Colon Inn Puno

... done a full day but as the afternoon consisted of a long walk, it sounded too like Isla del Sol for us... and it seemed a good decision in the end. We reached the floating islands within 30 mins. There are 45 of them in total, all made out of reeds - mad! It felt so soft and bouncy to walk on. They are now quite modernized with TV etc and the capital of the islands has about 3 restaurants, bit crazy! We learnt how the islands are built and met the ...

... my best but just could manage.I signalled that it was really nice though and I was full up. I think they understood.

We went back into our rooms and was followed by the women who dressed us up in tradtional clothes for the night. They put five skirts on me and a poncho on Mark. Looking really cool we headed back down the hill/mountain for a little barn dance with the locals. They did it first and then we had to copy. They didnīt look that impressed with our ...

After I felt a bit better I decide to do the small excursion to Chucuito, that's not far away from Puno. As They exist only privat tours to get there, I decide to go by public transport. I thought it would take really long until the bus would get full and part, but after a few minutes the bus was full of women wearing the different tipical ( also really funny) puno hats. One of the reasons that ...

... the flat and deserted altiplano to a lush vallery at the source of the Urubamba river which eventually flows into the Amazon much further downstream. The next stop was for a really nice buffet lunch at Sillustani before going to look around some pre-inca remains at Raqchi. At the site there was a huge wall which formed the centre of a temple which was made out of perfectly cut rock and adobe (mud) bricks. Our last stop ...

... But, needless to say, I did take some tips...

Our visit was short, and off we were to Taquile, a large island located about 3 hours away from Puno on the lake. Upon arrival, I was met be a real friendly guy who offered a bed at his house for the night for 10 sol- 3 bucks. Appearantly this is what you do on this island, and you eat with the family and all that good stuff. But, it turns out they were charging way too much for lunch and dinner- it was rather exploitive. He ...

... went inside one of the reed houses. It is basically one room, with everything stacked inside. They do have a tv though =). Food are cooked outside, using clay pots. They go to the mainland during church and market day to get some food not availabe in the island.

After the floating islands, we headed to Taquile Island - a real island this time. It took about 2 hours to get there, and I had my most needed sleep in the boat. In Taquile, we ...

... darstellte) startete unsere Tour zu den Floating Islands vom Hafen von Puno aus. Erst spaet am Abend kehrten wir schliesslich in unsre Quartier zurueck. Die unzaehligen Eindruecke die wir waehrend unseres Ausfluges von den Uros und vom Titicacasee gewinnen konnten werden am besten durch unsrere Fotos wiedergegeben. Eins ist auf jeden Fall klar: Besser haetten wir den angebrochenen Tag nicht ausklingen lassen koennen.

... and
relief. A few cultural differences made for some interesting situations. For
example the Peruvians are quite passive, so if you ask the whole group an open
question, nobody will answer it. Asking it again doesn't help. The only thing
that helps is pointing out someone who should answer the question.



They were also very shy to begin with, but the more roleplays and group discussions
we held, the more ...