Quick facts: Capital city of the Puno region; GPS: -15.84057, -70.02794; GMT-5; Altitude: 12636′
Puno – This morning I actually got to sleep in a little but not much. The bus was scheduled to leave at 05:45 with a pickup time at my hotel from 05:30-05:45. Even though the pickup was just around the corner, same as the drop off, the shuttle came for us at 05:15. This was a waste of time as I stood around for 30 minutes waiting for the bus to arrive. Oh well.
All said and done we left on time so that was good because there’s a tight schedule today for sure. The drive from Arequipa to Puno is almost half the same as yesterday and that was a surprise because it seems like it was out of the way but I was told that the roads aren’t very good so they go the long way which is actually faster. When we got close to Juliaca I text the owner of the alpaca farm, Fundo Chincheros I made arrangements for the night with and told him I’d be arriving at 13:00 in Puno and asked for his driver to pick me up since they’re a ways out of town. We arrived into Puno on time and after a short wait, the driver showed up and took me to the farm. I found this place through the tours offered in Puno as they have a half day tour to come and eat lunch and look at their alpacas. In order to maximize the limited time in Puno I opted for a night there so I could get a few hours in the afternoon and then some more time in the morning before having to catch the bus again. It was cool to see all of them and while I didn’t get much interaction with the alpacas it was really fun to see them in a little more natural state at the farm. I even helped the ranch hand herd them over to the hacienda as he was getting them ready for the lunch tour group to show up. He told me the farm has about 50 alpacas and there were about three of those that were less than a year old, one was maybe a month old.
The driver took me back to Puno at 15:00 so that I could make the pick up time for the Uros tour I had planned. The shuttle arrived and our group headed down to the port on Lake Titicaca to get on the boat to take us out to the floating islands that are supposedly only found in this region. Not only in this region but in this small area of the lake outside of Puno.
This tour is only two hours but it is pretty cool. The Uros people have been living freely on these islands that they made out of what they could find in the lake, which is not much, mostly some light dirt/root system that they cover with grass as the top cover. We got a little history lesson and were shown some of the local fish and birds and then were told about the fish that were imported back in the 40’s, namely Canadian Trout. We then were given some time to look around the island and inside of their huts before they tried to sell their souvenirs which now totally fund their way fo life. It was a little disappointing to see they weren’t living like they had any more but they do subjectively have a better life now they can afford medicine, luxuries, etc. After the few people that wanted to ride on one of the newish traditional boats returned from their quick ride, we went to another island were we could get a passport stamp from Lake Titicaca. That concluded the tour and we headed back to Puno.
I found a restaurant that was ranked highly on TripAdvisor that had Peruvian food, Mojsa, so I decided to go and try It out. When I arrived there the only thing that I saw that sounded appealing was cuy (guinea pig). I had planned on waiting until Cusco since I was told they have it there and it was common, but I figured I was in the right place and right time now since if I waited and missed it in Cusco I would miss out totally. When the dish came out it looked more like any other dinner which was fine but I was almost disappointed because the few other places I saw it on the menu was very recognizable. This restaurant was more upscale than those others so they prepared it more in their style. Dinner was really good and if I didn’t know what it was I wouldn’t have been the wiser. It is a fatty meat so there is quite a good flavor to it as I like fatty meat of all kinds!
After dinner I called the driver and he was close by. On the way back to the farm he stopped and said something but I didn’t understand what he said and then a couple minutes later this lady came over and said she was the owner’s girlfriend and that his father had just died so he wouldn’t be there when I got back to the farm. The owner came over to the car and I gave him my condolences and he apologized, but there was nothing to apologize for! It just goes to show that you never know what’s coming and one should make the best of what time they have on this planet!!! The driver took me back and I went to bed immediately as it was getting late and I was exhausted.