Day 8 - The Ride to Puno

I'd been kind of dreading the next leg of the trip – an all day bus ride from Cuzco to Puno. But it turned out to be a wonderful day. The bus was nice and it made several stops to see visit some ruins, churches, and (of course) markets. Lunch was excellent. The scenery was very beautiful as we moved up onto the altiplano. The company was excellent and the trip passed much more quickly and pleasantly than I had thought it would.

In the late afternoon we get to Puno and get our first glimpse of Lake Titicaca. A chance to visit the lake is one of the main reason I chose this trip. Lake Titicaca is one of those mystical, exotic sounding places -like Machu Picchu, Timbuktu, or Kilimanjaro- that I remember reading about as a kid. Sometimes just the sound of the name is enough to make me want to visit a place. For me, Titicaca has been one of those must see places and I was not disappointed.