Tag Archives: Peru

Puno to La Paz

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The group had split now; some were heading back to Lima for their flights home, others did continue to La Paz – to fly out from there – or to continue the journey through Bolivia. My flight home was out of La Paz – so this morning I (along with the others continuing to La Paz) got ready for the last big bus ride on this trip – from Puno to La Paz.

First we got from Puno to the border between Peru and Bolivia, to get our exit stamp for Peru and the entry stamp for Bolivia. Then we traveled onwards (same bus) to the town of Copacabana. Here we had a short lunch break – before boarding another bus for the second part of the journey to La Paz.

After some time on the bus we had to leave again to cross a short strip of Lake Titicaca by ferry. The bus was loaded on one boat, while the passengers got on a separate passenger boat.

In the evening – the last official evening and the last dinner with Carla. We went to El Lobo restaurant for some good and cheap pasta – followed by an early night (as consequence from the night before).

Lake Titicaca – continued –

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We left our host families this morning after a good pancake breakfast. It was now back to the boat, now heading for Taquile Island.

Here we basically crossed the island, first walking into town. Here we had a look into the museum and handicraft shop. We continued the walk to eventually stop at a restaurant for lunch. We then did head back to the boat for the three hour journey back to Puno.

Puno

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We arrived in Puno after an all-morning bus ride.

Later in the day we had a short orientation walk (short, as there is not too much to see in Puno), then some food and finally we did some shopping for the next day (mainly presents for our hosts for the upcoming home stay at Lake Titicaca).

Night in Cuzco

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The world cup was finally over, Italy had beaten France – and the group had decided to to get into Cuzco at night …

Back to Cuzco

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Today we – once more – had an early morning – to be at the airport in time for our flight back to Cuzco – and another 2+ hours boat ride before that.

After our arrival in Cuzco the group more or less split into two parts – as could be expected for the day with the Worldcup finals. One part of the group went straight into a pub to watch the game, while the others enjoyed food at Jack’s, some last-minute sightseeing and the empty streets of Cuzco.

In the Jungle …

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Today we – once more – left Cuzco in the early morning. The group got split in two parts as the first plane was already booked out. I was on the first plane (LAN Peru, with the second group following on an AeroCondor flight). After we landed in Puerto Maldonaldo, we found ourselves in a new environment, at low altitude (around 1300m above sea level) and in a warm and humid climate.

The people of our lodge did pick us up at the airport and drove us into town; here they gave us a short tour before we headed to the port to jump on a boat for our transfer to the lodge about 30km out of town.

After arrival at the lodge we got a short introduction, lunch and also had the time for a swim in the COLD swimming pool. We then met again in the early afternoon to go on a trip to Monkey Island; later in the evening (after lunch in the dark), we had the opportunity to go caiman spotting.

The Sacred Valley

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Today was the day, after we had made it back from the Inca Trail – so after a nice shower and a night of good sleep. All of us took it easy today and decided to just go for the organized tour through the Sacred Valley close to Cuzco.

Our first stop was at an Inca ruin in Ollantaytambo, followed by a visit of a Chicha brewery (Chicha is an alcoholic drink made from fermented corn – kind the local beer).

In the Chicha place we also had the chance to try playing Sapo, a local, traditional game played in bars. Goal is to throw a coin to a small table with holes, each hole represents points – the maximum number of points is given, when the coins lands in the mouth of a metal frog in the middle of this table. Of course we had to try this game.

After having had lunch, we left Pisac and stopped at a Llama/ Alpaca center. We have been shown the animals and the production process for llama and alpaca clothing. In the end we had the chance to buy some llama and alpaca goods at the highest prices I have seen in Peru (so a tourist trap – what else to expect).

On the way back to Cuzco we had another stop at the ruin site of Sacsaywaman.