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Published: March 14th 2012
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After saying ciao to Bolivia it was time to say Hola Peru and first stop... Puno. We werent dreading this bus as much as it was only a 3 hour one from copacabana. When we reached the Peruvian border you could say it was the quickest line we had experienced to date and we were impressed with their efficiency. Our luck quickly changed and we should have guessed it was almost too good to be true. the bus driver announced that the bus couldn't take us any further because there were road blockages ahead. He casually said you need to take your luggage and walk 15 km to the bus terminal in the next town. Was he kidding?! Did he realise our backpacks weighed 18kgs? A guy on our bus kicked off at the driver screaming how ridiculous this was, even kicked the bus...probably not a wise move with the police terminal next door. We came to the realisation that we had no choice and started the gruelling hike! Along the way we managed to jump in a minivan who took us not even half of the way. As we carried on the painful walk we were stared at by the
locals and eventually approached by a local man who saw the struggle in our eyes. After telling us we wouldn't make the rest of the long journey with our bags he flagged us a motorbike, a kid who looked about 16! He was pretty confident he could fit both of us and our bags on his bike but to avoid the danger I managed to get another motorbike to stop. Me and Mel have never sat on the back of one before and you may be thinking how crazy this situation sounds but it was actually a relief to be driven! Unfortunately my driver told me his house was on the left so I had to get off..but luckily another local was there to save me yet again! Of course when we reached the bus terminal we had another half and hour walk to the actual bus but finally we had made it. We saw others arriving on the backs of police vans, some on bikes, other crazies who had walked all the way! Sadly the story doesn't end there... The driver refused to take us in the bus so all of us sat in the middle of the road with our bags for an hour before the driver finally agreed!! Oh did I mention poor Mel felt ill in the morning too so the whole thing was even more painful for her!
Finally we made it to our hostel in puno and I have to say it scored pretty low on the list of ones we've stayed in. The bathrooms were smelly and dirty, it was freezing cold in our rooms, our beds were rocks, and we had to wear 4 layers of clothes in bed! On the positive side we did get served pancakes for breakfast.. But it still didn't make up for the cold!
On our second day We booked ourselves a tour to sistanille, an old inca ruin site. It was a short hike up to the top and the site and the views were magical. Our guide showed us the historical buildings from the inca times and told us about their traditions and culture. We also found this european guy on our tour rather amusing! He was quite the keen been and smothered his nose in the highest factor of sunblock so it was completely White!
We spent the evening in the movie room until the thunder and lightening decided to strike hard! We were trapped in the dark room, even the tv had turned off until it was safe enough for us to go outside and make a run for it back to our ice cold rooms!
The third day we booked ourselves a tour to visit the floating islands and to see the local life of the Uros people. It was a short boat ride to the islands and Mel was especially impressed because it felt as though the boat was travelling at 5mph, and she didn't have to get her buddies out (the sick bags!) we were greeted by a jolly fleet of Uros people as we got off the boat singing to us in Spanish. We had a chance to walk around the very small island and visit their houses, all made out of Totura reeds. Inside housed only one mattress serving as a bed and luckily for them a small black and white tv.It was eye opening to see how they lived and how they used natural resources to make everyday things. The uros people were very welcoming and the kids were cute as buttons! When they saw our cameras they were fascinated, it was technology they just weren't used to!
Puno was a lovely town but i have to say we were happy to leave our pooey hostel behind! Off to cusco next... And inca trail in a few days! Camping here we come...eek!!! :s
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