Puno - Peru

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Puno - the great lake city

We travelled in style from Cusco to Puno on a luxury coach, complete with corny tour guide and complimentary fat american tourists. Stopping at ancient Inca ruins along the way, jean managed to keep her blearly eyes open for 40%!o(MISSING)f the 9 hour journey. Puno looks like a shanty town....most of the buildings haven't been completed due to the exhorbitant tax the govt slaps onto the finished product. the general puno region is also reknowned in peru for being the place that rips off every brand name you can think of (ie Beebok, Abibas, Johnny Rider whisky)....what a great reputation! aside from being 3850m above sea level, the other phenomenal attraction of this town is lake titicaca - and what an incredible body of water it is.• Town highlights: The beautiful main square with its obligatory church and bunny shaped hedges; our half day tour of Uros in lake titicaca (the floating reed islands) and the fascinating people that inhabit them; the crazy number of tuk tuk style taxis that speed through the streets, beeping at pedestrians and generally causing havoc.• Accommodation: 3.5/5 for the closest thing to a hotel we've stayed in whilst in south america.• Food: hands down the most bizzare meal we've had to date has been in puno....we ordered a baked trout dish that came served with the following: rice, chips, grilled banana, toast, sliced apple, melon, pineapple, avocado, haloumi cheese, fried spam, and a frankfurter....and don't forget the trout on top. needless to say, jean thought it was the most ingenius meal ever (breakfast, lunch AND dinner all in one!)• Misc: the town and countryside of puno has a distinct lack of trees due to its altitude; whilst the lifestyle of the locals on the reed islands is quite primitive, we were amused to find solar panels installed on top of their thatch huts to provide them with electricity; we discovered that tuesday is dole/gyro day for the locals as hundreds of traditionally dressed peruvian women lined up at the bank, patiently for their cheques.

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