Puno and Lake Titicaca

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None of us were very excited by the prospect of a 7 hour bus ride from Cusco to Puno, but we didn't have much choice. Little did we know that Peru sports some rather fancy luxury buses! Reclining seats, adjustable calf rests, wifi, and cushy leather seats. 7 hours felt like 2.

We arrived in Puno, home to Lake Titicaca at the ridiculous altitude of 3810m. A strange sensation as the town and lake are flat. Not a huge amount to do, but we went for a walk and checked out the local food markets before dinner. At dinner we saw some local dancing with amazing costumes.

Early start the next day for Lake Titicaca, the highest altitude navigable lake in the world.

Hilarious race on bike carts to the boat, then a lovely cruise through the reeds for half an hour until we reached the Uros Islands. Our guide was verg knowledgeable and we learnt the basics of conversing with the locals on the way (they speak Aymara). Lots of tour groups but there are around 80 islands so we got our own island, home to 5 families. The islands and everything on them are made from reeds and they float in the lake, anchored at each end so they don't float away. We had a demo of how this works, saw what they eat (including the reeds) and had the opportunity to purchase some local crafts before heading on a reed row boat to the main island. Here we got our passports stamped with Lake Titicaca!

Next it was a 2.5 hour boat ride to Taquille Island. This lake is massive! We had to walk uphill for half an hour to reach the town. There are no bikes, cars, etc. The locals carry all supplies from the docks up the hill... that's dedication! Once we reached the top you can see Bolivia in the distance across the lake. We saw some local weaving and had an amazing lunch of grilled lake trout. We had to walk down over 500 uneven steps to get to the jetty at the other end of the island. Jelly legs after that but the views were spectacular.

After the boat ride back to Puno we headed out for dinner and drinks. Our last night as a large group before more than half the group splits off to go to Bolivia 😞 We ended up out late and I had a liquid nitrogen cocktail at a mixology bar. Then we had to ring our tour leader as the hotel was locked hahaha.

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Photos

Uros Islands
Locals demonstrating how the islands are made