Peru: Quechuas Inka Palace

We arrived at Puno pretty late at night after a long, exhausting bus ride from Arequipa.  We barely had enough energy to trudge up the very, very steep hill to our hostel, Quechuas Inka Palace:


Even though it was late, the hostel manager not only showed us to our rooms, but also helped us book a tour of the floating islands for the very next day.

We only had one full day planned in Puno, so we had just enough time to see the islands and then catch our 10:00pm bus to Cusco.  This meant we barely spent any time in our hostel.  We slept, then woke up at the crack of dawn to check out, store our luggage, get in a bag of laundry, and eat breakfast, all before the tour company came to pick us up at 6:30.

For breakfast, Quechuas Inka Palace offered a simple spread.  There was bread and fixings for a sandwich:


There was also fruit and Peruvian cereal and yogurt:


On top of a variety of teabags, Quechuas Inka Palace also offered a basket of coca leaves.  Coca is known for being used to make cocaine.  But the coca leaf is also used to help offset the effects of altitude sickness.  You can either chew the leaves or make them into a tea:


I didn't experience any nausea, but I did suffer some splitting headaches in the middle of the night.  The pain was so bad that I couldn't go back to sleep.  All my tossing and turning woke my sister, who was kind enough to massage my head until the pain was bearable.

Fortunately for me, my headache subsided by the time we had breakfast.  Unfortunately, because of that, I can't speak to the effectiveness of coca tea.  It didn't taste bad though, as I was expecting it to.

Also included in breakfast was fresh fruit juice.  We had the choice between orange and pineapple.  Most of us went with pineapple:


We were pleasantly surprised by breakfast at Quechuas Inka Palace.  It wasn't fancy, but it was filling and fresh.

Actually, we were pleasantly surprised by Quechuas Inka Palace in general.  The rooms were comfy, the showers hot.  The manager was super accomodating as well.  Even though we'd already checked out, he allowed us to store our luggage at the hostel while we were touring the floating islands.  He also let us hang out in the lobby because we had hours to kill between returning from the tour and our 10:00pm bus.

I would definitely recommend staying at Quechuas Inka Palace if you are ever in Puno.

Even though it sits on what feels like Puno's most ridiculously steep hill.


Quechuas Inka Palace
Jirón Independencia, 301, Puno, Peru
+51 51 352194

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