Puno

11.11. Puno

At 4:30 we get off the bus in Puno. At 5:00 the luggage storage opens, because we are only making a day stop here without overnight stay. We want to see Lake Titicaca and visit the indigenous people living on it, the Uros. We navigate through the city to get the tickets at the port. The shoe market is in full swing, very original and special. Just before the port, we find a ticket seller. He approaches us and sells us the approximately 9-hour tour. Hunger drives us back to the bus terminal, as nothing is open at this time.

The numerous boats at the port show us how large the usual tourist turnout here must be. About 8 boats depart out of maybe 80 present. Our little boat is almost full with mostly Peruvian tourists.

We go through a channel of reeds to the floating islands of the Uros. Each island built of reeds is fully focused on tourism and it doesn't matter to which island the boat takes you; they all have exactly the same tourist offer: you learn how they build the islands, you can briefly look into the houses, and then you are supposed to buy all sorts of souvenirs from them. For us, the whole thing feels very strange and odd. We imagined visiting indigenous peoples differently. They have to sing and show their teeth to us because they have such white teeth due to the reeds, which can also be eaten. Creepy and uncomfortable. With a traditionally boat covered with reeds (the real ones would be built 100% of reeds) we take a trip to the "capital" for additional money, but it's actually just another stop to sell us drinks. The boy on the boat sings some chart songs and also takes a few soles from us for it.

3 hours and a long crossing later, we arrive on the island of Amantani where we have lunch with a family. There is trout, the freshwater fish par excellence in Peru, which was introduced many years ago. The mayor of the village also pays us a visit. It's really heartwarming how the family members, from the grandmother to the granddaughter, take care of us.

The return journey takes a long time, but even that passes with rough waves. Back in Puno, we want to have a beer in the city. Stupidly, not a single restaurant has beer and various inquiries about bars let us roam the whole city without success. Really amazing, during our 2-hour search we did not pass by a single place that offered alcohol. So we go to the terminal to wait and behold: the breakfast place from this morning has beer, although not chilled. ;)

The annoying ticket sellers almost drive us crazy. Every two seconds, one of three advertising people shouts the name of the city they are heading to through the crowded waiting hall. We hear the expression "Arequiparequiparequipaaaaaaaa" at least 1000 times.

Finally, our bus goes to "Cuscocuscocuscocuscooooooo"...