Puno, Peru

 

Isla Flotantes (floating islands)

Besides being the highest navigable lake (at 12,493 ft), Lake Titicaca is famous for the floating islands of the indigenous Uros people.  It can take up to 1 year to build an island, as they have to build layers upon layers of reeds.  There are about 50 floating islands in all.  While is was quite interesting to see how these families lived, it does seem to be a bit commercialized, so it’s hard to get a real genuine feel for their day to day lives.  Though, at the end of the day, whatever makes them happy.  It must be quite interesting for them to get to meet new people every day, as they do not leave their islands all that often, only to go to Puno occasionally for bulk items.

Victor, the little guy pictured here, was quite the ham, bringing reeds and flowers to the women and just getting into all kinds of trouble while we were there.

Our first flamingo sighting!  He was sound asleep, and seemed oblivious to the locals (and tourists) all around him. 

Eventually, he woke up…

And snapped at Victor when he got too close!!

 

Isla Tequile

Next, we motored to another island about 3 hours away (Lake Titicaca is HUGE). 

We met some fantastic people on our little day excursion, which always makes our travels that much more fulfilling!  :-)  We met a couple, originally from England, but currently living in Toronto, Peter and Kelly (pictured in top left photo).  We also met Martin, who is going to be on the road for 2 years, and who is also going to be trekking in parts of Patagonia, so we hope to see him again in the very near future (pictured in top right photo).  It’s great to meet like-minded people on the road, and to hear about their past and future travels, and to share some of our own wisdom about certain areas that they may have questions about.

 

Bus to Arequipa

The next morning, we took the public bus to Arequipa as it was a bit cheaper ($10.00 for a 6 hour ride) and left early in the day.  We had seats 1 and 2, on the top level.  That meant we had the windshield directly in front of us.  It was quite a view except for the numerous cracks in the window!  It was not the most comfortable 6 hour bus ride, but hey, we got there safely (and actually more on-time than the “tourist bus” we previously took from Cusco to Puno!)

View from our bus… cracks ‘n’ all…

 

Our initial excitement of seeing llamas at Machu Picchu has subsided a bit… we saw loads of them throughout our bus ride in the plains.

Another first for us… dust devils swirling in the distance.

 

We are currently in Arequipa, Peru, determining the best way to cross the border to Chile, while taking in the gorgeous views of this city!  It is by far our favorite town in all of Peru! 

Hope you are all doing well, miss you, and talk soon!

Scott and Jen