Blogs from Puno, Peru, South America - page 5

Geo: -12.122, -77.0266Yesterday we flew LAN A319 to Lima, a 100min flight landing at 1520. Got to Juliaca airport (an hour's drive from Puno) two hours early and spent more than an hour waiting in line to check-in. In Lima (pop 10M) it was an hour's drive to our hotel in the up-market Miraflores district.Our hotel room is on the 16th floor and has large picture windows. Sadly the haze/fog/pollution has not lifted and it is a very grey outlook. Not dissimilar to China. Our guide said it rarely rains in Lima; there is no wet season. We went for a walk and saw several good-looking and busy cafes and, surprisingly for a downtown area, a few large and lavishly decorated casinos. Our guide recommended a local restaurant for dinner and we had a good meal ... read more

Do Puna jsem z Cusca jel nočním autobusem. Za 240 Kč asi osmihodinová cesta v obrovských spacích sedadlech. Uvažoval jsem i o vlaku, ale ten stál přes 6000 Kč, takže volba byla jasná. Cestou jsme projížděli město Juliaca. Byly asi 3 v noci a já si připadal jak v postapokalyptickým filmu. Neskutečně rozbitá silnice. Domy co připomínaly spíš zříceniny a nikde žádná známka života. Nejhorší byl prach, co všude vířil a který jsem v nose cítil ještě dva dny potom. Puno je na břehu jezera Titikaka ve výšce zhruba 3800 metrů nad mořem. Puno má asi 160 000 obyvatel a je to největší město u Titikaky. Mně se docela líbilo, na místní poměry není ve špatném stavu, má solidní centrum a není to jen atrakce pro turisty jako centrum Cusca. V Punu jsem si připlatil ... read more

Geo: -15.8422, -70.0199San Pedro de Atacama to Lake Titicaca, Peru. 10 - 18 November 2015 San Pedro proved a relaxing place to stay. We went on a night star gazing activity. It was interesting, providing a 20 minute talk about what we might see, then looking through telescopes and binoculars. We had a number of constellations pointed out to us such as Scorpio, Sagittarius, Aries, Aquarius, Taurus and Pisces. The two presenters kept saying we had to use our imaginations to 'see' these and that was definitely true! I believe it was the Babylonians who originally devised the Zodiac signs to identify constellations. They must have been using very special substances if they could 'see' the shapes as they described. For me the best view was of the binary star system, Antares. They are two stars ... read more

I never thought anywhere could overtake the Pacific Northwest as containing the most beautiful landscapes I have laid my eyes on but I think Bolivia has done it. The Andean region of western Bolivia is a mix of plunging valleys, enormous mountains, and dusty plains that ultimately spread toward Lake Titicaca. During our mere 2 weeks in the country, and after leaving Salay de Uyuni, we took the opportunity to visit three small towns that wrapped us in some of this beauty. We also stayed in La Paz, where we met up and stayed with traveller extraordinaire and all-round good guy Alfredo, whom we stayed with in the house of Pratik in Lalitput, Nepal, all the way back at the start of the year. After leaving Uyuni we took an overnight train to Oruro then hopped ... 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