Islas Flotantes de los Uros

Verena and I did a half-day trip to the ¨Islas Flotantes de los Uros¨ on Lake Titicaca near Puno this morning – so cool!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uros

Now we´re in an internet cafe – have I mentioned that it´s rather cold here (I´ve been dressing in layers ever since we reached the Altiplano, the South American highlands/high plateau!) and no one has heating – uploading pictures from our trip (I´m uploading pictures from when we were traveling in Argentina onto my flickr account and from the Uyuni trip onto facebook). Hope it´s warmer wherever you are or that you at least have heating if it´s as cold as here! You really learn to appreciate the basic things in life when traveling

Arriving in PERU

Verena and I arrived in PERU today

On Saturday we had dinner (delicious!) with Daniel and Kati at ¨La Cupula¨, including a chocolate fondue as dessert   It was such a nice surprise that they caught up with us instead of staying in La Paz and trekking up the mountain there; well, partly it´s because Kati still hasn´t gotten rid of her cold. 

On Sunday Verena and I did a trip to Isla del Sol, and it is indeed the ¨Island of the Sun¨ – we ended up being a little sunburnt by the end of the day, mainly because it was rather cold and we didn´t realize how strong the sun was until we were back at the hostal in the evening. Met up with Kati and Daniel again.

Today we took a bus from Copacabana, Bolivia, to Puno, Peru. It was an easy 3-hour bus ride including border formalities – the usual: filling out some paperwork (entry card) on the bus, then getting an exit stamp from Bolivia, walking across the border, getting an entry stamp from Peru, getting on the bus again and continuing the journey.

So Verena and I made it to Peru and are in Puno now. Puno is also on Lake Titicaca, but not as nice as Copacabana and much bigger. Tomorrow we´re visting the ¨Islas Flotantes de los Uros¨ (floating islands) – looking forward to it. I still remember when Sabine R. told me about them and showed me pictures – about 10 years ago when we were living in Vienna.

Overall I´m very happy traveling in South America – it´s rougher than other parts of the world, but great scenery and fun   The only issue Verena and I are having is that it is rather cold; ever since we left Santiago de Chile we´ve often been cold. I ended up bying a hat and gloves and we dress in layers pretty much all the time. So what really surprises me is that even though it´s cold here (and it´s not even winter yet!), people here seem to have NO heating?!

From Hoi An to Hanoi

This morning I left Hoi An and flew from Danang to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. So now I’m in the north of Vietnam and it is quite cold here Not as cold as in NYC or Austria right now, but definitely the coldest on my trip so far…

I explored the area around Hoan Kiem Lake, a small lake in the center, and also the old quarter. I again met nice people, a couple from Australia and two women from Austria. The two Austrians are physical therapists and live & work here. – I’m at a point in my journey, though, where as much as a I am happy to meet nice travelers I am also tired of meeting new people… So at this point I’m really looking forward to going back to Khao Lak the day after tomorrow to go scuba diving in the Similan Islands (same company, same boat, same dive instructors) again – and seeing some familiar faces

Updating my blog

After breakfast at the Scandinavian bakery watching the world news (the attacks in Mumbai, India, are still ongoing – they seem to have a bit of a problem there – and Bangkok airports are still closed), I spend the day in an internet cafe off the main street updating my blog. If I have time, I’ll also upload some pictures, but the internet is pretty slow here in Laos and quite a number of internet cafes on the main street have viruses, so maybe the pictures will have to wait…

In the internet cafe I meet an Austrian couple who has been stuck in Luang Pragang for a few days because of the closure of Bangkok’s airports.

In the evening I pick up my laundry and head home after dinner. The last two evenings have been pretty cold here (and I didn’t bring my pair of jeans or any other warm pants) It’s getting too cold here, so tomorrow I’m heading South; my next stop will be Vang Vieng.