Llamas in the luggage compartment

Wednesday, June 23rd
The family all woke up early to catch the first bus out of cabanaconde to head to our various destinations. The Belgium couple were headed towards macchu picchu, the colombian was headed to huacachina, and I was off to the largest and highest alpine lake in the world. We rode the bus together for a few hours. On the bus ride, Daniel gave me a plethora of fantastic reccommedations for places to visit and stay in Bolivia and Colombia. A few hours into the bus ride, the bus made a 10 minute stop-over in a small town. I disembarked the bus for a quick pee break. As I walked out of the service station, I saw a woman loading 2 young llamas in the luggage compartment underneath the bus. My reaction was "no way!" The woman just picked up the llamas like they were housecats and stuck em in with the luggage. The llamas just layed on down amongst the boxes and suitcases and just kicked it like it was no big thing. It was a crazy sight to see. After about another hour or so I had to hop off the bus alone in the middle of nowhere to flag down another bus to get to my next destination - puno, lake titicaca. I was sad to leave my "family" behind. The next bus I caught, I sat on the floor for about an hour and then i was moved to sit (literally) next to the bus driver for the remainder of the trip. I arrived into lake titicaca at night so I couldn't see the lake yet. I checked into the hostel, had the most amazing roasted chicken dinner (in my life!!!), and made new buddies with my bunk mates - Vicki from London and kate from Scotland. Tomorrow, I will take a boat tour around the lake to visit the indigenous islands.