Well, made it to Puno. A pretty uneventful day. Just necessary travel. My van picked me up at 09:00 and we made the 7 hour trip to Puno in about 5. We only stopped one time and that was at the highest point on the road along the way. 4338 meters. There was a toliet, which I needed, of course peruvians selling things and one lady thankfully selling food and drink. An Inca Kola and some bread from her was my lunch along with some almonds I still had left as part of my snacks I brought.
The drive from Cusco to Puno was not a whole lot to see. Plenty of small towns that all look the same. People on the side of the road with thier animals. Dogs, dogs, dogs, everywhere! And at least 4 tolls, which was somehow interesting among the ruralness of it all. But the mountains and landscape was lovely to view. We got to Puno and the sun was shining and we found my hotel. It is Hotel Pukara. It is really nice and the staff speaks excellent English. They have cozy rooms and a cool mural.
Puno is at 3800 meters, but it is thier summer. It was sunny when I got here and I headed out to explore the plaza d´armas and town without my coat and I was fine. Well, when the sun went down it got COLD!!! I broke down and bought an alpaca sweater. It was only 26 soles or about $8 and I am much warmer! The fleece didn´t make it into the wearable pile after 3 days on the trek and then MP!
Town is just that. . . very much a town. Cusco is s much more quaint and this is more of a city. There are even signs for lawyers everywhere. Made me laugh and feel at home! I´ve updated the journal. I leave tomorrow at 07:40 to go to the Uros islands out on the lake. Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world. I´ll spend the next 2 days exploring it. I am even going to Taquille Island, which I am excited about. It is very rural and has indigenous people still living there speaking thier own language. The lake is huge. It crosses both Peru and Bolivia. I hope we have some sunny days and now that I have my alpaca sweater, am ready for the chilly nights!
Not too exciting today after such an awesome trek and MP, but a necessary evil to drive for hours to get here so I can spend the next 2 days on the Lake.
Buenos Noches All!
