Wed 7th Jan: To Puno

I didn´t get much sleep last night. It was intermittent. I woke around 6am as it was beginning to get bright. We were still heading south, following the coast. I was surprised, I had expected the bus to have turned inland for Arequipa by now. Shortly afterwards the bus did turn off the coast road and headed for the hills. For the next 2hrs we climbed into the highlands. On the steeper slopes the bus really struggled, crawling to the crest of the next hill. However by 8.20 we were in Arequipa. I collected my rucksack and made straight for the Cruz Del Sur counter to see if they had a departure for Puno. After last nights uncomfortable bus I wanted travel the rest of the way on something decent and the Cruz Del Sur buses are generally good. They had a bus leaving in 5mins. I quickly paid for my seat. The woman behind the counter got a lad to take my rucksack and we ran to a neighbouring terminal. I was the last to board. As I took my seat the bus departed. Moments later breakfast was served. Don´t you just love it when something like that happens.

The weather was beautiful this morning. Arequipa had blue skies and Volcan Misty, which towers over the city, was perfectly clear. Free of clouds at its summit. The bus climbed out of Arequipa on the same road I had travelled to Chivay some weeks earlier. Once up on the Altiplano, however, the bus veered away in the direction of Puno. For 6hrs we crossed the picturesque valleys of the highlands, stopping briefly at Juliaca and by 2.30 in the afternoon we arrived at Puno on the shores of Lake Titicaca.

Puno is a busy port and market town on one of the worlds highest lakes. This lake was sacred to the Incas and to the peoples of the region before them. Legends bound to the origins of the incas are tied to some of the islands out in the lake. There are still substantial communities living out on the lake preserving traditions and customs which stretch back in time. Ancient cultures flourished here long before the Incas so the place resonates with history. Lake Titicaca is large, more like an inland sea, extending 165km in length and over 60km wide it goes to over 280m deep. Puno is the main gateway to the islands out in the lake. Of particular interest are the Uros islands, artificial floating islands a few kmaway in a shallower portion of the lake. I´ll visit them tomorrow.

At the bus station I was met by a guy who I thought was a taxi driver. I told him where I was going and he ushered me to a taxi nearby. It turned out he was a rep who must work on commission from the hostels and tour companies. I knew what was coming. I got the whole spiel in the taxi, tours, accomodation etc. He came in with me to me the hostel to claim his commission. After I cheked in and was heading up to my room he followed me and tried to get me to sign on for other tours. After 23hrs on buses and very little sleep I was very tired. I indulged him, I stayed quiet while he spoke, remained non-commital to his questions. Then, when I had enough of listening to him and with no sign of him letting me go, I stood up, told him I was going to sleep. He asked what time I would get up. I replied "I haven´t a clue mate, Adios". I fell asleep as a thunderstorm rattled in over the town.

I got up two hours later. It was still raining but the thunder had moved away out over the lake, lighning flashes lit up the dark sky over Bolivia on the other side. I crept downstairs, peered around corners to see if yer man was still waiting on me but there was no sign of him. I signed up for a trip onto the lake at reception and then went out for a look around. The town isn´t the most attractive of places but the hustle and bustle of the place was entertaining. There were a lot of "bicycle taxis" here which I haven´t seen before. They shared the streets with regular traffic, ferrying people here and there, honking handheld horns to clear the way of pedestrians. All the collectivos departed from the street outside the hostel. Sometimes 9 collectivos were parked in a row, all with their conductors out in the streets shouting their destinations, touting for business. 9 conductors shouting in unison made for quite a chorus. Add in the sounds of passing traffic, their engines coughing, their horns beeping. Behind them the whistle of a traffic cop blew as he exerted some order on the impatient drivers. Along the streets women shouted out selling there wares of bread, pastries, fruit etc competing with the shops nearby. As it was evening portable kitchens had appeared and people congregated around these to buy cheap evening snacks. Under the street lights there was quite a cacophony of sounds and aromas to accompany the flashes of lightning in the centre of Puno.