Cusco to Puno & Lake Titicaca

This turned out to be an all day bus trip with several interesting stops. However, since we liked the train so much, we would much have preferred riding the train from Cusco to Puno. It still would have been about as long but so much more relaxing and less confining. (We will remember that when we travel from Cairo to Luxor.) Mostly the trip was long and tiring so we were very glad to see Puno.

Puno is a lovely city and we stayed downtown one block off the plaza. We enjoyed walking around in the evening and found a wonderful place close by for dinner that was probably the best meal we had in Peru. There was a lot of shopping open on both Saturday and Sunday evenings as well as the street vendors. We shopped both nights!

The most beautiful part of this leg of the journey was Lake Titicaca. Nothing could have prepared us for that. It is the highest navigable lake in the world and huge at about 14,000 ft altitude and its huge! My favorite part of our all day lake adventure was visiting the reed people on the reed island. There are several reed islands with reed houses and reed boats. That is their life. The woman Alicia invited Chris and I to come inside her home where they have reed beds and clothes hang on the walls. It was from Alicia that we purchased the red tapestry. We also got to take a ride on the reed boat. What an interesting people and lifestyle!

Next, we took a long boat ride to an island where we were scheduled to have lunch. Islands there are just like the country, vertical. Guide said an easy 45 minute walk. An hour later I was still wondering where the top was. Eventually, we realized we had circled the island completely. I was exhausted; once again, it’s this thing of breathing and walking at the same time at that altitude. We decided we probably won’t make it to the Himalayas after all. Darn! Had a good lunch and then made the 2 ½ hour boat ride back to Puno.

One more brief segment will close the Peru trip. Maybe tomorrow?

Donnie