Perú - last leg

We spent a few days in Arequipa, and then went towards the Bolivian border. The drive took us to Juliaca, which is on the north end of Lake Titicaca. At one stage we were driving for quite some distance at altitude, 4,500 meters above sea level. This is seriously high, and we saw plenty of groups of vicuña, a relative of llamas, and the one that gives the finest wool. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicuña

Nature was, as always, surprising and beautiful. At this altitude it feels strange to see lakes and rivers, for example, and there are large areas of flat land.

Juliaca turned out to be an even messier place than usual, so we decided to carry on hoping to find a hotel along the road. This turned out to be a good thing, we ended up in Puno, and found a hotel right on the waterfront. This gave us an opportunity to get a better understanding of Lake Titicaca, and it is indeed a different lake, being at altitude 3,800 or so, meters above sea level. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Titicaca

The final leg towards the border took us along the lake, through some Peruvian villages, and on to the border crossing to Bolivia. It felt a little sad to leave Peru, we have been surprised many times about the variety of nature, the different groups of indigenous cultures, the food, the lack of facilities for tourists, and the friendly welcome once getting to interact with the locals.

Neither of us have been seriously affected by altitude sickness. There is a Peruvian medication called ALTIVital, a mix of herbs traditionally used by the locals, to help with it. The advice is also to drink plenty of coca tea, which is legal. Karin has been using those, and has had no signs except shortness of breath which has been easy to remedy by breathing more, and a headache when first getting to altitude in Ecuador.