Puno and Lake Titticaca

We arrived in Puno by bus from Cusco after fixing a flat tire. We found our hotel and explored this small town on the Northshore of Lake Titticaca.

The following morning we boarded our boat to The Floating Island of Ulsa. These islands are built by the local Ayran people from reeds that grow in the lake. The people make their houses from these reeds, they use these reeds to cook with ,and they even build boats with these reeds.

These people are still very primitive in the way that they live..They believe that they live off the land in harmony with Patchamama ( Mother Earth ).

That night after visiting another island we had our homestay in Chucquito .We stayed in a very small hut and had lunch and dinner with our hosts. The lunch was soup, rice and vegetables and dinner was soup. The hut had no heating or indoor plumbing. It was very cold and bathroom trips were few. You will laugh when you see how low we had to stoop to get through the door. We had a party in the evening and we all dressed up like the locals. There was lots of singing and dancing.

The following day we returned to Puno and caught another bus to Copacabana in Bolivia.

Copacabana also on the south shore of the lake was not very interesting. We spent the night there and then the next day we took another bus to La Paz. La Paz is the highest capital city in the world with an altitude of 3600 meters. The airport here is called El Alto Airport and is 4000m above sea level making this the highest airport in the world. LaPaz is a city of hills. The high altitude makes walking very difficult. Altitude sickness is a new experience...one that we could have done without.

We will be here for a few days before we head south to the Salt Flats of Bolivia.

When we have a good internet connection we will post some more photos.