Blogs from Puno, Puno, Peru, South America - page 2

Hat and I nipped out this morning to collect loads of goodies from street venders, as we are travelling to the Uris islands around lunchtime and we think it might be tricky to find a bakery amounts the reeds. We bought chicken pasties with chilli and limes, quails eggs, and a range of pastries. Everyone was happy. Then took a taxi down to the port and waited by a lighthouse for our guide. Interestingly, there was a long black and white ship moored up, called Yavari. Turns out that it was made in Brum in 1862 and shipped over the Andes on mules which took six years to complete.... read more

After arriving at 5am into Arequipa we managed to crash in the common room area of our hostel before being allowed in our room. We spent a lot of the day sleeping off the overnight bus before venturing into the centre to check out the Plaza de Armas. This was a fairly typical (and well kept) square that had a massive cathedral at one end. The cathedral was flanked by massive snow-capped volcanoes on either side of it (stunning El Misti is visible from all over the city and is around 6,000m high). In the evening we hung out with some English chaps that had been on the Peru Hop buses with us, drinking Pisco Sours and other local cocktails, and we agreed that we should do a 2 day trek with them into the (relatively) ... read more

From where I finished last time we had one more day in Cusco and we saw some other sites in the sacred valley. The one I had been looking forward to most was Tipon and it proved to be the highlight of the day. It is another terraced hillside for growing crops and used for experimentation like Moray, but this one has a working irrigation system. It was cool to see how the channels worked to provide water for all of the crops and I just love it when things so old still work. From the crisp cool air of the Andean highlands we took off for the humid Amazon jungle. Our destination was Puerto Maldonado and when we got off the plane a number of touts were calling out for our business. We had a ... read more

Distance driven today: 195miles / 314km Cumulative distance driven: 11,755 miles / 18,918 km Today’s trip: Arequipa to Puno, Peru Wild lamas spotted along the road: many We spent the morning walking around the center of Arequipa. With its colonial buildings surrounding the main square, and the Saturday military and indigenous parades (quite a combination if you ask me), the center of the city had a truly vibrant feeling. Apart from having a proper cup of coffee each, and taking pictures with an indigenous woman and her son (and baby sheep and baby Lama), we walked the city center taking in the atmosphere of this backpacker Mecca. It is always a good sign when a city has lots of small shops competing with each other to offer various sorts of tours to backpackers. That’s when you ... read more

Llegamos a Puno, Perú, a orillas del lago Titicaca, pequeña ciudad con su propio encanto..... Nos alojamos en un hotel cerca a la plaza de armas.... Planeamos para ir al día siguiente a dos sitios arqueológicos ubicados en los pueblos de Taraco y Sillustani. En la mañana temprano salimos al primer destino Taraco, ir en un bus a la ciudad de Juliaca y de ahí tomar otro transporte al pueblito de Taraco... Este remoto y aislado sitio, esta fuera de cualquier lupa turística en el Perú, pero allí en la plaza principal esta el museo arqueológico, la casa de decenas de estatuas en piedra talladas por los antiguos.... Al llegar al pueblo nos enteramos que ese día (sábado en la mañana) no había servicio y el museo, así como las oficinas de la alcaldía estaban cerradas.... ... read more