Puno to La Paz. An epic bus journey.

With Angel sick with one of the several bugs we got in South America, we decided just to head straight to La Paz without stopping in Copacabana as we were also running out of days and had not read any great reasons to actually stay in Copacabana.

Here's where the adventure started. Ellen had read about Tour Peru, a reputable company to take you from Puno to La Paz, as many, many companies here are more than dodgy - some are down-right dangerous.
We get to the bus station the day before we want to leave to buy our bus tickets. We get to the booth of Tour Peru and there is no one there. About 15 minutes later a bloke turns up at the booth in a Tur Peru shirt, we book 2 tickets for the 8.15 bus to La Paz, via Copacabana (there is no other way). We are told the ticket machine is not working and he gave us vouchers for the bus, and said be there at 7am to change our vouchers for tickets for the bus. Happily we walked away knowing we had been given vouchers for tickets before and everything worked out well.

7am the following day we arrived at the station, went to the booth to collect our tickets and waited for the bus. We were standing around and got chatting to a lady who was also on the 8.15 to La Paz and after a few moments the bloke who sold us the tickets came up to us and told us we were on the 'other 8.15 bus', we thought there must have been a large number of reservations so they were putting 2 busses on. No. this was not the case, we had been sold, by the Tur Peru bloke, tickets on a competitors bus which was leaving at the same time. We were annoyed as we had carefully researched the bus companies knowing they were dodgy, but we were also relieved as Angel was so ill that we were still getting to La Paz today. We got on the bus and found our seats. It wasn't too bad and we settled into the journey.

Peru-Boliva border

At the border of Peru and Bolivia you have to get out of the bus, take your passport to the police station, get a stamp on the card you got when you entered Peru, then take these to the border guards, who take the paper and stamp your passport, then you walk up the hill across the border crossing ant then go into the Bolivian border guard office and get an entry stamp, and another piece of paper you need to keep with your passport. Then you get back on the bus (which has come through with no passengers) and you need to pay about 40 pence in Boliviano to a man who comes on the bus and gives you a ticket. This whole process takes about 40 mins.

What the bus travels on!

After this we got to Copacabana without any problems (well, nothing but a but of puking from Angel), when we booked the trip we were told there would be a 30 min stop in Copacabana, so we were a little annoyed to hear there was a 2 hour stop before the bus would continue again, and that we would be put on another bus. 2 hours later we headed back to the bus company's office to find a small coach, and that a tour of Australians had been allowed to leave their bags on the bus and reserve all the good seats, so crammed up the back of the very hot bus with no air conditioning we left Copacabana and headed to La Paz.

About half way through the 3.5 hour journey the bus stops, no one tells you this is going to happen but you are asked to get off the bus while the bus is put on a ferry, and you have to queue up at a ticket booth to pay (about 20p) to catch a small motorised boat across choppy water to the other side where you wait for the bus to arrive by it's small punt and you get back on and continue your journey.
The crossing is quite an adventure.

La Paz Traffic

You get back on the bus and then about 2 hours later, after being stuck in an epic confusing traffic jam on the entry road to La Paz you reach the top of the hill down into La Paz. This view is amazing. You then descend into the city. Luckily Angel noticed our hotel as we passed it and when the bus stopped for the Australian tour to get off at their hotel which was just around the corner. Bonus.

Puno & Lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca, looking towards Puno

Uros Island talk

We arrived in Puno from Cusco after our train journey (see post). There is not a hell of a lot to keep you here. A Plaza de Armas, a Plaza de Mayor, and Lima Street (tourist shops, banks and restaurants). That's about it. It is a gateway for tours to on Lake Titicaca.
We arrived at night and booked a tour for the next day. We were picked up at 7am and taken to a 'fast' boat (we paid more for the fast boat to get back to town at 4 instead of 6pm).

All dressed up..

The boat was comfortable and the Von Trapp lady and her husband from the train were on the tour.

First stop was Uros, the floating islands just 30 mins away from Puno. The people live on these islands (or some are just here for the tourists, the wealthier ones) and pretty much everything they do revolves around the reeds, their islands are man made from the reeds and the reeds roots, their huts are reeds, their boats, their beds, their roofs, and their handicrafts are, you guessed it, reeds.

Impressive reed boat

After a 20 minute talk on their lives and meeting the 'president' of the island (each island has a president), we were taken to see their huts and how they live by a little girl. It was just the two of us who the girl took, and she decided to dress Ellen up - skirt, jacket, hat, pom poms - while Angel laughed...until the girl began to dress him up. Quite fun, but we looked hilarious.
After the island tour we were put into a reed boat (quite impressive, 2 story seating area!) and two of the girls from the island rowed us down the 'river' to another island where our tour boat met us.

Taquile Island, our lunch view

After about 1.5 hours we arrived at the 2nd island of the tour - Taquile - the 3rd largest island on Lake Titicaca and home to several settlements (each one has an arched gate along the path to it). Here we learned that the men knit and the women weave. We bought some stuff and then headed for a small trek to the house of the family who were going to cook us lunch. Ellen had a great trout lunch and as Angel does not eat seafood, an omlet was made, it was tasty.
Then it was a 2 hour ride back to town.

Later that night we met up with Rosie & Darren who had been on our Inca Tour and Train trip and we had dinner together at Mojsa according to our hotel owner and Trip Advisor is 'the best restaurant in Puno' (which would not be hard).

Cusco to Puno by rail

This was always going to be a highlight of our adventure, It's one of the few train journeys in South America, and this did not disappoint.

We arrived at the Peru Rail station at about 7am, we had to be there at 7.30 for the 8am train, we checked our luggage which was taken onto the train by porter, then we boarded. We had brilliant seats, just the 2 of us, facing forward, posh table cloth, lamp, and a menu, lunch and afternoon tea were included but breakfast was not. As we didn't have time for breakfast this morning we ordered the breakfast, loads of toast, eggs how you like them, orange juice, coffee and jam, all brought out on china and with silverware. 

The train moves quite slowly, which is nice as you can enjoy the scenery (the same 10 hour train journey takes 6 by coach), the train had just 5 seat carriages, then a dining carriage with a glass roofed and oped backed rear. 

There was an alpaca (naturally) fashion show about 4 hours into the journey with a free Pisco sour, followed by a Cusco based Peruvian band and dancers, then cocktail making lessons (Pisco sour), followed by a Puno based band with dancers. 

It did feel like we were on a saga holiday, with the majority of the passengers over 70, but it was brilliant fun and our new friends from the Inca Trail, Rosie and Darren were also on the train. 

Riding along the rails we passed villages where people were standing outside waving to us, the train stopped at a market (this is not a busy route; one train a day, 3 days a week in high season, 2 days a week in low season). 

In Juliaca the train line is literally running straight through the market, the stall holders move their canopies back to let the train through, in some cases leaving their wares on the track, then moving it all back over the tracks. It took us a good 20 minutes to move about 5km, with the driver blaring the horn to get them to move out of the way. 

There were some funny characters on the train, including one woman who was 83 and was Canadian (and made sure everyone knew it, including wearing a t-shirt with Canada across the front, and an older bloke, had to be in his 60's who practically stood at the back of the train the whole journey, taking photos of everything!

Finally we arrived in Puno. It was sad to leave the train, as expensive as it was (thanks VCCP for those token shares 6 years ago!) we really think it was worth it.