Puno & Lake Titicaca, Peru

Following our adventures in Machu Picchu we boarded a 7-hour bus from Cusco to Puno – a Peruvian city situated on the shores of Lake Titicaca, the largest navigatible alpine lake in the world. The bus ride was very picturesque as we steadily climbed in elevation through mountain valleys to the Andes Highlands, a flat grassland landscape boarded by snow capped Andes peaks. Compared to some of our previous bus rides this one was enjoyable as there were few switchbacks. There was some excitement on board however as we passed through a few angry demonstrations where the local protestors decided to litter the highway with large rocks. I guess the bus driver had encountered this type of activity before though as he decided to drive right over the massive rocks and we continued on our way safely and without further incident to Puno.

Arriving in Puno we hiked around the city centre looking for a cheap hostel for 2 nights and were rewarded for our efforts with a very affordable room at $15 US per night. They also provided laundry services which were needed as we were beginning to run quite low on clean clothes. The city itself was quite nice with pedestrian streets and central plazas. There were considerably less tourists in Puno which also made it feel much more authentic. Our first evening there we ate dinner at a local Peruvian restaurant and enjoyed an interesting stir fry “saltedo” of rice, chicken, onions, tomatoes and large potato wedges complimented with pisco sours (just like an amaretto sour in Canada).  It was very tasty.

On our second day we walked down to the main ferry terminal and boarded a rickety old boat to take us out to Lake Titicaca and visit the famous Uros floating islands. We were the only foreigners on the boat but had a great time trying to decipher the Spanish tour. The islands themselves were very unique and unlike anything we have ever visited before. Centuries ago the local Uros tribe decided to build a village in the middle of the lake to create a safety buffer from their neighbouring tribes. There are countless reeds in the lake so they collected these in bundles, dried them and then laid the reeds in alternating patterns to create a stable floating platform. As the lower reeds rotted from contact with the water they would add additional layers on top as needed. They then constructed houses and boats out of these same reeds and have lived on the islands ever since.

It is predominately a tourist “trap” now but was nonetheless very interesting to see and stand on. Once back on shore we spent the afternoon bartering for some local handicrafts to bring back home as souvenirs, eating local street treats, and then retiring for the evening early as we had a 10-hour bus ride scheduled to bring us to La Paz, Bolivia the next morning.