Day Eight: Puno and the Road to Cuzco

View over the city of Puno. The highest inhabited lake city in the world!

Hey Folks!

After our overnight tour on Lake Titicaca and the island Taquile, Amber and I were both feeling the affects of the altitude. Her symptoms were GI, mine were fatigue. Puno seemed like the perfect place to relax and sleep it off.

We checked ourselves into an awesome hotel complete with a king size bed, bath tub and TV. Pretty awesome for South America! As Amber slept all day I headed out with my novel in hand and enjoy the city.

Check out the photos below!

Dan.

Traditional Peruvian woman.

Lake Titicaca nestled between Peru and Bolivia. 

After a few nights of rest in Puno, Amber was fairly acclimatized. We headed on the luxury bus North towards Cuzco.

Along the way we stopped at touristy area where we could checkout sheep, alpaca and llamas.

Day Seven: Lake Titicaca, Peru

Some random wildlife. Shot taken from inside the bus.

Hey Folks!

After another long bus ride Amber and I arrived in the city of Puno. Puno is on the shores of Lake Titicaca. Lake Titicaca is the world's highest inhabited lake. Approximately three times the elevation of Calgary Amber and I were worried about elevation sickness.

From the bus stop we called our transportation to the small island of Taquiele. Check out some of the shots below!

On the boat to the island.

Our boat taxi driver

Driver and his sister

Welcome to Taquiele!

Burning garbage I guess?

The floating town of Taquiele.

The local transportation.

Amber in her traditional garb.

 

Sexy!

These two birds next moved the entire time we were there.

Our dinner.

Christina our host.

Right after dinner Amber got extremely sick. She couldn't keep anything down. The food was delicious and perfectly fresh so we figured it was elevation sickness. We had intended on staying on the islands for 3 nights but neither of us were in the mood.

After a interesting night on Taquiele, Amber and I were back to Puno to get healthy. 

Great view from the top.

The eating area.

Day Five: Arequipa, Peru

El Misti Volcano

Hey Folks!

Taking a 12 hour bus, at night, through the winding roads of southern Peru isn't fun. Unless your high as a kite - Amber. Sadly I wasn't high as a kite. I didn't take 3 sleeping pills - Amber. I took one. One pill was just enough to make me feel uncomfortably "heavy" for the entire duration. Natural sleep is my friend, forced drowsiness isn't.

Arriving into Arequipa was fantastic. The city itself was pleasantly warm during the days and cool during the nights. Surrounded by ancient volcanoes there is LOTS to do. Everything from canoeing, horseback riding, para gliding, mountain biking, white water rafting, and a short 6 hour ride from the world's deepest canyon.

As you can imagine after a 12 hour bus ride Amber and I were in no mood to take another 6 hour ride during the night to see more canyons. Instead we opted to wander around the city then head out and do some white water rafting the following day.

Below you will find some photos of the city itself. Leaving our cameras behind for the rafting we have no more photos.

Enjoy!

Our first stop is the Monasterio de Santa Catalina. This convent is massive. The convent occupies and entire block right down in the oldest parts of Arequipa. The 20,000 square foot complex is basically a citadel within the city, complete with its own fortress walls!

We wandered around the place with no real guide. We let our imagination fill in the gaps of what this place used to be like.

El Misti, the local volcano!

The local Cathedral

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Top of the Cathedral

Views from the top of the Cathedral