Oct. 8, 2016.  Inka's Rest B&B, Puno, Peru.

• Decided I needed to finally get the zipper fixed on my only pair of pants (which I had purchased during my Israel National Trail hike).  Certain amount of morning hassle getting this arranged - Hilda was hard to locate, and John the desk guy couldn't speak a word of English, and couldn't understand a word of my Spanish - but finally got it settled.  Hopefully the pants will be back before a try an afternoon tour that begins at 2.  In the meantime, sitting around this very nice hostel in my shorts, writing these words of wisdom.

• Hilda returned at 2, my pants had a new zipper, she called the tour agency, the guy came by 5 minutes later: the tour is on!  He walked me to the minivan, where there was one free seat, and off we went, about an hour's drive, past a shallow lake with a few flamingos, to Sillustani, with its strange funerary towers built by the Colla people to bury their nobility.  Our guide offered up far more information than was needed, or even desired, but that seems to be the system here.  Anyway, the  "chullpas", set on a hill overlooking a lake, were strangely modern, smooth cylinders tapering upwards, some of them beautifully finished with stones fitting as well as any in Machu Picchu.  

• Back to Puno, I ate at the Balcones de Puno, which had a live stage show consisting of four to six dancers in gorgeous costumes, doing repetitive dances to repetitive music (two guitars, drums, and pipes).  The food was great, however, and I was invited to sit at the table of a couple I had met earlier on the bus to Puno, so all was not lost.  I remember a similar restaurant/show I had attended in Quito (?), and have now vowed to never again attend such offerings.

• Gave my pants to Hilda, who promised to have them cleaned for me by the following morning, and then to bed.