3rd Nov – Day 22
We arrived in the early morning at the Gran Puno Inn, a comfortable Hotel/Hostel with great beds and hot showers. It´s much colder here in Puno, 3800m (asl), and you can certainly notice the altitude a lot more. After a well needed nap we wandered to the Plaza De Armas to see the start of the celebrations. The festival is to celebrate the Life of the first Inka, and is also known as the day of the dead.
The costumes and music are amazingly special to see. The music is a varied mix of traditional, pan pipe and usual band parade with thumping bass drums.
We then ventured further into town, coming across a large food market. Seeing skinned cows heads on tarpaulin, behind the meat sections was something else! They don´t seem to refrigerate any of their meats, especially on the markets and their work surfaces are often the lids of buckets, nice.
Walking even further we found another clothes market. Puno´s cold so it was time to get a coat. I found a beautiful Alpaca coat, and Leroy was tempted by a scarf that matched his hat! Dinner was pretty standard, though it was great that we were up top because another parade happened, and we could stand and watch from the balcony.
One of many art shops they have;
4th Nov – Day 23Today we went to go and see the larger than life white statue of the first Inca Manco Capac. He sits on top of a hill pointing out to, and over-looking the grand lake Titikaka. It was quite a walk up the hill, especially with the lack of air, but at the top the views panned out across the highest lake in the world, and the entire town of Puno.
Beautiful.
We tried to go to the Coca Museum but as it was shut we had a little flick through our guide and saw that you could do day trips out to the floating island Uros. We walked down to the Harbor and got on board a boat. I wasn´t that happy that the boat was petrol run, as some of the people that still live on their floating islands, about 4 hours away, still use the lakes water!
As time has moved on, less people actually live on Uros, but it was nice to see the island still intact, and we were grateful for the Peruvian people to help give us an insight of how life was for them, and how it still is for others on different islands on the lake. (These Islands are private so as to not disturb them) We hope to get out and stay with some families on the other islands, but we plan to do so from the Bolivian side.
Puno´s funniest milkshake shop.
5th Nov - Day 24
The teenagers had a collection of more traditional ´day of the dead´ wear; crazy demon masks, devil costumes and some boys dressed as scary women with pink wigs.. odd, but great fun to watch. Some of our favorites had to be the smaller boys dressed as condors with feathered masks, and the venga boy inspired bell outfits.
The parade also had a great group of horses and another massive group of men playing pan pipes. We chilled out for the rest of the day, as Leroy was feeling the altitude.


6th Nov - Day 25
Today I went out with Cindy and Rhianna to see ´The Gates of the Gods´. It was great to have a girl day, and to explore beyond the guide book. We kind of knew where to go, so got in a cab and headed to Llave. We then asked around and found another guy who knew where the gates were, he took us to Santiago to explore. It took us nearly 2 hours to get there, on the journey the views of the lakes from this side were really open, making the land look even more vast.
We hunted around for a while, but couldn´t find it.. I climbed up the biggest hill to see what the rock face had in store. I got so high up and along the climb the biggest owl flew straight over my head. He had the biggest yellow eyes I´d ever seen. After a further drive we found the gates.
There were many women and children selling crystals and other hand made bits. it makes me feel bad that I can´t give my money to everyone tryng to sell something to me. It´s apparant that for some this is their only way to make a living making tourism a positive thing, but some really do push to sell, making you feel like a walking ATM.


Our tickets are now booked for Cusco. I had a love for dusty old Puno, it´s a bit dirty but totally a warm-hearted place. The people are so friendly, and most willing to help you, and the lake is a stunning highlight, but it´s time to move on..
6th Nov - Day 25
There were many women and children selling crystals and other hand made bits. it makes me feel bad that I can´t give my money to everyone tryng to sell something to me. It´s apparant that for some this is their only way to make a living making tourism a positive thing, but some really do push to sell, making you feel like a walking ATM.
Our tickets are now booked for Cusco. I had a love for dusty old Puno, it´s a bit dirty but totally a warm-hearted place. The people are so friendly, and most willing to help you, and the lake is a stunning highlight, but it´s time to move on..
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