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Published: December 18th 2007
View of Countryside
View heading south to Puno.So after out time at the Orphanage it was time to leave Cusco behind and journey southeast towards Lake Titicaca. We opted to take the scenic train rather than the bus. We both felt the train would be more relaxing and would allow us to see some of the rural countryside rather than other cars doing the same journey as we were doing.
We were heading to Puno which is on the southern shore of Lake Titicaca, the end of our train journey but also is the stop off for lots of travellers who want to either go and stay a night on the Floating Reed Islands or like us just wanted to nip over and stay there for a few hours.
we checked into our hotel. Compared to our accomodation at the Orphanage, this felt really luxury. Basically it was a travellodge or equivalent. Once you have been to South America on a budget, you would do anything for a travelodge. Anyway, our hotel was perfectly comfortable and met all our expectations. After a something to eat it was off to bed.
We were collected bright and early by our guide, a little late this
View from back of Train.
People in South America do not fear the train tracks. People run on and off the tracks all the time. time. He had a good excuse though, some of the roads were closed due to a Military show. We opted for the early morning tour as we wanted to take the bus in the afternoon across the border to Bolivia.
Floating Reed Island Tour The boat we had seated about 20 people, all from different parts of the world. Always good trying to converse with someone who doesnt know your home language. Everyone should try it at least once. So after about 30 mins cutting through the reeds, we reached the first collection of islands. I think what struck us both was the size of this community. It covered a huge area. Each island only had about 20 people on it but it felt as though there were hundreds of islands. On hindsight, I dont know what we were expecting, maybe two people sitting on raft!
We spent a couple of hours exploring a couple of islands and learning about the native people and their way of life. Very interesting but it would appear that in two or three generations time, the islands will probably no longer exist. Children from the islands now go and study in
Market
Nice place to do your morning shop! Puno and usually do not return. Quite sad actually.
Copacabana Our bus for Copacabana left around 3pm. We were there in plenty of time and filled out our Bolivian immigration details and settled down to watch the last few miles of Peru pass us by. We were sad to leave Peru as we had been there a while and had really enjoyed our stay. We hoped Bolivia would produce the same results.
We reached the border and after changing our Soles into Bolivianos we headed to Peru immigration thinking the next fews minutes were just a formality and we could then enjoy walking up the hill to the Bolivian border. How wrong we were! It turns out we had outstayed our welcome in Peru by five days. After a long argument and our driver threatening to drive off without us, we had to pay the costs for extending our visa and fines for leaving late. Worked out about 15gbp. Were not happy because EU residents are entitled to 90 days without a visa. However the lady at Lima immigration had only given us 30 days. Cheers mate!
After arriving in Copacabana which is only 15 minutes
Long track
Track is so long and straight in places. Train rumbles slowly through the mountains. drive from the border we checked into our hotel, the Hotel Rosario. We were still a little miffed by our border crossing. However, there was little we could do about it and it did not cost much. In comparison, the Americans are now getting heavily charged as they now need Visas from 1st December which were costing $100.
Isla Del Sol We booked our tour to the Isla Del Sol in the middle of Lake Titicaca. This is a religious island with people from all around making pilgrimages to see it. We spent about 2 hours on a ferry across to the island and 2 hours back. We had only about an hour on the island to climb t the top and marvel at the views. The lake and surroundings look very much like the med, maybe south of Italy. However the snow capped mountains indicate you are at a much higher altitude.
There is very little to do in Copacabana, except go to the islands on the Lake or for a trek. A trek was not high on the agenda so we just lazed about.
We opted to watch the sunset on the pier at
Lake Titicaca
These are the reeds that are used to make the Islands and Buildings. They only grow in this part of the Lake as they grow in shallow water. the end of the beach. We had seen how nice the sunset was the previous night. We got there in plenty of time and stayed there for around two hours while the sun dropped and the sky changed from purples to reds to yellow to orange. Was really beautiful. It was at this time that the two of us got engaged. There wasnt going to be many romantic destinations on our trip and this seemed to be the best. Lynsey of course said "yes" without hesitation.
It was now time to move onto La Paz, the highest capital in the world. This is where we are going to ride the World's Most Dangerous Road and arrange a tour to the Salt Flats.
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Vix
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Congratulations
Congratulations guys... I'm so happy for you both and what a very romantic location. Awww... A celebration will be needed when you return xx