After leaving Cusco, I headed to Puno for a few hours. The bus was a nightmare! It was late, and I can´t believe how many annoying people were on the same journey. The women behind me were so loud and kept waking me up with their voices... but the worst was a woman who decided to fly around the bible in her hand and scream about god for about half an hour. I asked her how long she would be, but she just ignored me. No one else said anything, so guess this is quite normal here.
I got to Puno after about 7 hours. Unlike the other sane travellers who pay 30 soles to get to Isla Flotante de Los Uros (Island homes all made completely of straw) I walked to the boat port in the freezing cold at 6am and got the Spanish language tour for only 10 soles. I realise that this is not much of a difference in Australian money, but if I keep going like this, I´m sure my tight budget will be sufficient for the year.... I hope.
On the Uros Islands, houses are built upon a straw ground that sways when you walk on it, as they are floating on water. It was my only touristy destination for a while as I decided not to go to Machu Piccu. It would have totally blown my budget, and there would have been way too many tourists racing around. When I was on the islands, I layed down on the straw to relax, but unfortunately some made it´s way down my pants, making the whole next day of bus rides completely uncomfortable.
I basically had no idea where I was at any time during my journey from Puno to La Paz. I decided to take all of the cheap local buses, but in the end, there really wasn´t much of a difference between the price. I had some help getting to the local bus stop from some women who were from the area, and were more than happy to take me there.
My next bus was to Yunguyo. When I got off, I saw immediately a poor sheep who was dead from being run over by another bus. People were surrounding it, obviously upset. I jumped on peddle bike that a man was cycling, and then on a motorbike taxi to the border of Peru and Bolivia. I crossed the border and then got into a cab with 11 people that went to Copacobana. From there I got a bus to a port, crossed Lake Titicaca on a boat, and then got back on the bus, which then finally went all the way to La Paz.
The scenery was breathtaking, but once again, there was yet another annoying person on the bus who sang loundly and terribly for about an hour. Looking out the bus window, I saw thousands of haystacks, plus many donkeys, sheep, cows, and pigs. The houses are mostly made of brick with either tin or hay roofs.
It was a round about way to get to Bolivia, but at least I got to see many of the small towns on the way.
