Lago Titicaca and third world fun

Sunday night was all about transportation. We took a train from Aguas Calientes to a place called Ollantaytambo, at which we got picked up and taken to Cuzco. From there we took a 9 hour bus ride (the equivalent of $3 USD) to Puno. How did I know I was roaming around in a third world country? When we got woken up at 4:30 in the morning randomly to connect to another bus. It was a shitshow; the 6 of us were running around between two buses with our huge backpacks alongside all these women with their kids meanwhile there were randomly a bunch of bicyclists who try to take you around like a taxi. UGH. But in the end, we found ourselves in Bus #2 with all our things, and all of our people, and without too many problems.

Puno probably has some perks to it, but we didn’t see it because our next stop was Lago Titicaca. (The name is funny really only until you get there, and then you realize, damn I have been so immature up until this point). The Lake shares a border between Bolivia and Peru and has the highest altitude in the world. Just taking a boat on the lake is equivalent to the height of most mountains. Wonderful, yes, except if you have lived at sea level your entire life and get altitude sickness that constitutes not eating and surviving only through sleeping. No big deal. I’ve had worse problems, and the best part about it was I could wake up and look onto a beautiful lake view.

Anyways, our stay on the lake was over the course of 2 days-Monday and Tuesday. On Monday we boated to 3 islands, the first two I missed because I got SUPER sick from the change in altitude. But my friends who were on the island for the tour had a little dress-up session and got to try on traditional clothes from the island while singing and dancing. Throughout the tour, we got a taste of the culture there which included a traditional round of breakfast/lunch/dinner foods, a hike up one of the mountains to get a picturesque view of the lake, and a festival. All in all it was a good time. I’m sorry I can’t give you details. Basically this part of the trip=sleeping for me. I can tell you however that the view was absolutely gorgeous, and while I have never been to Greece I imagine the views are something similar.

the Lake (I had to steal this pic from a friend because I never made it up to this view!)


Anna and I with our host mom for the night, and some random little boy from the island


this was some of the cultural and dressing up going down on the island..
(joe, anna, lena, austin, and jackie)


Lena and I after lunch on the second day