We left Cusco under the rain...probably the right time to go! We caught a bus to Puno at 8am with San Louis, cheap ticket, only S/15 (student tariff, normal tariff being S/20) but we soon regretted it: no tickets for the luggage’s (when we bought our tickets we had been told there will be some), the bus stopped many times to pick up passengers or for the drivers to buy snacks (we had been told the bus was direct, no stops), the bus was very slow and it was very hot in the bus. We have been so hot and very stressed for our luggage’s all the trip. However we saw beautiful landscapes. After Sicuani, a town ?h of Cusco, we entered the Altiplano, a high plateau today shared by Peru and Bolivia, at some point the altitude was 4000m. Very impressive hundred kilometers of arid landscapes. The Altiplano is one of the poorest area in Peru. The road was most of the time empty, we passed only a few trucks, buses, cyclists but no cars. On the side we saw Indians with their cattle (lots of sheep, cows and some lamas). The road is really in a poor condition, lots of holes, this made the trip very uncomfortable. We stopped in Juliaca a town which looked very poor and messy and arrived in Puno 40min later at around 3pm after a 7h painful trip. We were very tired but happy to have finally arrived. We took a room at a hotel in the center and straight went to organize a tour on the lake Titicaca. We wanted to go to Amantani, Taquille and Uros islands. We compared the cost of doing it independently or with an agency and decided to go with an agency as the cost was the same but the agency supplies a guide. We booked a tour with All Ways Travel for 2 days and 1 night to Uros, Amantani and Taquile for S/65 including the boat trips, the entrance to each island (S/3 each), 3 meals on Amantani and the accommodation with a family in Amantani. We wanted to also stay overnight in Taquille and the agency told us that it was possible and that we will just have to speak to our guide, all the meals and the accommodation on Taquile being additional. Afterwards we had our best meal so far in Peru at a restaurant called Coca Kirtu (401 Jiron Lima). We ended up the evening watching Ally McBeal on TV, very funny. The rain started to fall in Puno at the end of the afternoon, and did not stop for all the evening, hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow for us to enjoy fully our tour on the lake.
