Apr 5, 2009 - Arequipa and Lake Titicaca

Arequipa was our next stop on the Peruvian leg of our trip and (at 2350m) it was a good opportunity to acclimatize gradually to the altitude that we knew was coming. We stayed 2 nights in a beautifully restored colonial building which characterised the entire city´s architecture (made of white volcanic rock – silla). The architecture was one of the reasons for a stop in Peru´s second largest city and was certainly no disappointment. Most of the buildings were constructed of silla and were beautifully restored (mainly because there is a...

Jan 7, 2009 - Puno - Peru

Hi everyone, I know it has been some time but it can be difficult to get to an Internet cafe. Anyway lots of news to fill you in on so grab a cuppa sit back and enjoy. First town I visited on my second tour was Puno. Really enjoyed the bus ride from La Paz to Puno. Lots of fantastic landscape and interesting sights to see along the way. The mountains of South America are so beautiful and the people even more so. Joining us today was Thomas from Canada 24 first big trip abroad, Monica from Australia 25 does a lot of travelling has Irish...

Jan 2, 2009 - Puno and Lake Titicaca

New Year´s Eve in Puno was cold but cozy. We had the biggest bed we´ve had in South America, and finally tried alpaca meat for dinner. Puno is certainly less touristy than Cusco, but it´s still full of gringos (and not surprisingly, many of the same ones we saw in Cusco and Machu Picchu). We jumped on a boat on New Year´s Day and took off for the Uros Islands - those are the floating islands made of reeds. There are 46, we visited 2, but thy seem mostly set up for tourists now. Pretty amazing to have to re-lay the floor of your island every...

Nov 14, 2008 - Puno & Lake Titikaka

There was a mix-up in the tour bookings, and the local company swore we were not booked for the 2 tours we knew we should have been. Holly and I were both getting run down, so given the circumstances, we declared a day off. We left the curtains open, to see what we expected to be an amazing sunrise out our window. We were not disappointed. It was gorgeous!! After taking way too many photos, we went back to sleep, and got up just in time to make the last of the breakfast buffet. Apparently it pays to be earlier, because the pancakes were...

Nov 3, 2008 - Puno & Lake Titicaca, Peru

Tim -- Our final stop on Peru´s conveyor belt of tourism was to Puno. Puno is right next to Lake Titicaca, which Peru and Bolivia both claim to be the world´s highest navigable lake. Other countries dispute this, but Lake Titicaca, its islands, and the indigenous people who live here are truly a marvel. We arrived on Monday before Election Day, so our requirements for a place to stay were simple: a room with CNN, hot water, and toilet paper. Any of these criteria can be hard to meet on its own in Peru, but luckily we found our way to Don...

Oct 22, 2008 - Lake Titikaka

We were once again up early this morning and had a good buffet breakfast at the hotel. we all gathered in reception about 8am. When we went down to the street to meet our guide for our excursion to Lake Titikaka we were pleasantly surprised to find a line of tuk tuks waiting to take us to the port!!! These are pedal bike taxis in essence which were great fun weaving in and out of the traffic!!! on the boat Carlos gave us a run down of the day and then we enjoyed the ride to our first stop, the Uros Islands, which are reed islands. This...

Oct 21, 2008 - Puno finally!!

Slept reasonably well considering there was people wandering around most of the night as well as a few vehicles trying their luck at moving! Kirsty, Sheila and I woke with a start when the truck parked one tent away from us started up his engine this morning...was amusing as we knew he wouldn´t run us over but still made us move pretty quickly! We got up and Tracy put together a breakfast for us of tinned fruit and cereals... It wasn´t long before it was decided that we should go with one of the other trucks who had managed to get a local...

Sep 12, 2008 - Puno & Floating Islands, Lake Titicaca

Our last stop in Peru and gateway to the famous floating islands on one of the world´s highest navigable lakes, Titicaca. We reached Puno via a 6-hour day bus ride starting out early from Arequipa. Despite travelling on the best buses money can buy here (they´re not expensive), this journey was no more comfortable than our previous night journey between Cusco and Arequipa. Air conditioning doesn´t seem to have been introduced here so while we froze our way to near hypothermia on the night trip, this time it got so hot in the bus we emerged...

Sep 11, 2008 - Puno, Peru

Days 60-61: "Mag ik jouw schoenen poetsen, Can I clean your shoes?" was the request from a little boy on the Peru-Bolivia border. Unfortunately our hiking shoes don´t lend themselves too easily to polishing, but this little Peruvian was clever and original, and in an environment where everyone has their hand out, this was to be rewarded. He also had €0.70 for which, given his cunning and originality, we agreed to exchange for €1.00 worth of Bolivian money. Puno is a much bigger town than Copacabana, but with some local assistance and good...

Aug 31, 2008 - Isla Taquile

Today I took a boat to an island in Lake Titicaca called Isla Taquile. It{s a 3 hour boat ride from Puno, and most people just go, look at the main plaza, and go back to Puno. Even for a short visit, it is interesting, mainly because of the way the local people dress. The women dress very similarly to other Quechua women that I have seen, except that they wear shorter skirts, only to the knee. They also wear colorful yarn tassels, and supposedly you can tell by the size of the tassels if a woman is married or not. I couldn{t really see any...

Aug 30, 2008 - Floating Islands

Today, apparently, Saturday. I didn{t realize this important point until I noticed that most of the businesses around here are closed. It puts a wrinkle in my plans, but only a small one. This morning, I wanted to run some errands and also take a tour of the floating islands - the Uros Islands. So I got up and had breakfast before taking off. Breakfast was the normal bread and jam, but when the woman listed all the hot drinks I could choose from, she listed a tea I had never heard of. I figured I might as well try something new, so I...

Aug 29, 2008 - Inka Express

Today was basically a day of travelling. I took the Inka Express bus to Puno from Cuzco, because it stops at several places along the way. I figured that way I could sight see without having to walk around much. It was a little strange because maybe 85% of the people on the bus were German, so I ended up having to listen to the whole tour in German! Luckily there was someone to translate to English too. Listening to German all day was a little annoying, but I was actually surprised how many words I could pick out and how much I remembered...