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Puno General Tips

Tips and photos for Puno vacations and tourism, posted by real travelers and Puno locals.
Local Time 10:06 pm Friday, July 25, 2008
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The floating Islands
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  • Updated By chancay on February 19, 2003
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  • uh, just a
    uh, just a "normal" boat here
    by chancay
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    Very intersting. You have to go by boat: The people who lives on these islands ask you for entrance you have to pay. You can visit some islands and take a little tour with their boats made out of totora reeds as well as their islands. All the time they have to construct their islands new, because the water is destroying them from above. On the islands they sell a lot of traditional arts.

    Most funny thing is to see dish antennas on the roofs of these grass-houses on the islands. They produce their energy as well with sun-energy. Impressing!

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    early bird worm worries
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  • Puno's market is indeed a local affair - Puno
    Puno's market is indeed a
    local affair
    by richiecdisc
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    We tried to get a few more hours sleep before arriving but a boisterous group of men had got on at the last stop, and we couldn’t understand why anyone would want to talk at two in the morning with three hours of a trip left before them. They laughed and talked as we huddled under our jackets to keep warm and at least rest our eyes. The bus pulled into another stop at 3 AM and they luckily got off, but we were intrigued why the bus didn’t pull out in another mad rush right away. The driver came back and yelled in some insane incarnation of Spanish that this was the last stop, Puno! So, the 5 AM arrival that we had chosen over an 11 PM one had become an insane 3AM. Whether we would huddle in the cold empty terminal until daylight or venture out into the dark empty streets in hope of finding a room was the only matter of conjecture. As we now knew the horror stories about the night run from Cuzco to Puno were steeped in at least some truth. .

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    night bus nightmares
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  • locals exchange pleasantries during morning tea - Puno
    locals exchange
    pleasantries during
    morning tea
    by richiecdisc
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    The marketplace is the best part of Puno. It's not overly touristic, very colorful and great cheap fun just walking around it. Lots of great street food for the adventurous too.

    The Cuzco to Puno night bus had a particularly bad reputation for theft, but the day bus arrived at an inconvenient time so we opted for the night run. We arrived at the terminal around 11 PM and anxiously boarded the dilapidated bus. Since we had expected the worst, the general appearance of the bus didn’t bother us much, but the small seats did. Peruvians are small in stature in general so the leg room is beyond tight for the average North American or Northern European. We crammed ourselves into our seats along with the hoard of locals and their assorted livestock. On a previous night bus, we had been overly warm so were ill prepared for the nippy conditions we now encountered. This certainly didn’t bother the indigenous locals, as they seemed to carry everything they owned with them and hence had an ample supply of blankets on hand. The driver had been driving like mad and it had been difficult to get much sleep with his taking curves at dangerous speeds that resulted in our being jostled from side to side all night. At one of the last stops, it seemed he didn’t want to go into town to drop a group of Quechua women off at the terminal. It was our first glimpse of the mysterious man behind the curtain who had driven so recklessly all evening. He looked a frantic figure, lanky for Peruvian, with a huge wool hat on and bulging eyes peering from underneath it. He yelled maniacally at the women, who in turn yelled back just as feverously. Of course, we found the whole thing amusing and didn’t quite know what all the fuss was about. Finally, he succumbed, as was a good idea with that many women in an uproar. He drove even more crazily bringing them to the terminal and barely waited for them to make it down the bus steps before flying off through the deserted streets of the small village. (concluded below in Fondest Memory)

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    a bit of Uros history
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  • Updated By chancay on February 19, 2003
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  • the boats made out of totora reeds - Puno
    the boats made out of totora
    reeds
    by chancay
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    At times of the Inca the Uros fled to the middle of the lake Titicaca to escape conflicts with Incas and another ethnic group called Collas. During the time there started connections to the Aymaras, a lot of the Uros converted to Catholizism, but there still live the whole year some hundreds of Uros in these islands. You can find a seventh-day-adventist-church on one of the islands, a post office, schools etc.

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    Small shops
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  • Traditional shops are organized in Puno by groups. I mean, all the shoemakers are close, all the printing houses are near and so on.
    Being a graphic designer, I liked specially the "advertising and signs" shops, like the one in this pic. I love those old traditional signs, now almost gorgotten in Europe with all this computerised things...

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    Colonial flavour
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  • Wandering around the centre streets you will find many examples of a certain colonial style in architecture, with vivid colours and low buildings. Some balconies were really delicious...

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    Puno
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    Puno
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    More Puno Tips
    Overview
     
    General Tips
    Tips: 30 - Photos: 25
    Restaurants
    Tips: 10 - Photos: 7
    Hotels and Accommodations
    Tips: 26 - Photos: 12
    Things To Do
    Tips: 63 - Photos: 55
    Nightlife
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    Off the Beaten Path
    Tips: 11 - Photos: 9
    Tourist Traps
    Tips: 3 - Photos: 1
    Warnings or Dangers
    Tips: 4 - Photos: 1
    Transportation
    Tips: 32 - Photos: 24
    Local Customs
    Tips: 5 - Photos: 5
    Packing Lists
    Tips: 2 - Photos: 1
    Shopping
    Tips: 6 - Photos: 5
    Sports Travel
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