Sonesta Posada Del Inca Puno

... with regular seats! When we went back into the ticket office in the bus station the woman completely ignored us. We were on her side of the desk and the only people there and she simply would not put her head up. We had to poke her and kick up a storm before she got the boss to give us a refund.

We dont mind paying the money for things when they ask, but we are quickly getting sick of the scams. Theyīll do anything to get that money out of your pocket.

Our sole reason for stopping in Puno was to finally get a slice of what it was really like to live in Peru, and the only way to do this is to go and stay with a family.

Feeling like a nervous ten year old on a school exchange trip, wondering what strange things lie ahead, we, and about 20 other adoptees boarded the boat to Amantani Island on lake Titicaca. We met a couple of groups of Londoners and chatted most of the 3 hour ride there in amongst staring into the distance ...

... ce soit si touristique, ca fait un peu bete de foire, petite balade en barque de jonc. a ce moment la, olga ns dit de manger maintenant car apparement pas possible sur amantani, alors 1er repas a 10h30.
reprise de bateau pour 3 h de flotte, direction l'ile amantani, debarquement et montee a pattes (aucun vehicule sur lile) chez la maman dolga qui ns attend avec un bon repas, ce ...

... a court yard. The doors are really small. Our room was surprisingly large with two beds. The outhouse toilet was located between the sheep and the pig area! Of course, it was too cold at night to go, so Gloria gave us a potty which we both used. Haven’t done that since I was a kid in Sweden! Nikolas couldn’t stop laughing as he has never seen anything like it!!! This is getting back to basics……

Puno, Peru worldtraveler2

Today, I hitched a ride to the Island of Taquile on lake Titicaca. Itīs a small island of weavers with a population of about 2000. Hiked up to the top of the Isla which was close to 12,000 feet above sea level. Anyway, after huffing and puffing it for about 2 ...

... Bolivia is dirt cheap like so I have to get my head around the prices now being more expensive. We booked a tour to visit the floating islands and Tequile Island for the next day and we went out for dinner.

Saturday morning we got up at 6.20am for our 6.45am pick up for the tour. We went down for breakfast and at 7am they still hadn't come. We didnt worry so went on net for while - we were still there at 8.45am! Ror tried ringing the office on skype but it ...

The day after I arrived in Puno, there was a news story about a tour bus on the exact same route I had just taken. The bus crashed, killing 30 people. I thanked my lucky stars, because I could have very easily been on that bus. Well... so Puno.
Puno is on the shore of Lake Titicaca... that's: Titty Kaw-Kaw. Yes, words that might evoke titters when spoken by school children, but I know you all are too ...

... we walked up to the island's primary school, followed closely by some sort of Peruvian marching band. Then we played football against locals. They were pretty good. It was first to 8 goals, swapping ends when one team got to 4. We were 4-2 down at half time but won 8-5 or 8-6 or something. Nathan scored all 8 goals. I went off before the end with a 5ht metatarsal injury. After football, we met our host families. Me and King James went with Victor to his house. The house ...

... making everything from the
islands themselves to the model boats that the islanders sell. The
islands are made up of layers upon layers of reeds;as the layers
closest the water start to rot, they are replaced with fresh reeds.
The reeds are also used to build their boats, which if constructed
last up to 6 months. We took a short boat ride around the floating
islands on one of the reed boats before boarding back on to our boat
for lunch.
Puno, Peru dlz

... but it was a fun
experience. After one month the improvements were clear to see in most students!



If you're interested in reading about all the details and all our experiences,
continue reading below.





Festividades de la Virgen de la Candelaria, Puno, Feb. 1998





Extended version



Finding the job



Expensive Chile had eaten a big gap into ...