Tuesday 9 July 2002
Next morning we packed our stuff and go on a bus to Puno. The bus was modern and comfortable and is greatly to prefer to the trains. Actually the have to use some 20 minutes just to zigzag over the mountain ridge to leave Cuzco.
The bus ride was absolutely fascinating and beautiful. The weather was sunny and the sight perfect. From the bus it was pleasant to be in the plain, but outside is seemed cold, poor and tuff to live. We saw small, dusty villages spread out on the endless brown colored grassy fields and a breathtaking background covered with snowy mountains.
Seven hours by bus went away, as we could complement the view to the plain with two feature films played on the bus video. On top of this, the films wasn't dubbed but ran with Spanish subtitles.
The bus stopped in Juliaca, which probably is one of the most unpleasant cities we had seen so far, maybe because we were waiting on the edge of the city. The city's raison d'tre is because it is a junction. The airport and the fact that the highways from Arequipa and Cuzco meet here attracts tradesmen and forms a city of some 100,000 inhabitants.
We continue our bus drive and suddenly Puno and the Lake Titicaca appear. We are very excited. Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world. It is also the largest lake in South America and the worlds largest beyond 2,000 meter. It's 170 km long and covers 8,000 square kilometers.