Blogs from Puno, Peru, South America - page 75

PHOTOS ADDED!!! After a night lay-over in Lima, I flew via Cuzco to Juliaca and then took a bus to Puno on Lake Titicaca. I arrived at my hostel (Don Julio - much recommended) where a note was awaiting me. Lizzy and her sister Erica, who is here until Thursday, already had a room all good to go. It was great seeing them, especially because Erica has exactly the same laugh as Lizzy, so I got it in surround sound. We had a pretty average dinner on Calle Lima, one of the main tourist streets, and after a brief game of cards (called Casino, I think Lizzy made it up, but I still won;) we all crashed. Now onto the good stuff. We woke up early and headed to the Lake. The Lake is absolutely huge, ... read more

We arrived in Puno as a starting point for seeing the lake, Amantani and the Uros floating islands. At an altitude of 3,827 meters, Puno is still the capital of Peru's altiplano - the harsh highland region much better suited to alpacas than to people! Puno is also the stepping-off point for exploring Titicaca with its amazing array of islands, Indian inhabitants and colourful traditions. Lake Titicaca is the worlds highest navigable lake and now the natural separation between Peru and Bolivia. It has a surface area exceeding 8,000 square kilometers. Firstly, we took a boat across to the best-known of the islands, the floating reed Uros Islands. It was really strange to step onboard an island completely made of reed and walk around. The ground sinks beneath your feet and it feels quite unstable. We ... read more

We´ve decided to combine Copacabana and Puno because we didn´t really do much in either place and thought 1 boring blog far better than 2!! Copacabana Right then, Copacabana .... as I said, didn´t really do much or take any photos for that matter. There is 1 "masterpiece" as Gray likes to call it of the sun set over Lake Titticaca which was kind of spectacular. We did suffer possibly the worst day of our trip so far. I can´t go into it but it involved no sleep and and agonisingly slow boat trip to a near deserted island with stray pigs. Gray also decided it was time to introduce me to his alter ego "Infermo Boy" (FYI infermo is Spanish for ill) Puno So, now onto Puno and another border cross (hola Peru). This one ... read more

we´re here in puno now, a town on lake titicaca. originally we had planned on taking the two day trip out to some of the more distant islands and spend a night or so out there. however, by the time we got up here to 3800 meters (you do the math) on, once again, a sizable stretch of unpaved road, we weren´t feeling the 4plus hour boat ride out there. In addition, it´s FREEZING here. For example, the runoff from god-knows-where in the gutteres is slush in the morning and evenings. And finally, I had a bit of the altitude sickness along with some tummy issues... (knew I´d been too lucky so far on that front). so we stayed all four days in Puno. We arrived Thursday night after a six hour bus ride, five hours ... read more

Catching my head as it suddenly dropped from exhaustion, I continued counting down the minutes until the arrival of my night bus to the lakeside town of Puno. Before leaving Cusco, I had set up a two day excursion on Lake Titicaca; where I would visit three of the islands and stay over night with a local family. Everything was sort of running on schedule to get me there in time to make my 8am boat departure. The night had kicked off to a rough start when the bus company had double booked nearly 20 seats and attempted to pull away with angry customers running beside and in front of the vehicle. Lucky for me, I had arrived really early and insured my spot. The rest of the night went rather smoothly; well except for the ... read more