I´ve made my way from Arequipa to Puno.   I made a few friends the last day that I was in Arequipa, one of which was a police officer who gave me a good understanding of the Peruvian police force.  Initially, all seemed normal, as the policeman kicked a guy out of the bar for singing too loud, and then made another leave because he was smoking too close to a woman.  At that point, he may have tired of his duties, as he became interested in posing for pictures…

Peruvian police get-up

And then allowing random foreigners to pose for pictures in part of his uniform…

Do you like my hat?

And next became very tired and decided to catch a few zzzz´s on the barstool…

Peruvian police rest-up

I guess the good part is that there wasn´t any violent crime occurring so that he would need to be awake??

My bus ride to Puno had less picturesque scenes than the one to Arequipa, but did have a few pretty moments, just the same.  To whit:

House on the side of the road

Today I got to see a parade that included a marching band and school children in the main square here in Puno. 

Babies marching

Pretty babies

Babies with balloons

I bought a decent hand mirror from a woman on the street today, and it was marked for 1 sol, which is equal to about 33 cents.  I gave her 5 soles, and when she went to give me change, I told her not to worry about it.  She looked so amazingly happy.  Many people here are so poor and have so little.  It´s unbelievable the small amount of money that they are able live off of.  But, many seem so happy, at the same time. 

I like Peru, and I´m already getting sad about having to leave.  Tomorrow, I´m taking a boat out to the Uros and Taquile Islands on Lake Titicaca.  I´m looking forward to it, and also preparing myself to be out of breath whilst walking up the steps on Taquile… I have a serious case of altitude sickness at this 12,000+ feet.  The good thing is that Cusco is a little lower elevation, so I´ll be acclimatized and ready for my Machu Picchu trek by the time I leave Puno.

Happy trails.