Peru 2024 - Part 13 - On the Road from Arequipa to Puno

Wednesday, 2 October 2024

There are two ways to get from Arequipa to Puno. Door-to-door they do not differ that much in time. You can fly from Arequipa to Lima, then to Juliaca, and finally drive an hour to Puno. Or you can drive over the western Andes to Puno, which takes about 7 hours. We’re always up for a road trip!

Looking back at Arequipa as we climb out of town.

The large cement plant at Yura, with green agricultural fields in the foreground.

As we climbed into the mountains, we could see the Ampato (left) and Sabancaya (steam at right) Volcanos in the distance. Sabancaya is in an eruptive stage and vents steam frequently.

As we get higher, the volcanos become more visible, and Sabancaya has temporarily stopped erupting, although a small amount of steam is still visible.

Guanaco just off the road. Of course like all animals, they are facing away. (Another in the “great animal butts of the world” series.)

More guanacos.

A little bit later we saw a good-sized group of vicuñas.

More vicuñas.

Volcan Misti rising behind the vicuñas.

More mountains behind the vicuñas.

The first of out two rest stops. Both had nice cafés and clean restrooms. Here I am having my first Inca tea (coca leaves and mint). The coca leaves are supposed to help with the altitude.

From a distance these rocks looked like evergreen trees.

Laguna Sacacane. Flamingos are on the near shore. The far shore has alpacas and sheep. The stone walls on the mountain reminded us of those we saw in Ireland.

The waters of Laguna Sacacane we unreal shades of blue and green.

We had a box lunch at the second rest stop above Laguna Lagunillas. We were almost at 15,000 ft above sea level, and it was easy to get light-headed with any exertion.

A Chilean flamingo in Laguna Lagunillas.

The Altiplano is barren, but beautiful.

Interesting patterns in the mountains.

As we got closer to Puno, we could see storms in the distance.