Blogs from Lake Titicaca , Puno, Peru, South America - page 5

Day 55. We farewelled Cuzco with fond memories with a mini van trip to the bus station for a 7 hrs trip by local bus firstly back-tracking to Juliaca before heading further into the highlands and Puno. The high altiplano scenery to Puno was dramatic. Not such a comfortable bus as it's not a regular route & along the way Ruth had her first onboard toilet experience & while able to borrow a head-torch & toilet paper a nose peg was unable to be found. Puno is located on the shores of Lake Titicaca, and is a melting pot of Aymara and Quechuan Indian culture. Traditional Andean customs are still strongly represented here & is the reason why we will be doing a home stay here with a traditional Indian family. Lake Titicaca is the highest ... read more

Puno en provinsby i Peru - den ligger ned til den enorme Titikaka sø og som ofte er udgangspunkt for ture til de mange øer. Lidt billeder fra byen, den klassiske park foran Catadralen, smuk gadebelægning, udsigtspunkt med den mægtige Condor, det lokale kødmarked, lidt coca the og ikke mindst udsigt til håndværkere fra Hotellets restaurant - de arbejder i 6 sals højde i gummistøvler og uden diverse sikkerheds foranstaltninger !!!! - Tror nok lige at arbejdstilsynet kunne få travlt her i Peru. Titikaka er verdens højst beliggende sø- Søen strækker sig ind i Bolivia og har et areal paa 8300km" og ligger i 3800 meters højde. Lyset er fantastisk og luften er meget tynd. Titikakka søen har i alt 41 øer, hvoraf nogle er de berømte sivøer, her har Uros folket boet i århundreder. Det ... read more

We opted to take the Inca Express from Cusco to Puno thinking it’d be nice to have a comfy bus and a lunch stop along the way. I probably should have read a little bit more of the information on the website before choosing this option as we soon realised after we’d settled into our comfy seats that we’d inadvertently ended up on a tourist bus complete with 5 stops along the way and a ‘guide’ who tested the microphone every single time he used it by saying “holahola *clears throat* amigos”. 10 hours and a whole lot of conveniently located souvenir shops later we made it to Puno which is situated on the eastern edge of Lake Titicaca at an elevation of about 3900m above sea level. We’d pre-arranged to have a home cooked meal ... read more

17 Aug Day 5: Lake Titicaca Puno The end of a couple of busy days. We had a minor disappointment yesterday. When our itinerary said we were sleeping on an island, because of the way it was written we assumed (didn't read it closely enough) that we would be on the Uros floating islands. WRONG. We ended up on a solid earth island. It was still good though as we got to walk up to the two top peaks of the island ending up at around 4,150 meters. Its just a shame that the lintels weren't so high. We just about had to kneel down to get through the door of the room the boys were in. BUT we had the mirror - Maryalina and Liz didn't - nah nah nah nah nah. The score was ... read more

The bus from Copacabana to Puno was just 3 1/2 hours including the boarder crossing. The route followed along the edge of lake Titicaca. We were expecting Puno to be similar to Copacabana but it is quite a bit bigger (approx 100,000 people). We arrived at 3.30pm and set out on a boat immediately to visit the Floating Islands. The highlight of Puno is the floating reed islands (called the Uros) on the lake which have been home to indiginous people for hundreds of years. Today the people who live on the islands don´t live the hunter gatherer lifestyle of their ancestors. Instead they survive solely from tourism, charging for visits to the islands, offering boat rides on traditional reed boats and selling artisan goods. We only spent one night here and set off early the ... read more