Although I stayed in Puno for 3 nights, I didn’t really find any time to explore the city, bar a brief walk into the main square to get some cash out late Sunday evening.

The main reason for visiting Puno was to see Lake Titicaca, from the Peruvian side. With it was also an opportunity to stay with a local family on one of the nearby islands, which sounded like an interesting experience. It turned out to be just that, but partially for the wrong reasons.

I arrived in Puno on Friday night and after spending much of the day on the bus, went straight to bed. I was picked up early on Saturday morning and taken to the harbour with a bunch of other tourists, all of whom I’d be spending my time with on the islands tour.

Our first stop was Uros, a floating island made completely out of reeds. Although impressive, you couldn’t help but ask “Why?”. The islands are only a couple of meters thick, and have to be reinforced with cut reeds every day. The islands themselves last for 30 years, until a new island is built and the inhabitants are forced to move, their old home breaking apart and sinking.

In saying that, it was an impressive sight and made all the more impressive when we saw one little hut equipped with electricity and cable TV.

After Uros it was a slow boat to Amantani, where we would be staying the night. We relaxed in the square and were treated to a song and dance by the locals - who soon after proceeded to get wasted drunk. In the evening we took a hike to a few lookout points some 4,100m above sea level to witness a beautifully cold sunset.

We spent the night with 3 others at a local family’s house, who were super kind and extremely welcoming to us. Unfortunately there’s not much in the way of food on the island so our meals consisted of potatoes and … more potatoes. Although with over 3,000 different types of potatoes to be found in Peru, they don’t really have a choice. After dinner we donned some local clothes and were taken to a live music show and … I wish I could see we tried to learn the traditional dance, but with so many gringos in the audience I’m ashamed to say it eventually resorted to a conga line.

On Sunday morning we were taken to the last island of the tour - Taquile. A bit smaller and with less to see, it was still a nice place to walk around and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Unfortunately, this is when the day started to take a turn for the worse. Bad conditions in the water meant our little boat couldn’t handle the ride back. We spent a couple of hours waiting on news from the coastguard, but the conditions weren’t improving.

Our guide informed us that there was the option of getting a speedboat to pick us up from Taquile and take us to Puno, and that it was only an hour or so away. A few more hours of waiting and we had begun to lose hope, thinking we’d have to spend the night on an island again.

The sun disappeared behind the island and as such the temperature dropped significantly. We huddled together and waited at the harbour for any kind of direction from our guide, who seemed to have about as much of a clue as we did. I’ll spare you the boring minute-by-minute details, but by around 8PM (4 hours after we were supposed to arrive back in Puno), the speedboat came to pick us up. Amidst the stampede of people all desperate to get on the boat, surprisingly none of us fell in the water and we made it back safely.

It wasn’t quite the tranquil experience I had of Lake Titicaca from Bolivia, but it was interesting to spend the night with a family and see how they survive with very little.

So after the runaround on the island Sunday night, the train ride from Puno to Cusco came at the right time. I’d done some research before arriving in Puno and heard about the Andean Explorer. A stunning train ride crossing the Andes and highlands of Peru, following the route of Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo.

The scenery was spectacular. Making our way through numerous tiny villages nested in between mountain ranges, you would often see little kids rushing out of their homes, or interrupting their football games to come out and wave at us. I could've hung out the window with my camera for the entire journey, but at some point I had to put my feet up and enjoy the moment.

It was a truly first class experience as we were treated to 3 meals, pisco sours and live performances from traditional Peruvian bands. Not quite suitable for a travellers budget, but on trips like this you have to spoil yourself every now and then!