Party Time!

Well we arrived in Puno, Peru today, on the shores of Lake Titicaca. The dive over from Arequipa was nothing less than spectacular. The skies were clear and blue and the high planes (in places over 14,000 feet) spread around us, with distant snowcapped volcanos towering over everything. It was absolutely amazing. For me, so far, the most amazing sight was of this city of Puno, spread out below us on the shores of the giant lake. When we got to the center, it was immediately clear that a party was on.

The streets near our hostel were crowded with people, dancers, vendors and marching bands. The Andean marching band is not the kind that marches around a football stadium at half time. Rather it´s a sort of party machine, complete with huge percussion section and an army of dancers. A numer roamed the streets today:

It was like a 4ht of July parade. These women had staked our their ground to view the procedings:

We also discovered the carnival custom of spraying random strangers with detergent foam. Little armies of kids wait on every street corner to spray anyone who looks like they have a sense of humor. Here´s Matt L after a particularly vigorous attack (note Peruvians in the background laughing at him) :

-MP