A short detour to Lake Titicaca

After separating from our nice travel group in the Colca Canyon, we continued to Puno, to Lake Titicaca. However, there was still a long bus ride between us and Puno, and this time not in a comfortable tour bus, but in a cramped minibus. The announced 6-hour journey ended up being 7 hours, as in the middle of the mountains, suddenly nothing was moving on the road and the cars were winding in both directions. The bad weather had finally caught up with us, and it not only rained heavily but even snowed. After an hour of waiting, suddenly things started moving again (even though in our eyes the conditions hadn't really changed). Whatever, we were simply relieved to have finally arrived in Puno, and in the evening we simply went to the hotel.

Puno, at an altitude of about 3,900m, is the highest place we stayed during our trip. Unfortunately, we noticed this in the two nights we spent here, as shortness of breath made it difficult for us to sleep, and we lay awake for several hours. Nevertheless, we wanted to see as much as possible of the city and the area on our only full day here. So in the morning, we hiked to a viewpoint from where we had a nice view over the city and the lake. Afterwards, we walked to the harbor with the aim of seeing the Uros Islands on Lake Titicaca. These are small straw islands that are only built with natural materials and float on the lake (or are anchored). We had read before that these islands were "revived" for tourist purposes after being temporarily abandoned by all residents. Unfortunately, you could already feel the tourist character from the beginning. When we arrived on the island, there was an interesting short introduction about the construction of the islands and life on the island. Afterwards, the group was divided into small groups and the sales event started. After visiting one of the houses, we went directly to the souvenir stand of the family, and afterwards a boat trip to the nearby main island of the community was offered (of course for a small fee). Even after politely declining for the fifth time (mind you, we were the only ones in the entire group), we were subsequently ignored by the villagers as expected. So we had to wait until the others returned from the main island (where there seemed to be nothing but a small restaurant and more souvenirs) before we could return to the mainland. Although it was ultimately interesting to see these islands made entirely of natural materials, we were happy to be back in the city.

After this one full day and another restless night, it's already time for us to say goodbye to Puno and continue our journey. Even though Lake Titicaca with its size is very impressive, we didn't feel like we missed out on anything here, despite the short stay in Puno.