First full day... first Kim-ism injury recorded!

I arrived at my hotel in Lima (with my luggage!!) at 1:15 am and then was off at 9:00 am back to the airport for a flight to Puno high in the Andes! The small group of 10 I am travelling with is great, and very diverse: Ireland, USA, Denmark, England, Peru and even Yellowknife (!). I have had a fantastic day travelling around this city (located on the edge of Lake Titicaca at 3 825m above sea level).

So our guide tells us all to take it easy and just relax for the first few days in the city. So, you guessed it, I convinced my roommate Kristina (USA) and 2 brothers from England to hike up to this huge cliff overlooking the city where there is a statue of the first Inca ruler (Guidebook fact - the first Incan ruler was said to be born from the Sun and landed on the shores of the lake, so the statue depicts him looking out over his birthplace before going off into the mountains to form the Incan civilization). So anyway, the 4 of us hike up to the top (way out of breath form the thin air) and take some great pics (see pic of me sitting on rock) and on the way down there is a concrete slab that the local children have somehow decided to use as a slide. I convince Kristina to slide down with me as all of the locals look on at the "crazy gringas" (see pic of us on "slide"). So on the way down, she panics, yanks my arm and twists me sideways, so that I land very hard, facing backwards, right on my a$s at the bottom. The crowd of locals exploded with laughter and loved it even more when I got up and took a bow! Now one of my 2 pairs of pants and one of my tops is all dirty and I`m only one day in... and then I look down at the nice sized dirty rock that has embedded itself into the palm of my left hand! Never fails! I threw some tea tree on it and am hoping for the best!! (p.s. all computer instructions are in Spanish, so I have no idea how to rotate this picture!)

I have also had some adventurous food as well... Alpaca steak for lunch (no cholesterol and tastes almost like steak!) and GUINEA PIG (called cuy in Peru) for dinner!! It is really popular here and is eaten as a staple by the locals (seriously). see picture attached... you can´t really see it, but the thing comes with its teeth and tiny little paws still attached... I was traumatized by the though of my pet guinea pig from long ago, but had to give it a try! It tasted like really bad extremely chewy chicken... thank god I only split it with some girls as an appetizer! After dinner we hit a fun club for some cerveza and Pisco sours, and I´m now off to bed, as we have to be up at 6:30 am tomorrow to catch a boat to the Uros Islands on Titicaca and our homestay with some locals. Can¨t wait!