Packing for Adventure

Now that our adventure in Cusco was over, it was time to head southeast to Lake Titicaca. We hopped on another plane headed for Juliaca, the nearest airport to Puno, a city perched right on the edge of the lake.

We had a tour guide with us for the next two days named William. He grew up in Puno. He was happy to escort us from Juliaca to Puno. He had plenty of stories about growing up in the area. The city is pretty run down and crime-ridden. He would point out all the unfinished houses we drove past and informed us that Peruvians do not have to pay taxes on houses until they are finished, so they often just live indefinitely in unfinished homes.

Staying Alert

To rewind a bit, months before leaving for our trip to Peru, I had signed up for travel alerts through the US Embassy in Peru. I figured it would be good to be registered with the embassy just in case we ran into trouble while out of the country. We got an alert a few weeks before our trip of political unrest in Puno and advice to reconsider traveling there. We looked into it a bit and decided we’d probably be okay, and we’d just be vigilant.

So we were on high alert, especially after hearing William’s stories about crime in the area. William took us to our hotel and left us for the day with plans to rejoin us the next day.

Where We Stayed

We stayed at the Hotel Hacienda Puno. It was probably our least favorite hotel we stayed at in Peru, though it did have a nice view of the lake and a beautiful spot for enjoying breakfast outside.

A Curious Kind of “Unrest”

We spent a few hours walking around Puno, bracing for signs of protest or political demonstrations. We kept seeing groups of people holding candles and singing in circles. They were quite boisterous, but it was still just…. happy singing. We were baffled. Is this what unrest looks like in Peru? Maybe the songs were rallying cries about social injustices of some sort and we just didn’t understand the language.

We found out later that they were, in fact, happily singing. That day turned out to be a national religious holiday in Peru and the people were celebrating. So if there was political unrest in Puno at the time, we didn’t witness any of it.

We called it a day a little early so we could be rested for a big day. We’d be setting sail on Lake Titicaca to see the Floating Islands of Uros and the Island of Taquile!

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