Lake Titicaca and Peru

Lake Titicaca was really cool. It´s one of the world´s highest navigable lakes. From the Bolivian town of Cpacabana we caught a boat to Isla de la Sol which was a really cool island. We saw some Inca ruins on the island and walked 9km to the Southern part where we stayed for the night. We had a fantastic view of the lake in the morning and the boat back to Copacabana was a lot better than the one to the island. The trout from Lake Titicaca is fantastic!

We then caught a bus to Puno, Peru. The security measures at the border crossing were surprisingly lax, a quick glance at my passport and they stamped me through!

So we are now in Peru, our feet fixed firmly to the ´gringo trail´. In argentina and Chile I didn´t feel like as much of a tourist as I did in Bolivia and have so far in Peru. The two countrie´s economies rely a lot on tourism. In Peru, you realise that most travelers are here to see Machu Picchu, and tourist infrastructure spawns from any mildly interesting sight along the way.

Puno is an ugly city set on a beautiful lake. The houses and buildings all have metal rods and half finished concrete pillars extending from the top. It´s as if the builders couldn´t decide whether or not they wanted to build another floor, and then just gave up. The girls took of a tour of the shockingly commercialised floating islands of Lake Titicaca, I opted to have a snooze instead.

My trip so far has been almost as much about people as it has been about places. For this reason, I wish I could speak the language better. Being able to converse fluently instead of merely getting by understanding some and speaking even less, would add a whole new element to any trip abroad. I´m writing this on an 8 hour bus ride to Cusco, the single most tourist-oriented city in South America (for good reason). I am growing a little tired of moving from place to place so quckly, unlike the first part of my trip, but I really want to see as much as I can before my flight home in a few short weeks.