10:30 PM

My second update for today... I'm just coming back from a delicious dinner and just done with some necessary laundry stuff. So let me go back a little and tell you the story from start. I left from Arequipa in the afternoon as you have read in my previous blog, and started with this journey to Puno in a van. The route is truly amazing!! This entire area has elevation of 3000+ Meters and due to the high elevation; it's always dry and cold here. There were snowcapped volcanoes around, making these plain grasslands look beautiful. Air is thinner here and humidity is also near minimum which makes the sky look bluer, adding to the beauty. The entire area is sparsely populated and I think we did not come across a single town on the way during this entire journey. At around 3 pm, we reached to the first planned stop on the trip. 'Pampa Canthus' an isolated highway cross-road with a small restaurant 'El Chino'. The van that brought us here now went back to Arequipa and we three were transferred to the big tourist bus. Many 'vicuñas' a dear-like Andean animal were grazing in groups around. It was vast grassland on all four directions with snow-crowned volcanoes on the horizon. After some clicks, we went to the restaurant. I met one couple here from Germany, they started their journey in India, one and half month back, and from there they visited New Zealand and now were in Peru. They have taken a nice route!! The lady was sharing her experience from her stay in India. Due to cultural differences, she thinks that she felt away from home, but people were nice to her. Whereas, in New Zealand, culturally it was very much western but their backpacks were stolen there and they had to buy everything again there. We had few more lone travellers, mostly from Europe on the table. This is the best part of these kinds of trips; you meet so many people from various countries/cultures and get to know about their experiences and thinking, which otherwise you will never get to know. The travel company with whom I was going to Puno, had arranges for some Avocado sandwiches and the Coca tea. Coca tea is a special drink of the Altiplano. Coca is a cash crop native to South America and is the source of alkaloid commonly known as Cocaine. Here in the high altitude plains of Andes, to deal with altitude sickness, Coca tea is usually recommended. It is prepared just same as green tea and tastes very similar to that. Just like tea/coffee, it stimulates the heart and the blood flow, but unlike coffee, it does not dehydrate you and that is very important at high altitude. After the snacks, we continued with our journey, now in the bus. It started getting little colder. Along the route, there were vast grasslands with small lagoons, grazing flocks of 'vicuñas', some sheep flocks and nomads. It was almost 5:30 in the evening and the bus stopped by a small lake. We got down and the view next to us was spectacular! Small groups of Flamingos were fishing around... their red and white 'wings of fire' were contrasting with the deep blue water and yellow grassland around. Everything was so picture perfect! All these special moments were like dreams, being at the right place at right time can be planned and controlled by us, but rest of it is nature's wish. And I was lucky to have best weather conditions ensuring this fabulous flamingo siting at 3000 Meters. After this we continued to our last photo spot on the way, the 'Laguna Lagunillas'. It was another big lake in the mountains, and we were there just before the sunset. Sun was almost touching the horizon, making longer shadows, and the shadows of the small hills covered in yellow grasslands with the foreground of blue waters were making another picture perfect! After this, we continued towards East to the final destination Puno. We arrived here in Puno at around 07:30. The tourist company also arranged for the hotel drop. I'm staying in this hotel called 'Punuypampa' located just a few blocks away from main square. I do not see many tourists in the town. It's very cold here, and temperature has fallen down till 5 degree centigrade. Oh, I forgot to write about the dinner... I checked into the hotel, got freshen up and went to a highly recommended restaurant in Puno 'Balcones de Puno'. Very old colonial look... There was a small stage setup in the dining area and a group of 4 beautiful girls were performing in the traditional dress, accompanied by 4 boys playing various Peruvian musical instruments. Peruvian music and dance has strong influence of tribal Andean music and Spanish music. Pan-pipes is an instrument which looks like multiple monotone flutes attached together. Each of the flute-pipe creates a one sound, and set of pipes create various sounds in an octave. I'm in love with the Andean panpipes instrument... Do listen to some Andean music on youtube if you are interested. The group performed on many songs, entertaining the crowd. Regarding food, the restaurant served the best food that I have had in these four days in the country. They really deserve the ratings that they have been given by multiple websites. Had awesome dinner, bean-cheese salad with olives and Pasta like dish made with cheese and local spices. You can find the pastures of these delicious dishes in my 'Food and other stuff' Album. I just came from that restaurant few minutes back, washed some clothes and now writing this blog. I need to quickly pack the things for tomorrow and sleep early today. My tomorrow's day is also pretty much planned and I already know the group with whom I'll be going to Cusco. I need to wake up early as I'm planning to click some Sunrise pics at Lake Titicaca and visit some places. I have the Bus at 7 which will take us to Cusco through a historical route called as 'Ruta Del Sol' or the 'Route of the Sun'. We are also planning to visit few archeological sites on the way. Will write more about it tomorrow.