Crossing the Border to Peru

Day 2 of my South America trip was largely a bus day, which was fortunate since I was still quite sick. Thankfully, the chest pains had gone away overnight, but I could barely move without gasping for air.

We were headed for Puno, Peru, with several stops along the way. The first was Desaguadero, where we disembarked to ferry across a lake.

The sights along the ride were beautiful. We were just coming up on Lake Titicaca and reached it shortly before lunch. I could not stop looking out the window; it was unlike anything I'd seen before.

For lunch, we stopped at Copacabana, Bolivia, where we had amazing empanadas by the pier. The sun had come out then, and we were greeted with warmth and blue skies. I was still wheezing with every step and felt pathetic going up the minuscule incline by the beach.

The rest of the drive along the lake continued to be stunning, and it was strange to see the clouds so low. Puno's altitude is 3827m, which did not help my altitude sickness, though it was a wonderful new perspective of the world.

We crossed to Peru in the afternoon (yay passport stamps!) and arrived shortly before dinnertime. The group went out together, and I again played it safe with pasta, though I tried a bite of alpaca -- wasn't a fan of the aftertaste.

That night was the first of a few mediocre sleeps, unfortunately. It took me a while to realize that coca, which I was still drinking obsessively, is caffeinated...