Lake Titicaca and Cuzco

There are two paths one can take to get from La Paz, Bolivia to Puno, Peru. We took The more scenic path going to La Paz but opted for the faster, more direct route back to Puno. This route is the one that most of the locals take so the border was Jam Packed. We had to move very slowly with our Gigantic bus through the sea of people, patiently waiting for them to clear a path. It took about 2 hours of driving to drive one kilometer. Then, sure enough, right when we made it to the Peru side of the border, we ran in to a roadblock imposed traffic jam. Every time a car moved forward, tons of little cyclos filled the gap in front of our bus and we moved about a foot forward, whee. A couple local women got on the bus with very touristy looking backpacks but we thought nothing of it at the time. Later, we got stopped by the Customs officials. The women must have known precisely where the customs checkpoint was because immediately before they started stashing bags in the shelves above a few tourist's heads and under our seats. The guards looked paid no mind to the backpacks but hassled the women for a few and walked off. After the officials left, they unloaded their pockets of a dozen wallets and other artisan crafts, precisely what the guards were trying to prevent the importation of, oh well. The next day we took a tour of the reed islands of Uros and Taquile island in Lake Titicaca. The majority of the tour was spent baking on a boat whooshing us about at speeds in excess of 4 miles an hour. We got back with a few more hours to play around in town and then on to Cuzco. There was a big parade put on by a few of the local schools so Chris and I ran around trying to get some pictures. On the way to the bus terminal, Chris and I also convinced the Cyclo drivers to let us pedal while they ride. It was a lot harder than it looked. We didn't get in to Cuzco until 4am but luckily the company we booked the Inca Trail tour with had a hotel booked for us and a ride waiting for us at the terminal. We just relaxed for a day and did some sightseeing/geocaching awaiting the hike.