Peru: Puno to Cuzco

This is my seventh post on our trip to Peru.

After our day on Lake Titicaca, we left Puno on a day-long tour bus ride from Puno to Cuzco. Our bus had a tour guide and bathroom on board and the trip included a buffet meal along the way. We made several stops throughout the day so our 10 hour bus trip really did not feel like it was that long. Between Puno and Cuzco you have the option to take several types of buses, fly or take the train. Only a tourist bus will let you stop to see the sights along the way.

Our first stop was at Pukara. There are Inca ruins there, but we had no time to hike up to them. Instead we toured the small museum in the town and our guide gave us our first real talk about the Incas as we had not yet visited any Inca sites. It was a nice break two hours into our trip. There was a vendor on the street selling chicken saltenas fresh from the oven and lots of people on our bus took advantage and said they were delicious. They are similar to empanadas, but with a sweet/spicy sauce and crimped down the center in a football-like shape instead of in a half-moon shape. Dan photographed his--well, part of it.

church at Pukara

church at Pukara

museum courtyard at Pukara

Next was La Raya, the highest pass on the route, where we stopped briefly for photos. After this stop the landscape changed abruptly from altiplano (high desert) with llamas, alpacas and vicunas to green valleys and farms with cattle, pigs and other livestock, but very few of the camelids found in the desert regions. As we passed villages en route, our guide would tell us what each was famous for: pottery, bread making, a special dish, etc.

Caleb at La Raya

La Raya

Halfway through our day we stopped for our buffet meal at Sicuani where we ate and were entertained by some very good local musicians. We continued to a nearby craft cooperative where artisans made jewelry, pottery and other handicrafts and where they had a few llamas and alpacas and gave us a talk about the differences between them.

Being the only kid on the tour, Caleb was given the honor of bottle feeding this baby alpaca.

He's a hungry little guy!

Me and an alpaca who is a little tidier than junior

Caleb's favorite part of the entire trip--guinea pigs. Ummm, we could have saved a lot of money by visiting Petco instead . . .

Back on the bus to Raqchi which is an Inca tambo. A tambo is a way station or resting place along one of the many Inca trails. Raqchi is famous for it's large temple, walled city and hundreds of round storage buildings called colcas.

The "spine" of the big temple at Raqchi. These big walls ran right down the middle and the wood and straw thatched roof sloped down to shorter pillars and outer walls. The small roofs you see on top of them now are just for preservation purposes.

Caleb inspecting the temple

Those Incas really knew how to work with stone!

Above: Raqchi

Below: black and white photos Dan took of some of the ruins and colcas at Raqchi

From Raqchi we got back on the bus and continued on to Andahuaylillas where there is a famous church which is one of the ones they call the "Sistine chapel of South America" due to the elaborate frescos that decorate the walls and ceiling. The door end of the church has a fresco of the last judgment like in the real Sistine Chapel, but done by native artists, of course. Photos were not allowed inside, but Dan got this one by standing outside the church and photographing through the doors. Unfortunately, it doesn't show much of the frescos.

Flowers on large trees that shaded the plaza in front of the church

We returned to the bus for the final leg of our journey to Cuzco, were met at the bus station by a rep from our tour company and driven to our hotel near the Plaza de Armas. And I'll tell you all about Cuzco in my next post. It's spectacular!

Sue

Copyright 2009 photos and text. All rights reserved.

Peru: Arequipa to Puno

This is Peru trip post number four and it's mostly photos.

After returning to Arequipa from Colca Canyon, I scheduled in a somewhat free day for us. In the morning we had a tour to a University museum just off the main plaza to see "Juanita" the ice mummy or "ice maiden" or "ice princess". It was a fascinating tour, but no photography was allowed and they didn't even sell postcards. You can google her or watch for her on the Discovery or History channels. She's very famous.

The rest of the day we wandered around and relaxed in Arequipa's city center. Caleb fed the pigeons in the plaza, we sampled the local delicacy queso helado at an outdoor market, we got empanadas from a panaderia and ate them in front of the cathedral for lunch, we did a little shopping and walked in a city park. It was a very nice day.

school girls in the Plaza de Armas who thought Caleb was "bonito"--especially when he said "Tengo ocho anos." They were so giggly and chatty even though we only understood about a quarter of what they were saying.

a vendor we bought hand-knit hats from

we had to take this photo with the jacaranda tree since we've planted one in our backyard

Dan and Caleb trying queso helado--literally cheese ice cream even though it has no cheese in it--ice cream made with egg yolk, milk, sugar and cinnamon--on the steps of La Iglesia de San Francisco. It's a specialty of Arequipa.

Some of the many beautiful wooden doors in Arequipa:

To Puno

After our free day in Arequipa, we spent the next day on a five hour bus trip to Puno on the shore of Lake Titicaca. It was a nice bus, but there weren't any stops or sightseeing along the way except for a brief stop at the bus station in Juliaca. Juliaca isn't a very pretty place. The main features of Juliaca are dirt streets and mudbrick buildings with spikes of rebar sticking out of the flat roofs which are left in place in case they want to build another storey later. If you are going to Puno you will go through Juliaca.

In Peru you also have the option of flying from city to city or of taking a night bus. The night buses have been robbed on occasion. If you are the type of person who wants to take the small risk and is able to sleep anywhere, it's a good way to save time and money on your trip. I'm not that type of person. Our tour company booked us into the First Class compartment as you can see from the photo below (I think because we booked late and that was all that was left). It was a double decker bus and the coach compartment was the upper level. There was a bathroom on the bus and they served snacks and had movies. I guess they play bingo on the night bus.

on the bus

landscape on the way to Puno

view of Lake Titicaca from the road

After settling in at our hotel, we wandered over to the main plaza, toured the church and found a restaurant for dinner. The restaurant gave Dan a free Pisco sour with dinner. Pisco is the famous grape brandy from Peru and a Pisco sour has ice, lime juice, sugar, egg white for froth and bitters in it. After dinner, ladies selling knitwear on the street discovered Dan was an easy target for a sale. Caleb got outfitted for the cold boat trip the next day.

How cute is this?

Be careful if you go to Puno. There were pick-pockets out looking for a mark. One tried me, but he wasn't very good at it ☺ Read your guide book and find out about the tactics they use so you can spot them. All over Peru, wear a money belt for your passport, immigration card, ATM card, credit card and most of your cash and keep a close eye on your camera and other items.

Puno is at 12,500 ft altitude. It's often below freezing at night. Wear layers.

We don't have a lot of photos of Puno because it's not as scenic as other cities in Peru and we didn't really spend much time there, but it's worth the visit for a boat tour of Lake Titicaca. Check back for my next post on that!

Sue

Copyright 2009 text and photos. All rights reserved.