Puno and the floating islands in Peru

The border crossing between Bolivia and Peru was the most organized one we ever had had. The bus trip from the Bolivian side of the Titicaca Lake to the town of Puno on the Peruvian side took only three hours and the bus was waiting all the people getting stamps on their passports. We even had an English speaking guide in our bus who was really helpful to find us a cheap place to stay in Puno. 

In Puno we did another day trip to the lake but this time to the unique floating islands. These islands are inhabited by people called Uros and there are around 50 islands which are all build using layers of reeds. These indigenous people have been living on these islands already centuries while first escaping from the Incas and nowadays there are about 100 people living on the islands and making living mostly from the tourism.

Even that the trip was a bit touristic the locals we met were really welcoming and invited us to visit their houses and even let us to dress up in their traditional clothes! These people were really friendly and curious also to know about us. Of course they were trying to sell souvenirs as well but in the end supporting their community is only a good thing. 

Puno as a town itself wasn’t anything special but we wanted to stay there another night and rather take a day bus to Cusco as we had heard that the night busses in Peru are not the safest ones. And a good night sleep in a comfy hotel bed was something that we still craved after all the activities we had done the past days.