Blogs from Taquile Island, Lake Titicaca , Puno, Peru, South America

Waking up on Amantani with an early morning run down the stairs, in the cold (35 degrees) morning, across the courtyard, grabbing a bucket of water to flush to the outdoor toilet, washing my hands in the outdoor faucet was enough to wake me up. It was dawn and I ran back up and grabbed my camera to photograph the beautiful sunrise over Lake Titicaca. Since I was unable to photograph the famous sunset from the top of Pachamama, at least I got points for the sunrise. Flavia had breakfast on the table at 6:30 AM. Hot muna tea, warm potato pancakes with homemade strawberry jam fueled our bodies for the hike down to the boat. I know the altitude didn’t add to my ability to concentrate so after saying my thanks and goodbyes to Flavia ... read more

We arrived in Cusco the night before after an incredibly full day, in heart, mind and body. Aba took us out for supper and we repacked for the move to Puno. Bed came late. In the morning, we waited for our ride to the tour bus, but it didn't come. With a bit of confusion and rearrangements we still made a bus. The bus took us to a number of archaeological and religious sites on the way to Puno. As you move along the mountain range south, the landscape changes again. Here, the mountains get dryer, the grasses coarse, and grain and llama are king. Alpaca and Llama interspersed with cattle and sheep are everywhere. They are cobbled, or hemmed in by rock walls stacked without mortar or mud. The roadside markets become filled with alpaca ... read more

Hello followers! How's it all going in the sunburnt country these days? Sorry that it has taken a while for me to bring you all up to date. Very hard to catch up a week when everything is still busy. Really want to thank you for reading my blogs too :)! It is great to see the stats and know that I won't have to repeat myself a 100 times when I get home LOL! But seriously, it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling knowing that you are on this journey with me - from kids, to relatives, friends, teamies, workmates & I guess the occasional boss too! So let's get down to the business of telling you all about the Puno region. Ummm... Puno the city itself is nothing really amazing. It has a slightly ... read more

Hola hola! So after an overnight bus journey from Cusco, we arrived in Puno in the early hours of the day. We nearly got onto the wrong bus as we were trying to pick a bus that most appealed to us! However, in the end we were directed to the right one. To be honest, the bus ride was pretty comfortable with the seats reclining to almost 180 degrees and the heating on. We met our tour guide, Moses, and the rest of our group, and got onto a boat to the Uros islands on Lake Titicaca. Moses was quite the comical tour guide with lots of random facts and figures! Eg lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world, meaning the highest lake a boat can sail on. It's 3400m above sea level, ... read more

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