The very day of our arrival in Puno was the first day of the Fiesta de la Candelaria, which is said to stand with the carnival in Rio and the one in Oruro, Bolivia, as one of the three largest festivals in South America. This said, it’s probably the largest fest of culture, music and dancing in Perú with more than 200 dances in over 150 dance sets. The festival is in honor of the Virgen de la Candelaria, patron saint of Puno. Over 70’000 people are somehow involved in the festive activities (the city has a population of about 100’000). Most of the participating dancers were dressed in very colorful costumes, dancing through Puno. The evening are all about drinking and […]

We arrived in Puno, which would be our last stop in Perú,  in the morning after a night bus ride. Puno is a small city on the shore of Lago Titicaca, only two hours from the Peruvian-Bolivian border. The city itself is no beauty, though the huge lake with its floating islands is pretty amazing. What’s more is the big statue of a condor on top of Mirador de Kuntu Wasi, one of the city’s surrounding mountains. On our second day we took a boat to Las Islas Flotantes de los Uros, which cost us 10 Soles plus 5 Soles entry fee each. They brought us to some islands that were mostly made outta straw – and were floating. A […]