Puno Day 275 20/06/2015

We had an early breakfast at the Amaru II before getting a taxi to the bus station to catch our 0800 bus to Puno. It certainly was a very different experience checking in with Cruz del Sur, our bags were weight and tagged, hand luggage was scanned and we were videoed and photographed getting on the bus. It almost made you feel less secure, especially as we watched the safety video that described how the bus was GPS tracked to monitor all stops. It was strange to back track on ourselves. In our time away we've only retraced our steps on a few occasions. We were however keen to visit the islands on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca as we hadn't had chance to do so on the journey north. On board we were served with hot drinks and a snack. Simon spend the journey watching movies (The Last Nights and also The Black Sea) and Diane enjoyed the scenery and spent some of the time doing a bit more research on Peru and Ecuador. It was good to drive straight through Juliaca and to see that the streets were significantly calmer than they were just over a week ago. As we arrived in Puno the bus clipped the back of an Inca Cola lorry smashing the glass on the door and damaging the paintwork. Neither driver seem too concerned and infact the Inca Cola lorry just drove off. We stopped for about 30 seconds whilst the crew inspected the door. At the bus station we collected our luggage, bought our onward tickets to Arequipa again with Cruz del Sur and headed to our hotel, Hacienda Plaza de Armas, in a taxi. There's not much to do in the town itself, it's a bit run down with few colonial buildings remaining, with the real draw being the islands on Lake Titicaca. We'd read in Lonely Planet that the best way to experience the islands is to take the ferry across, avoiding the often disappointing tours, so we headed down to the port to see what time the ferries left. It was all a bit vague but it did look like we could get a boat to Islas Uros at 0900. Back in the centre of Puno we stopped for refreshments before heading back to the hotel. In the evening we went to Mojsa for dinner, also on the Plaza, and enjoyed a traditional Peruvian meal. As we walked the very short distance back to the hotel we could hear festivities taking place celebrating the winter solstice. They were still ongoing as we went to bed, wondering what time they'd finish.

The courtyard at the Amaru II

Shattered glass and a scratched door after a close encounter with an Inca Cola lorry