Backpacking To Puno

So today was the day we became real Travellers, no more hire cars and jet-setting, we took the bus from Copa to Puno, faintly ashamed of our roller-wheel suitcases, and the only people on the bus over 30 except the driver!  It was surprisingly comfortable and great fun – young travellers are generally a friendly bunch – and we intrigued them!!

We crossed the border into Peru quite soon - a throwback to days of pre-security travel where you just wander through from one country to another and conduct the formalities in ramshackle buildings with equally ramshackle officials.

Puno is a long sprawling town, unimpressive on first acquaintance, and we were quite glad our hotel was out of town a bit, on the lake shore.  A really  lovely hotel, the Casa Andrina del Lago Private Collection, no less!

It was separated from the lake by a single railway track – never saw sign of a train – then a long wooden jetty ran out through the reeds, well populated with wildfowl of many kinds, to a small reed island at the end – all incredibly pretty on a gorgeous evening.  Just the other side of the track was an old lady  tending sheep and doing her tatting, who I thought must be paid by the hotel it was all so picturesque! But no, next day she had moved on down the track, so she was for real!

 

We then walked along the track a bit, to see what was there, and ran into a young man wanting us to book a boat trip with him to Uros, the reed islands set about 2k off the shore line.  Notwithstanding our usual guarded natures, he seemed a very genuine and nice man, with enough basic English to communicate, and the more we chatted, the more we liked him.  We had already booked a tour through the hotel for the reed islands and another island two days hence, so we decided to spend the next morning with our new mate Marco, and see what he could show us.  A reasonable sum was negotiated, a small deposit paid, and off we went back for a nice dinner at the hotel and yet another nice sunset…..