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Catching my head as it suddenly dropped from exhaustion, I continued counting down the minutes until the arrival of my night bus to the lakeside town of Puno. Before leaving Cusco, I had set up a two day excursion on Lake Titicaca; where I would visit three of the islands and stay over night with a local family. Everything was sort of running on schedule to get me there in time to make my 8am boat departure. The night had kicked off to a rough start when the bus company had double booked nearly 20 seats and attempted to pull away with angry customers running beside and in front of the vehicle. Lucky for me, I had arrived really early and insured my spot. The rest of the night went rather smoothly; well except for the bitter cold that filled the cabin and had turned the condensation on the windows to ice. Then as morning neared (5am), the bus suddenly came to a halt (only 10km outside of Puno). We soon discovered that the road between us and the town had been completely blocked off by angry civilians who were holding a demonstration.

Life on the Reeds; and on the Rocks!

Jeremy Curl
2006-08-28 12:03:07

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of the stomach lining (that's just lovely). But, that's not all; I was to return the following day to have a blood test done to check for possible infection. Next, I was ordered to stop taking all of the medication I was presently on (Dioxicyline - Malaria pills and pepto) and to only eat bread, rice, white chicken (not fried), water, and a two liters of some really funky tasting medicine - for the next three days (I'm going to look like a string bean). The following day after my blood test and much waiting, I soon discovered there was more good news. Along with an inflamed stomach lining, I also had the wonderful bacterial infection known as Salmonella. For those of you who are unaware; Salmonella is a type of bacteria that is usually transmitted through contaminated food (such as under cooked poultry). Let me stop here for a second and thank the cooks of the S.S. Victor for never washing there hands or anything for that matter - Bravo I say, Bravo! Now, with this new diagnosis, I'll will be spending three more fun filled days in La Paz getting shots (the size of a pencil) into my rear end. Well, I must say that being immersed into a culture not only opened my eyes, but other areas as well.

Alright, I am going to leave you with that. I guess I will spend the next three days reading, writing, and watching the conclusion to the 2006 World Cup (France vs. Italy). I haven't decided for sure where I am headed next (somewhere South - toward the Salt Flats of Uyuni), but you will find out soon enough. I had planned on ice-climbing the Huayna Potosí (6,088 m-19,974 ft), which is known as the easiest 6000 in the world. I had met a Swiss guy who had recently done it and it was only his first time ice-climbing. He said it was absolutely amazing (but very difficult) and the tour company trained and watched over him the entire time. I am going to have to take a rain check on that adventure - Doctor's orders. She said that I shouldn't have done the Machu Picchu trek (too bad) and that I had better take it easy for a while and ease myself back into physical activities (rrrright!). Well, I hope everyone is doing good. I know it is getting close to time for some of these little ones to be born. Keep me posted! I'll be thinking about you. Till next time; Adios!