Advertisement
Published: November 26th 2009
Edit Blog Post
14th November
The morning was spent planning our onwards journey where we decided to make tracks towards La Paz and Lake Titicaca. We´d spoken to a coupke of friends in our group, Chanj and Jen, who were also looking at heading that way so we decided to travel together. We caught a cab to the bus train and I put,my best haggling Spanish to work and we got a bus leaving that eve at 10pm to Puno near Lake Titicaca arriving at 4.30am the next morning.
We ate ata restaurant with Chanj and Jen, filling our bellies then boarded the night bus to Puno complete with foot rests and reclining seats, and you´ll be pleased to know we slept all the way there.
15th November
We arrived pretty much on time and headed straight to a coffee shop at the bus station to plan our next move. After some breakfast and caffiene we were better equipped to think straight and decided we were going to look into a homestay on one of the Islands on Lake Titicaca. After ignoring several persuasion attempts from a sales guy at the bus ststion who seemed to have a leaflet for
everything we could have ever wanted we headed straight to the port. This we later found was the best option as the locals get the money instead of the tour guide.
Our first stop was a floating Island in Uros on the lake. Floating Islands are made from reeds and are literally floating on the lake so have to be anchored down during bad weather. It was also quite an experience walking on the island (no bigger than 50 sq. Metres) as in some areas it felt like your foot could go straight through. It was an enjoyable 3 hour boat ride to the next island, Amamantar . When we arrived our home stay ´mum´ Maria was waiting for us. She took us to her house which was at the top of a small hill. The top floor had been converted into guest rooms with beautiful views over the lake. We met Marias family and she showed us her house, small but very clean and tidy. We spent the afternoon playing cards, chatting to Maria in the best spanish we could muster and eating the lunch she had prepared for us. The rain did its usual trick of absolutely
hammering it down at about 4 o´clock so we retreated to a rooms for a little siesta.
Whilst on my way back from a trip from the (outside) toilet I noticed 3 guinea pigs in a small run in the back yard. They looked so cute and were making their sweet little chattering noises. Panic set in thinking of the guinea pig from a couple of nights ago, especially when we had been told guinea pig is often a delicacy served to guests in someones home so I was sure the poor fellow would be on my plate that eve. I conte,plated goping to tell Maria that I was a vegetarian but Doddy and I decieded that wasn´t the best thing to do and if guinea pig was served then we´d eat it. Luckily when it came to dinner that eve we were served a yummy plate of rice and vegetables in a tomatoe sauce and I could breathe a sigh of relief.
That eve was spent at a fiesta in the town square organised by the locals. We got dressed up in the traditional attire and had a bit of a dance with the locals. Upon leaving
we were stopped in our tracks by a spider, what can only be descibed by an untrained eye as a baby tarantula. It was horrible.
In the morning, after a great nights sleep on the reed beds we said our goodbyes and got back on the boat. We stopped at Taquile Island where they wanted 5 Peruvian Soles each to enter the Island. We´d been told by the captain that we wouldn´t have to pay so in protest the majority of the group refused to pay and instead chilled out in the sun and played card games along the port. The rest of the boat journey back to Puno was good fun as we spent it chatting to other group members and learning and playing a new dice game.
That eve we spent at the Monterry Hostel a good reccomendation from Trudy and Peter from the Inca trail. While Chanj rested as she wasm´t feeling too well Doddy, Jen and I wandered around Puno finding a great bakery (Ricos Pan), local food market and school where we could watch a bit of the band practice. That eve we had dinner with some of the people met on the boat
trip, overlooking the square in Puno. We said our goodbyes to Chanj and Jen as we were leaving on a bus early next morning on our way to Bolivia.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.069s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 13; qc: 27; dbt: 0.0347s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb