There was a last minute change in the train schedule from Cusco to Puno, so Accessible Travel Peru drove us. It took about 5 hours, but we stopped for lunch at Feliphon (at hour 3) and again at Abra La Raya rest area.

Feliphon

Lunch was a huge buffet with safe to eat raw vegetables and water. There were a lot of vegetables, so it was very easy to make a vegan meal.

Abra La Raya

The rest area is where the regions of Cusco and Puno meet. La Raya is the highest point on the Cusco to Puno route. It is 4,338 meters above sea level. It was incredibly beautiful!

At the rest stop there were a few people selling a lot of handmade things, to not a lot of people. I bought an alpaca hat. But, it was sad to see these families who were just trying to make a sale; this was their full time job and main income.

The parking lot overlooked a big pond surrounded by mountains, but the real draw is the site of the snowcapped Andes mountains. Then we drove 2 more hours to the Lake Titicaca Hotel.

Lake Titicaca Hotel

There were two other people in wheelchairs so 3 total, but the hotel only had 2 handicapped rooms, guess who drew the short straw!?!🤪 But Francisco made the bathroom more accessible by attaching makeshift handlebars next to the toilet.

The bathroom there didn't have room to move freely in my wheelchair. In fact the door just barely fit my wheelchair FACEPALM another coat of paint and it wouldn’t have made it. The sink was not really a roll under and they had a tub that had a tiny grab bar on the wall. But, that ain’t gonna stop me from having a good time.

I do stay at a lot of hotels with bathroom accessibility issues, but that’s just one of the difficulties of traveling in a wheelchair.

After dropping our bags off at the room, which was on the second floor, but fear not they had an elevator, we decided to have a late dinner at the restaurant inside the hotel. It was 8:30pm and this was so convenient. I just had their pasta with bolognese sauce, but they also had a few vegan options.

Each morning we had a continental breakfast on the ground floor of the hotel. Then we drove to Lake Titicaca.

Side comment, we drove by a train crossing the main road; in America when the train is crossing the guard rails come down, but instead there were just two men that would wave a red flag when the train was coming. What if you're color blind?!

Lake Titicaca

We were dropped off at the docks where Francisco had already purchased our tickets with Go Puno. I don’t know if there were any boats that were accessible, because our boat was definitely not!

There were four stairs to get on the bridgeway that went down to the actual dock. They had a little platform and then you were supposed to step onto the boat.

The boat had a very narrow entryway, my wheelchair would not fit Accessible Travel Peru quickly took my wheels off, and then they carried my wheelchair through the very narrow bars. Then they put my wheels back on on the boat. Then they transferred me to one of the reclining chairs.

There was a girl in a foldable electric wheelchair, one of the guys picked her up and carried her to the seat. Then they folded her chair to get it on board. As the boat took off there was a guy upfront telling a bunch of facts about the island that I definitely did not hear, I was too busy looking out the window.

They had these two characters come out and they were dancing, they also grabbed people to dance with them. I will not describe how they looked; I will just let my pictures do all the talking.

Floating Islands

As the boat took off to the floating islands, you could see so many houses going up the hills. Today, there are 120 islands with about 1,300 people living on them.

Then we saw the native boats. The man-made islands were layered with totora roots and reeds from the islands. Back in the day they were rowing these boats but now they are pushed by a power boat.

Uros Island

We got off at Uros Island to learn about everything. Each island resided with about 4 families, and there were a bunch of different little huts, the children everyday would go to land to go to school. Be careful not to piss your island mates off or they’ll just cut your hut off the island.

We were shown a map of Lake Titicaca, and he pointed out this little mini spot we were at. This thing is massive! One side of the lake is in Peru and the other side is in Bolivia.

We paid for a native boat ride and we rode around for 20 minutes. They also sold their handmade items but those were in the non accessible huts. Then we got back on the tour boat, where we rode for another hour and a half, to Taquile Island.

Taquile Island

Anyone can visit this island; they also have a restaurant at the top. It’s very steep and you better believe we kept going up. The men were dressed in traditional clothes. They were old men, who ran up the hill while holding my chair. GOTTA GET THOSE STEPS IN! Jo It was here that we saw a beach that looked like it belonged in Italy, but we were on a lake!

We stopped midway up to this clearing, where we watched them perform a traditional dance. They also were very proud of the fact that none of them turned gray. They all had full heads of jet black hair. They believe it’s because of the shampoo that they make from a plant. It only grows only on the island as a plant. But they don’t sell it.

Lunch

Then we continued all the way to the restaurant, they had a special tent with chairs with us that looked out on the water. BEAUTIFUL AF!!!!

Look at my photos and tell me that this doesn’t look like an ocean, I bet you can’t!

First they brought out fried wontons, with incredibly fresh salsa. Then they brought out a vegan soup. I got the trout, which was caught fresh from the lake. I didn’t take any photos of our meal because it was too good to stop and take a picture.

Where we had lunch, had million dollar views and we only ate here because of Accessible Travel Peru. We spent about 2 hours up there. And then we were pushed back down.

Then, it was time to head back and leave paradise. And the boat ride back was about an hour and 45 minutes. Again we had dinner at our hotel.

The next day we drove to the Puno airport. We boarded a 2:30 pm flight to Lima. There we went back to the same hotel where we had a farewell dinner with Francisco. And we slept there that night and flew out the next day.