La Hacienda Puno

... ,   Just a quick update to say we are still here (but where ?). Took a 7 hour bus ride accross the Andes to Puno. Andes mountains are truly spectacular. Very poor subsistance farmers in the andes. the main crop we saw along the way was Coca leaves ...

Puno, Peru and the high ...

... ) and take it fairly slow for the first few days. Fortunately, we have no issues and were back to normal within days. While in Puno we explored the city by foot and mototaxi, we indulged in Guinea Pig, Alpaca and plenty of local beer. We also managed to ...

... else's home and having to run to an outhouse in the dark every time I felt sick.      Fortunately, my hotel, La Hacienda, had a room available for the night I was supposed to stay on the island.  With the lodging dilemma solved, I ...

... central Lima, had a meeting with a guide and flew out of Lima the next day to Juliaca. We got to Juliaca then got a transfer to Puno which was coooold. We met up with a new tour guide and tour people and got shown around Puno then went to have dinner at a ...

... . 24 tourists with a guide on a smallish vessel. Uros are the floating reed islands near the shore of Lake Titicaca near Puno. Fascinating place - a thick layer of reeds in the water which produce a living surface about 1 m above the water, solid enough ...

... The children attend school.  Kindergarten and the primary grades are held on the islands but the children travel across the lake to Puno to attend the upper grades and the university.  The children seem to be very smart.  They sang us songs ...

Leaving Cusco behind we set off in our large minibus again, this time en route to Puno. This involved a 6 hour journey across the Altiplano or high plateau which was very scenic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altiplano , and parts of it were reminiscent of ...

... . Since the Inca times they have continued to survive on the lake by fishing, hunting birds and trading with the locals in Puno. The islands themselves are constructed out the the roots from  Totora reeds. The uros build blocks from the roots, tied, ...

While in Puno, we went to stay on an Island on Lake Titicaca called Amanati.  It was definitely an experience from start to finish.  The boat was an adventure in itself, the lake was quite rough and the little boat was tossed from side to side, ...

After climbing out of the canyon, we hopped on yet another bus to get to Lake Titicaca in Puno. Lake Titicaca is considered the highest navigable lake in the world (by big boats) at 12,464 feet (approx 4000m). The obvious question is, "How big are those ...

... , navigable lake at about 3800m.a.s.l. The lake lies on the border of Bolivia and Peru and is 8300 square kilometres big.  Puno is in Peru and that is where we stopped for the night. For dinner I tried one of the Peruvian foods called Ceviche, ...

... the lobby and exchanging contact information, I told Debbie and Jim that I would go out to dinner with them. We went to La Casona restaurant.  It was a very nice restaurant and we had great conversation.  I only ordered chocolate cake because I ...

... another Casa Andina Private Collection, and even more gorgeous than the last. A complete opposite of the lodge-style Puno hotel, this was a Spanish hacienda that fit right in with the local architecture. Our room overlooks the courtyard and is HUGE! One ...

After sleeping on Amantani Island we enjoyed another boat ride to the neighbour island, Taquile Island. First of all, we had to climb up for quite a while to the town centre which lies at 3950m, so altitude was affecting some of us. There is no police on ...

... an hour or so to settle in and rest up before Marco again met us. Our hotel was really nice.  It was an old Spanish hacienda with a courtyard (actually two) in the middle.  There was a restaurant and bar, like at the one in Puno, only these had ...

... bitch  who looked like Johnny Depp J We received the key from our room which was located in the inner courtyard of the hacienda, on the first floor. The first impression was nor bad, nor good…  average. After a closer look  (and ...

... the air was thick with Eucalyptus resin, peach blossom and various other fragrant shrubs along the way.  We passed an old hacienda built in the fifties that was abandoned and falling into disrepair and dreamed a little about restoring it. (Later I ...

... ;Next day a trip out of town to the Sacred Valley to see Inca Ruins and some high peaks with glaciers = lunch at a very swish hacienda and back in time for short siesta.  There was one of those multi=theatrical shows on = a bit like 'Maui´ with ...