Blogs from Puno, Puno, Peru, South America - page 4

Caught a mini bus down to the depot where we caught a bus. It is only 389 kms but took about 8 hrs. Had 1 stop of about 20 minute. Nothing real exciting for the day. Driving into Puno couldn´t believe how many unfinished houses there were. I said 80% James says more like 90%.... read more

Travel Surprises Spongy walks on floating islands, mythical Lake Titicaca, a wild ride to an archaeological site, the infamous Bolivian protest blockade, the kindness of strangers, and a meeting with a Travelblogger--Puno wasn't as boring as I thought it would be. I was in Bolivia and had planned to stay until my visa expired. However, a message from a Travelblog friend changed my plans, and I was to float to Peru. Brendan Vermillion, bvchef, had written that he would be holidaying in Peru, had an actual travel schedule and wondered if we might meet. Realizing we could meet in Puno on Lake Titicaca, a lake shared by the two countries, I cut short my Bolivian sojourn. After all, I've got time and could return to Bolivia later. A Nefarious Journey I was in La Paz, and ... read more

Hi again, Last time we blogged we were still in Rio. Matt was hoping to go hang gliding, but unfortunately wind conditions didn't allow him to. Instead we decided to go and check out the National History Museum which was really interesting. We also visited a Cathedral and Monestry before going to another permanent market full of fake merchandise! We then caught up with a few girls from our last tour for dinner. The next morning we made a quick visit to Copacabana, where we went to the beach and bought a few pairs of Havaianas. With that, it was time to say goodbye to Rio and hello to Peru! We arrived in Lima in the early hours of Thursday morning ready for our next tour to begin on Thursday night. By the time we got ... read more

The bus to Puno turned out to be pretty straight forward. We weren't sure how it was going to go, with it being a Bolivian bus and also an overland border crossing, but we needed not have worried! The bus was very comfortable with fully reclining seats, the border crossing pretty painless, aside from a bit of queuing. (No extra "admin fees" demanded or anything like that) and after about 30 minutes we were back on the bus and winging our way across Peru. On arrival at the bus station, with no maps available to work out our route across town, we hopped in a taxi and went straight to our hotel. This turned out to be another nice, clean well run hostel. After checking in we went out for a walk and some lunch. The ... read more

September 23rd, 2012 Elevation 3830m, 12565ft After getting all the formalities out of the way in Lima it was now time to begin the adventures with a quick flight from Lima to Juliaca, and then on to our first stop: Puno! Gateway to Lake Titicaca, we would have three days to explore the region, including visiting the floating reed islands of Uros, the island of Taquile and a homestay with a local family, couldn't wait! Landed in Juliaca to a beautiful day, mindful that this was my first time in altitude and certainly curious as to how I was going to react...I opted not to take any altitude medication, bit of a risk but wanted to see if I could handle it on my own without the aid of pills, and for the most part I ... read more