It is a 6 hour drive from Chivay to Puno on Lake Titicaca in Peru, allowing for stops along the way. The scenery is spectacular, with plenty of llamas and alpacas along the way. Flamingos pepper the small lakes, shaded pink from the algae they feed on in the water. are The Casa Andina Private Collection hotel near Puno overlooks the Lake, and has its own pier for the boats operating on the lake. The hotel is nicely decorated in traditional Peruvian style, with an excellent restaurant on site. It’s a good distance from Puno, which is best described as an ‘interesting’ town.
The tracks for the Andean Explorer train service between Cusco and Puno (the city on Lake Titicaca) also run past the hotel on the way to Puno station. This isn’t an issue from a noise perspective, as the train only goes past twice a day – once on the way from Cusco, and vice versa.
The sun has now gone down over the lake, and we are being treated to a thunderstorm, including lightning and hail at 3855m above sea level, alongside the highest navigable lake in the world. The lights of the town twinkle in the distance.
