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Blogs from Puno, Peru, South America
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Lake Titicaca- floating island and home stay photos
Published: April 30th 2013South America » Peru » Puno » Lake Titicaca
April 29th 2013
We lovingly left La Paz early in the morning, bound for the town of Copacobana situated on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca, the worlds largest high altitude lake. The lake itself is over 8400 sq km, the size of a very small country or a very large city which ever way you look at it. During the 3 hour journey we had views of the lake for 75% of the time and we could see the extent of its vastness. With the 3 hour journey over and done with we pulled into Copacobana at mid day, feeling both ill and tired. Something had made us bot ill, wether it be food or water we hadn't the faintest idea, all we knew was that we needed bed. We quickly had something to eat, the traditional Trucha ... read more
April 26th 2013
Another 600 metres or so higher than Cusco, altitude sickness again dogs Lesia but to a lesser extent. Top front seats in the bus afforded great views of the Andes country side and Lake Titicaca on arrival to Puno. Our fast boat tour of the lake and Uros floating reed islands was good; very touristy but good. The native people there reminded us strongly of the Hammong (mountain people of North Vietnam around Sapa. I found the history and construction of the floating reed islands fascinating. A trek across one of the Islands (yes there were lots of steps) and a locally prepared lunch also featured to round out the tour out. A 9.30pm overnight sleeper bus return to Cusco completed a very long day. A life saver was our Puno Hotel lodging who allowed us ... read more
March 31st 2013
Hi, we are now all in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, but it was not an easy task to get out of Bolivia and into Peru, below is a bit from me, Gerardo and Howard...enjoy. Getting out of Bolivia was a mission for everyone, as protesters had blocked the road, they let the motos through, but not me in the chase truck......so I had to return to LaPaz and take another border crossing that I had never done and in the dark. The drive from La Paz to the border was about the most dangerous drive I have ever done! I even put my seat belt on!!! Darkness was descending and in that Dusky period where its not quite dark but not light enough to see clearly, no one bothered to put any lights on. ... read more
Puno--Floating Islands and Travelbloggers Together
Published: April 13th 2013South America » Peru » Puno » Puno
March 15th 2013
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
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Lake Titicaca As Much Fun to Say as it is to See
Published: March 11th 2013South America » Peru » Puno » Lake Titicaca
March 10th 2013
Although this blog is centered around Lake Titicaca, I have to back up a bit and ease into it. I flew from Cusco to Juliaca yesterday and had an hour taxi ride to Puno, where I am staying. The flight was nondescript, but the views from the window were far from it. We flew over snow covered mountains and once we reached our final descent and I had to put my camera away, there were the most incredible storm clouds. I knew that this was going to be an interesting place. For quite some time, and I messaged about meeting while I was down here. Tara has been in South America a long time and I have enjoyed her blogs and photos. It is always a shot in the dark to try to be in the ... read more
Farewell Peru: Nazca & Lake Titicaca
Published: February 6th 2013South America » Peru » Puno » Lake Titicaca » Uros Island
February 6th 2013
After spending a few days recovering in Arequipa I embarked upon a journey that even a logistics manager would probably be proud of. For Air Europa's incompetent luggage service it was the stuff of dreams. Over 25 hours and 850 miles of bus riding in three days, plus a plane ride. It was going to be tiring! Leaving Arequipa at 10.00pm I took a very comfortable Cruz Del Sur bus to Nazca which arrived at 7.00am the next morning. The Ultorsa & Cruz del Sur buses to be honest make the night travelling quite easy in Peru – they have lounges in the bus stations, onboard catering and entertainment and reclining chairs which are very similar to business class on a plane. I seem to be getting into quite a good routine with these – sleeping ... read more
17th January - 2nd February (Entry 16)
Published: February 3rd 2013South America » Peru » Puno » Puno
February 2nd 2013
Road miles to date: 24,757 Following a break by the sea in a hostel overrun by the Argentine equivalent of gap year students we set off early for an arduous journey through the desert. Despite the twelve hour ride and the intense high winds coming off the coast, the scenery was spectacular and varied constantly from dry, rocky mountains to miles of nothing but white sand to small communities of huts scattered among dry brush to rice paddies and swamps to shanty coastal towns and dusty cities. Sadly so much rubbish lined the roads that the smell was not too savoury for a lot of the journey, despite the beauty. Flytipping is apparently the way Peruvians in this area rid themselves of rubbish as we saw at least one car pull over to a ditch and ... read more
January 31st 2013
Monday 14/1/13 – Realising we had a border crossing to attempt today; we rose early and hit the road. We headed south towards the well signed frontier. With no customs or immigration office on the Ecuadorian side, we rode about 4kms into Peru and stopped at their immigration building (which turned out to also be the Ecuador immigration building). We were told that we must have ridden past Ecuadorian customs and had to turn back. After a frustrating hour of enquires, finger pointing, middle finger pointing and swearing, we eventually found customs about 10kms back inside Ecuador, in an unmarked building on the wrong side of the road. We then rode into Peru to immigration to get ourselves stamped out of Ecuador (how can it take about 45 mins for them to tick the ‘left the ... read more
Day 39 – Lake Titicaca, Los Uros Floating Islands and Tequile Island
Published: January 24th 2013South America » Peru » Puno » Lake Titicaca » Taquile Island
January 13th 2013
Well, it is finally here….. Our last full day in South America of our grand adventure. Yes, we do want to return home to America and Pollock Pines, but no, we also would like to continue seeing all of the amazing things South America has to offer! Lake Titicaca, which lies at about 11,300’, is the highest navigable body of water in the world. We will need to do some cross-checking with respect to Lake Tahoe when we get home, but the lake is huge, and probably second only to Russia’s Lake Baikal in size, and is bordered and shared by Peru, Bolivia and Chile, and the borders run right through the lake as in Tahoe. It is a pretty crappy morning, with the temperature sitting at about 40 degrees F, rain and fog, so we ... read more
