The Worst Night of My Life

All night last night I was vomited every half hour, and top it off with a migraine-style headache. I couldn't even keep water down. Luckily Cristina had provided a ton of vomit bags so I didn't have to leave the cabana to go out in the cold to the outhouse to vomit, but I went through all the bags by halfway through the night and had to keep reusing the last one... Luckily by that point there was nothing left in my stomach.

Today we were supposed to head to another island to spend the night, but I felt so rotten that we went back to Puno and got a room in Casa Alpinas, which is actually a really nice hotel. I spent the entire day in bed, headachy and barfing. Lovely way to spend a vacation day. The hotel staff even brought me oxygen, which is supposed to help, but it only helped while I was actually using it, not once I took off the mask

Later in the evening I felt a touch better, and Gavin convinced me to have dinner with him in the wood-fired pizza restaurant in the hotel. I dragged my way down stairs and ordered a Sprite and chicken noodle soup, while Gavin had what looked like an AMAZING wood fired pizza, cooked in the wood oven 6 feet away from us. A trio of British ladies sitting at the table next to us noticed how awful I looked and suggested I go to a pharmacy and get some altitude sickness medicine that is prescription in the US but is over the counter here. So after dinner Gavin and I took a walk to a pharmacy a few blocks away and bought some. After buying the medicine and me swallowing a pill dry, we took a walk down the pedestrian-only shopping street in Puno. We stopped at a little cafe called Sweet Cafe, and as the medicine kicked in I was feeling good enough to order a bit of dessert - a fruit crepe that ended up being HUGE and too sweet, so I didn't finish it. Gavin had some pretty tasty tres leches cake, though. After that, we walked back to the hotel to go to sleep. Here's hoping tonight will be a better night than last night...

The edge of Isla Quantati (a.k.a. Vomit Central) and some cute boats made of tortora reeds.