Motoventure Day 16: Putara to Puno

(written 11/5 @ 7PM) Okay this needs to be a quick one because we have a 7:30PM meeting to figure out the status of the paperwork. The nutshell is that NO ONE has been able to leave Peru yet, meaning some of the teams who left early have simply been stuck in Puno for the same amount of time we were stuck in Huancayo. This is pretty poor business, and I expect a lot of people will be unhappy. I am determined to continue on and see the salar de uyuni though…

So today we woke up in Putara quite early and simply hit the road to Puno. Basically a nice 100km jaunt through the mountains, with Lloyd & Mark having a bit of fun. We arrived around noon and wandered the town trying to figure out where people were, only to realize it was bigger than expected. Instead we stopped at an internet cafe, found out where the paperwork was supposed to be, and followed haphazard directions around until we found it. Found a nearby hotel, checked in, and went back to hear the news…

Apparently we won't actually hear any news until 7:30PM. So instead we did the tourist thing and hit the floating reed beds on Lake Titicaca. I'm not sure what to say about these – I haven't sorted the pictures yet, will need to post them later (just got back), but let's just say it felt vaguely exploitative. And a little bizarre – but quite beautiful.

So, that's it… we find out tonight if we can leave Puno tomorrow or if we have to stay until Monday. Apparently a LARGE number of teams have now officially dropped out due to the delay… overall it's again quite poor. I still haven't changed my ticket, but am planning on sorting that tomorrow.

So, until then… enjoy the lack of spam on this blog!

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