Lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca is best visited from the port city of Puno, a medium-sized town built into the hills overlooking the lake. Lake Titicaca is the largest navigable lake in the world, although from Puno it doesn´t look so big because of peninsulas that jut out, looking like they are the other side of the lake. It takes a boat trip out to the islands, past these penisulas, to get the real perspective.
From Isla Taquile, about 30km offshore, we had amazing views and could see all the way to the mountains in Bolivia on the lake´s far side. The island has been inhabited since pre-Inca times and is covered in stone terraces and small farms. The islanders are famous for their weaving and wear different types of hats to denote their age and marital status. Closer to Puno are the floating islands of the Uros people, who make their artificial islands out of the Totora reeds that grow in the lake. Their houses and boats are also made out of this reed and we were also given some Uros Bread that tasted suspiciously vegetable-like.

While in Puno we caught a local minivan to a small town with a great lookout of the lake. The town seemed quite deserted apart from a group of people celebrating a cristening in the local church, some people working in their fields, and a couple of friendly dogs that followed us around. Strangely, the town square was full of huge bushes groomed into the shapes of ladies in indigenous costume and other local images.

We had bad luck with the buses in Puno. Going there from Cusco, we found that the company we bought our tickets from didn´t have a bus running that morning, and all the passengers were sold to another company with much confusion. From Puno coming back to Arequipa, after a delayed start while the managers tried to find a few more passengers (meanwhile the passengers already on their bus were stamping their feet, shouting at the driver and eventually made a mass complaint), our bus made it to 20km short of Arequipa before breaking down. The driver was having a hard time again with all the annoyed passengers, but it was clear we weren´t going anywhere. There didn´t seem to be any replacement bus coming to pick us up right away. Neither would any other buses going past stop to give anyone a lift - for security reasons, this is a common policy in Peru. We got our packs out of the bus and luckily had them handy when a taxi pulled up and announced he was going to be a Colectivo to Arequipa. Us and four other stranded passengers crowded in, and the taxi driver dropped us at the edge of town where we caught a city bus the rest of the way into the city.

It was nice to arrive back in Arequipa, a real city away from the overly touristic feel of Cusco and Puno. Apart from a short stretch of restaurants on the plaza, and the place where the open-top tour buses depart in the morning, you can walk around without being bothered, and people don´t hike up their prices when they see us coming. The last time we were here we found a street of good, private, cheap hotels just off the plaza that our guidebook forgot to mention and so there are hardly any tourists. For the same money as a typical crowded hostel we get luxuries like our own bathroom and cable TV - an ideal spot to relax for a few days, dividing our meals between the kebab place down the road and the local family restaurants across the street.

From here we go back south to Chile, and plan to spend a few days at the beach in Iquique again before heading inland through the desert, and crossing over the andes into northwest Argentina on our way back to our return flight home from Buenos Aires.