We grudgingly checked out of our lovely room
and walked down to the bay to hop on a boat back to Copacabana. Once back in town it took a while to rouse
someone before we could pick up our bags – I think we’d been the first and last
to check into Hostel de Solar for some time!
We secured bus tickets for Puno and tucked into a cheap, tasty menu of
the day before boarding our vehicle bound for our next country. The bus company were organised and gave us
immigration cards as we got onto the bus to complete before arriving at the
border. It’s only 6km to Kansai where we
all had to disembark get stamped out of Bolivia, walk across no-man’s land and
get stamped into Peru. It really was as
simple and straight-forward as that with the border being very calm and
relaxed.
With the formalities complete it was time to
sit back, relax and enjoy the Peruvian scenery.
We continued to follow the shores of Lake Titicaca with towns and
villages dotted along where the inhabitants survive via farming and
fishing. I’ve tried to explain just how
enormous the lake is and you really do feel like you’ve reached the coast –
it’s even got seagulls flummoxed and there are loads around!
Puno proved to be an okay but rather scruffy
town with the only finished off bit being the pedestrian only tourist street in
town. The first thing that stuck us was
how much more expensive everything was.
All the numbers on menus, in shops and hostel tariffs were the same as
over the border but in reality that meant it cost 2 & ½ times as much. Luckily just one block away from the tourist
trap things became more affordable with the best bargain being a saltena
(empanada) bought from a street stall.
For less than a dollar (2 Soles) we got what was basically a huge
chicken and veggie pasty. We got a
surprise on biting into the chicken – it was a leg; bones’n’all!
We stayed in a place right near the bus station
which granted wasn’t the most salubrious part of town but it was convenient
since we’d be leaving again early the next morning. Down a side street near the bus station we
found the new, clean and secure Hostal Inka Tours that charged (Soles) S35 (US$18)
a night for a double room with private bathroom. On hindsight maybe we’d have been better to
carry on straight to Cuzco but we didn’t want to get there in the small hours
in the pitch black. Our Lonely Planet
had got us spooked about how wary and on constant alert you have to be in the
tourist mecca. Plus if you want to have
a good experience of Lake Titicaca then I don’t see how you can beat a trip to
Isla del Sol.
