveling it's almost impossible to keep up with the experiences of every day, as I'm in the bus most of the time. Or doing incredible fun things. I'm in Lima now and had 1 day of rest so I could write a bit. Hope it's still informative and fun to read. I will make it nicer though....Just bare with me untill I'm in Ecuador. Bye for now, and I'll be back in a couple of days, but then from Ecuador......Be safe in the meanime. Love ye...