|
|
|
So the journey to Puno and Lago Titicaca was "interesting". We had decided before Machu Picchu to book a tour bus to Puno which stops along the way at several archaeological sites. Little did we know that after Machu Picchu, any other ruins would pale in comparison. Needless to say, we found all the stops extremely boring... Anyway, we made it to Puno, checked into our hotel, and set out to find some nice bars and restaurants for the evening. The place is pretty cool. Lots of bars (we even found a reggae bar which I had to physically drag Yaz out of), and some really nice restaurants.
The next morning we woke early (again) for our tour of the islands in Lake Titicaca, the floating islands of Uros and Tequile Island. The floating islands were fascinating! Islands made out of reeds which grow in the lake, and on which about 8 families live. Basically the base of the islands is made from the reed roots, and then the tops of the reeds are placed on top in layers. Everything on these islands was made of reeds!! Each island is about two metres in depth, and the lake is about 18 metres deep! They actually have to anchor the island so that they don´t wake up and find themselves in Bolivia! Anyway, after visiting a couple of the islands we had a two hour boat ride to Tequile!! The lake is massive, and the highest navigatable lake in the world!! Tequile was pretty impressive in terms of the views, and customs on the island. There´s no vehicles on the island, no animals as such, and the men stand around knitting... YES KNITTING!!! After a pretty average lunch there (the restaurants serve whatever they can get their hands on on the day, so certainly no meat), we headed back to Puno.
The following day we headed by coach to Copacabana, no not THE Copacabana, but Copacabana (otherwise known as Copa) in Bolivia, which is a quaint beach-type strip on the lake, and checked into our cheapest hostal yet. The place was incredibly basic, and pretty depressing, but it was clean, and at $2.50 each for the night, was a bargain, although the shower left a lot to be desired...! Copa is gringo central... and I mean hard-core gringos, with dreadlocks and torn clothes!! It was amazing, although there´s really not much to do apart from relax, eat and drink (not bad on all counts). As always, Yaz ordered a much better meal than me, and her trout was incredible! The areas around Lago Titicaca are known for their trout, and we can now see why. Not wanting to go back and chill in our hostal, we stayed out all day and all evening (including watching one of the most beautiful sunsets on Lake Titicaca - and bumping into so many other gringos we´d already met on our travels so far) until we were tired enough to not even notice the room by the time we got back. We boarded another coach the following day for La Paz.
Backpack Status: Aparently Iberia have disappeared along with my backpack!
previous travel blog entry
Would you like to comment or ask a question?
Sign up for a free account, or sign in (if you're already a member).