Day 19: September 7

Interestingly, I was sad to leave this city. Despite the fact that I was sick here, I liked it here.
A strange feeling of gratitude to the city for its sun, its warmth, for all those moments that happened to us.

We drove for a long, long time through Arequipa and the suburbs. Traffic jams everywhere, lots of cars.

Then incredible views began - yellow-hot earth with dry grass and mountains on the horizon.
I saw herds of vicuñas. They are so cute! Vicuña wool is the most expensive in the world!

At moments like these, I feel sad that we are traveling by bus.
How I would love to get out here, take a little walk, and get closer to the vicuñas.

We made a stop by the beautiful large Lake Lagunillas. Altitude 4,444 meters.

We bought tea at a kiosk — made from coca leaves and muña herb — a traditional drink.
It is believed to help with being at high altitude.
Coca leaves have a very distinctive taste and smell. Muña is very similar to mint.

When we were driving past the lake, I saw that there were lots of flamingos there!

After lunch we arrived in Puno, and we’re staying in a cool hotel right on the main square.

The altitude above sea level is 3,800 m. Serzhyk got a headache. Walking is harder than usual.

I was fine, only in the evening I felt some strong fatigue and a buzzing in my head.

We had 2 hours before the time when they were supposed to pick us up and take us on a tour of Lake Titicaca.

In the hotel lobby there was a thermos with hot water and coca leaves.

We drank tea with a chocolate muffin that Serzhyk had bought back in Arequipa.

Then we took a taxi to the port, and there we got on a nice boat.

It turned out to be even enclosed, which was very good!

The main reason tourists go to Puno is the floating Uros Islands.

They are made from reeds that grow here in the shallow water. I was very interested to visit and see these islands.

The islands are cool, although it all looked very theatrical, staged.
As if it were all organized for tourists, like scenery, to make money.

It didn’t feel genuine.

By the way, the guide told us that “Titicaca” is not quite correct and is somewhat offensive to the local people.

The correct pronunciation is “Titikhakha”.

I remembered Lake Inle in Burma. That was really great, but here it was more like…

There are more than a hundred islands. We were brought to one of them.

The island is small. Several families live here. About 6 houses have been built, also from reeds.

Underfoot, there is cut reed. It smells pleasantly of hay.

We also rode in their traditional little boat made of reeds, with two large heads at the front.

In the evening, after sunset it got cold, we went back to Puno.

In the evening we went to a cool little restaurant right on the main square near our hotel.
We had two soups (one quinoa and vegetable soup, the other a purée soup made of something unclear) and the main dish — potatoes, meat, vegetables.
Restaurants in Peru are not cheap. Soups are at least 200 UAH each, and the main dish starts from 400 UAH.