Road Trip 3: Cusco - Lake Titicaca - Arequipa

Let's Drive again - the smile is back

We drove again in the direction of Vinincunca when we headed to Lake Titicaca. After an hour or two driving through bigger villages and smaller towns, the road picked up and climbed past the 4,300 m mark. 

4,335 m

High mountains and good weather

From there onwards it was again driving through the middle of nowhere interrupted by some lamas or alpacas, shattered houses and a train line. At the end of mountain plains, the town of Juliaca showed us what really bad roads are - basically no pavement and pothole next to pothole. Thirty minutes later we drove down through Puno and exited to the south and found our lovely hotel at the seaside. 

no traffic

Driving in Juliaca

Puno - a stone city - no greens in sight

Also the lake has quite an altitude with 3,800 m. We wandered to the lake and around the garden. The dinner was great. At the night, we got a murderous thunderstorm over the lake. That seemed to happen on a regular basis as I found several blog entries. 

Lake Titicaca

Hotel Taypikala Lago

Beautiful garden

with flowers

sunset on the lake - no thunderstorm yet to see

To go to Arequipa we had to cross Puno and Juliaca again and then turn to the west. The road followed the usual layout that drove us crazy. Climbing high (above 4,600-5,000 meters) and remaining high. The last hour before Arequipa, we finally started descending and our ears hurt as hell.

nice views on the way

Lagunillas - 4,413 m - still not the highest point

Finding our way in Arequipa was challenging as the GPS did not differentiate between one direction and normal streets. In the end, we made it to Mariella’s place - an AIESEC alumna who hosted us for the next three nights.

Welcome to Arequipa