We arrived in Puno bright and early and started doing the rounds of hostels, looking for the cheapest option. Having found our home for the next couple of nights we set out in search of a tour that would take in the best of Lake Titicaca, which was of course, our reason for being in Puno.
Feeling slightly disappointed with the one size fits all tours we headed down to the port so see what else we could find. On our way we stumbled across a tour agency that was able to offer more of what we wanted, so satisfied with our plans for the next two days we headed back into town to check out the local area.
Day 2 in Puno and we had a civilised beginning to the day, being picked up at 9:00am to start our tour of the islands of Lake Titicaca. Our first stop was one of the Uros Islands - the so called Islas Flotantes (floating islands), that are made entirely of reeds. They are called the floating islands because, originally, they did just that. Nowadays though they are well anchored so no more floating. It was interesting to hear how the islands are constructed and see a short demonstration (yes, the need for the tourism dollar is alive and well even on these tiny islands) and to take a ride in a reed boat. After our first island visit, Tim and I were dropped off at another Uros Island which was to be our home for the evening. We arrived in the early afternoon and there was really nothing to do so we spent the afternoon sitting in the sun reading. The island we stayed on was probably the most developed with a little shop (made of reeds) that was also the restaurant and kitchen and eating area for the families who live on this island. There were a few small 'cabins', also made of reeds, one of which we slept in, a few small houses, occupied by the few resident families as well as two areas of water where they seemed to be breeding trout and kingfish.
We were picked up at about 9:00am the following morning and continued on to check out another island - Isla Taquille. There wasn´t really much to do on this small island and tourist services aren´t hugely developed, which was nice because it meant you could look in the shop at the traditionally made items without lots of hassle. After walking around the island and having lunch we began our long departure back to Puno.
Our last night in Puno was quite fun. We went to a restaurant for dinner and were thoroughly entertained by the traditional music and dancing and really nice food. Early the next day we boarded a bus for Copacabana, Bolivia, to check out their side of Lake Titicaca.
Other than the rather confusing border crossing the bus ride to Copacabana was pretty uneventful, however, after arriving to grey skies and rain and a pretty dismal forecast we decided that the best thing to do was get on the next bus to La Paz - we had no real desire to spend a day or two touring islands in the rain so moving on seemed the next best option.
And here begins our first real experience of bus rides in Bolivia. Tim and I were one of the last ones on the bus so ended up on two seats right at the very back. On taking our seats we realised why they were empty - they were soaked through and the rain was still dripping through the roof. I requested a towel or something to cover the seat and the lady disappeared for so long I had given up hope (as the bus was driving off) when she appeared with a large bundle of blankets. Having made sure that my raincoat was securely fastened and the seats were well covered with the blankets we settled down for the 4 (or so) hour journey to La Paz. Other than the occasional rain shower the rest of the journey passed without incident.
Arriving in La Paz late in the afternoon we were able to see the city from above as we came down through the mountains. It really does make an impressive site with the surrounding snow capped mountains. Other than that, there really isn´t much more to say about La Paz. It´s another big city with lots of pollution and loads of people. We checked our the local sights and got ourselves onto a bus / train to Uyuni for a tour of Solar de Uyuni (salt flats), which were pretty impressive.
But more on that later.
Take care
Tim and Tracey
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