Puno: Juli

The next phase of our Puno trip involved a jaunt out to one of my favorite places on the South side of Lake Titicaca, Juli. Juli is one of the older towns in the area, and historically was a center for the Aymara indigenous people. A bit of info about the Aymara. Anyway, I like Juli because when I was a missionary, my good buddy GLUCH was assigned to Juli and it was much better than where I was, the illustrious town of Desaquadero. AS you undoubtedly know by now, Desaquadero es a terrible place. But Juli on the other hand, has narrow streets and is relatively trash free, therefore, it became my favorite place in the Zone when I was there. In Juli, there are four really old churches which are interesting to look at, and I enjoyed visiting each of them. They were built late 1500's early 1600's. Here are pictures of the four of them:






The first one is supposedly haunted. They are all pretty cool, and when I was a missionary, I got to go into the haunted one and inside it is AWESOME, very much like the forest temple in The Legend of Zelda. Too bad it's falling apart. Now there are lame sheets of tin all over it, and it certainly ruins the effect. Also, it isn't open to the public, Gluch and I were really lucky that we happened to go check it out when some University students were inside checking it out for renovation purposes.

The fifth church that I really dig in Juli is this one:


Surprise, it's a LDS church.

Juli also has a pretty decent beach, for what you can get on Lake Titicaca. We didn't have time to make it down to the beach, but when I was a missionary, we checked it out and it was pretty great.
We had a nice little walk around Juli, we took empanadas and ate them at some random spot in between two of the churches. There was also a nice lookout which Joe and I went up to alone because Malu and Carolina were lame. There we had a bromance photo session because there wasn't much else to do. You can see the fruits of that session in this fabulous video:


To wrap this up, I must relate one quick tale. When we were in Puno trying to find the departure point for the buses to Juli, I warned my companions of the ridiculous disorder and wildness of the place where the buses left. In my time, there were four different buses that would go to Ilave, Juli, Yunguyo, and Desaguadero respectively, and it was a battle royal to get on one. First you had to fight a bunch of crazy locals, in addition, you had to worry about the sheep and other livestock that was tied up and thrown on the roof, and finally, they were really ghetto vehicles and people got crammed in there like fish in a barrel. Imagine my surprise when we waltzed up to a perfectly clean and organized terminal. It even had a name, Terminal Sonal. I couldn't believe it when we calmly got on the bus in it's assigned place and sat in a pretty decent little bus. The whole time my group asked me if this was the same place. I guess 6 years makes a difference. However, when we were coming back from Juli to Puno, we had to contest with a mob to get on the bus, and I very nearly came to serious blows with a drunk guy who wouldn't let Malu get to her seat next to me, so I felt better about the whole trip ;).

Puno: Los Uros

Puno is an interesting place. It is built on the edge of the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca, and even more peculiar is that it is a really steep part of the cost. To walk around in Puno is to walk up and down a lot of steep streets. This is even more challenging because it is located at a lofty 13,000 feet above sea level. Anyway, we (we being Joe, Carolina, Malu, and myself), got to Puno we stayed at Malu's grandpa's house, which is conveniently located close to the Plaza de Armas. Our first little excursion in Puno was to Los Uros, floating reed islands that people live on. I have mentioned them before here and here. Los Uros... Not much to add about them. They are fun to see, but I am tired of riding out to see them. Here are some photos of the event:






This I thought was curious, they finally got some solar power out there on the islands. For this reason, this particular time while we were listening to the spiel about Los Uros, we also got to listen to Sponge Bob that the kids were watching in the hut, not exactly conducive to the ambient if you know what I mean. Alas, times are changing

Candelaria continued: To find a bandanna...

I am bald. There is no denying it. I am as bald as Mr. Clean. My father: also bald. Bald is no problem for me, I bick my head every few days and never worry about shampoo. Puno doesn't seem to like bald people. The altitude/sun/wind/crazy weather seems to take a dim view of baldies. So, when I decided I was going to dance for several hours in the elements, I decided that I needed a bandanna to put on my head.

This was a good idea, but it turned out to be difficult to execute.

You would think a bandanna would be easy to find. WRONG. I didn't search for one seriously in Arequipa because I thought (erroneously) that I could easily locate one in Puno. For those of you who have never been to Puno, there are some good placed to buy junk. My favorite is the "Mercado de Bellavista" which is located fairly close to the dock where everyone goes to the Uros and right below the LDS Church of Lampa.(Which is why I was so familiar with it). The other name for this market is "contrabando", which means "contraband"... (duh). Anywho, as the name implies, that is where you will find your chocolates, booze, clothes, electronics in a comfortably bootlegged fashion. It was there I finally found ONE place that sold large bandannas that I could use to cover my head. (It was silky and silver and black and amazing, but that's beside the point.) First, I went to the Mercado Central. No luck. If you are in Puno, you can buy cloth there and a lot of other things but not anything as cool as contrabando. Than I tried Jiron Los Incas (The Incas Street), where you can find EVERYTHING dance related. It's just below the Mercado central and I bought many a bell there, as I have previously mentioned. I spent about two hours looking for the bandanna, but it was worth it.

While I'm on the subject, for you tourists:
You will be tempted to buy things in the Parque Pino, which is connected to the Plaza de Armas (the main plaza) by Jiron Lima. There are lots of artisan things there like:alpaca products,instruments like quenas and zamponas, jewelry, etc.
DON'T BUY HERE.
Also, when you go to Los Uros, which you will undoubtedly want to do, you will see the same types of stores (by stores I mean open air shops packed together in lines)\ that I just mentioned.
DON'T BUY HERE EITHER. (Although if you have to choose between the Plaza and the Dock the dock is cheaper.

There is a daily Feria de Artisinia (artisan fair) in a uglier, less central part of Puno. It is here that you will be able to buy the exact same things for much less, and the people are generally more grateful because they are the true people from the outskirts whom well meaning tourists wish to help when they buy merchandise in the center.
BUY HERE.
Any Taxi- Moto Taxi- Trici can take you there in less than five minutes and you will be able to buy more stuff for your soles.

Journal Post: The long trip.

Buses are not usually a very comfortable way to travel, but here in Peru, there is a wide gap between the "good" ones and the "bad" ones. Some bus companies are just plain scary. The problem with buses is that the services that have the most available departure hours are generally the ones that will make you question your decision to go on bus. Some companies that just really stink: Power, Sagatarrio, Yulsa, Del Carpio, Santa Ursula. Some companies that are ok: Flores, Cromotex, Cruz del Sur, San Martin. There are lots more, but I'm going to say right now that I usually roll on Flores. The cost for a pretty decent Bus Cama (bus Bed) is 60 soles from Arequipa to Cuzco, ($20). Not too bad. If you try to save money on bus tickets, you are asking for some scandal. On Yulsa, I have been in a wreck that was kind of scary and delayed my four hours. On Power, we had a tire blow out (because they were REALLY bald) and that set us back an hour. Also on Power, we almost hit a cow and by dodging the cow, almost hit an oncoming car. To be fair, things are so crazy on the road, that there is really no "safe" travel, but for comfort, there are better and worse.
That being said, I almost froze to death on my way to Puno. (Too bad I traveled in shorts). I had to put my backpack between me and the window to block the wind. And when you go from sea level to 13,000 feet, things get cold. I survived and am better for the experience. My parents and brother Jonathan, (who we call Cheek), now know and love cool areas in Southern Peru as I do. This audio slide show show demonstrates that a bit.