lago titikaka

everything happens for a reason. at least that is what i tell myself everytime i loose something, like a sock or my sunglasses or a bus. you know, normal stuff like that.

yes, i missed my bus to puno from cusco because i was distracted having too much fun with new friends. but hey, everything happens for a reason. a week after i missed my bus, i am sure about it.

i made some friends in cusco that were so kind to let me tag along and travel with them to puno. we arrived at 5AM and when the sun came up, after some tea and instant coffee, we went straight to the port to find someone to take us to the islands in lake titikaka.

uros island
these are floating islands, we stopped at (most likely) the smallest one. they built the islands with some floating blocks and plants. they have been living in the lake since before the inkas and used to be really good fishermen and now they live mostly off of tourism. tourist trap? ...it kinda felt like that.

 

amantani island
in this island we stayed with a local family. the island has about 4,000 people and people have also been living there since before the incas. they still use the agricultural terraces system to grow corn and potatoes mostly. we just chilled, went down to the lake with the little girl that lived in the house, took a nap, ate, drank muña tea that we picked up from the yard... relax.

 

 

 

taquile island
this was a short trip around the island. the boat left us on one side and picked us up on the other side... the island is beautiful and has awesome views, but i think it would be better to stay there and relax. we walked for about three hours (...30 min stop at the main plaza) and reached the boat to go back to puno.

 

  

crossing the border into bolivia
there were 7 other people that wanted to cross the border into bolivia the same day that we got to puno. some of them had very similar travel plans, so i decided to follow them. the bus to copacabana was supposed to sail at 2:30pm and we got to the port at 2:20pm. impossible task.

someone had heard that we could take like a colectivo... or micro... or something like that, a smaller bus to copacabana. so we all walked to the non-fancy bus terminal, the one the locals take, and got a small bus that would take us to the border. win. :)

 

i got some pesos bolivianos ...paid the reciprocity fee to get into bolivia... pfft... and there we were! we tell the driver to drive us into town and one of the first things he said was: copacabana!? they have carnaval today!

 yes, we crossed the border :)