2021 October - Day 09 - Peru - Adios Cusco; Bienvenidos Lake Titicaca

 I’m writing this as we travel by bus from Cusco to Puno which sits on the shores of Lake Titicaca.  Once we arrive, we will head to a port where our host will pick us up in a boat and take us to one of the floating islands in Uris….a grouping of floating islands on Lake Titicaca.  Interesting….huh?!?!

We were picked up on the street by our BnB at 6:20 AM.  A girl came walking up to us looking for me since I booked the tour bus.  She then made a call and within 10 minutes a van showed up that drove us about 10 minutes down the road to the place where the very large, very nice bus was waiting for us and many other people.  Boy what a difference a day makes.  The so called bus on Inca Rail does not compare to this tour bus on Inca Express.  Roomy, bathroom on board, snacks and so on.

Our drive was to be from 7 AM to 5 PM with a number of stops along the way.  We were told, however, that due to road construction we would probably not arrive until 6 or 6:30 PM.  Anyway, we headed out.  The guy that introduced the bus company to us and kicked off the tour came over and asked if we were Mormones.  I said yes that we were.  He said that he was too but due to his job had not been attending church.  I told him to get going back.  And he said that yes he would.  He was super nice guy.  He then turned to tour over to a local guy that speaks both English and Spanish.  And then off we went.

Our first stop was at a colonial village that had a chapel that had the most ornate decorations on the walls and ceilings.  Lots of gold.  It was small.  But it was very unique.  It sat on a really nice square where we walked around and mingled.  We were there for about 45 minutes.  

We next headed to an Inca archaeological site that demonstrated how a lot of the early Inca’s built communities and lived.  The name of the site was something like Raqchi.  We got out and walked around taking pictures and learning more about the Inca’s prior to the 1500’s and how they lived and made due.  It too was a very nice stop for pictures and just mingling.

As we’ve been driving, it has been fascinating to see how the people live, the work they are doing daily and their dress.  The ladies dress just like you see in lots of pictures in their native Peruvian garb.  They are walking cows, attending to sheep, sometimes with babies wrapped in their native dress on their backs. It is amazing.  Their homes, most made of adobe bricks, half built and very small.  You see smoke coming from their fires that they probably use for cooking and perhaps staying warm in the night time.  I wonder if they have any kind of running water, electricity and so on.  I’m talking about homes out in the farms…not in the bigger pueblos or ciudades.   And all around us are the Andes mountains.  We left Cusco at around 11k feet in altitude.  We will climb to 14k feet in altitude.  And Puno\Lake Titicaca is at 12.5k feet.    So we are up there doing everything to battle altitude sickness.

Our next stop was lunch.  The tour provided an amazing buffet lunch at a really nice eatery with live music and all.  They had soup, salad, chips with guacamole, rice, chicken, some kind of beef and many other things.  They also had some fruits and puddings\flans for dessert.  The food was all really good.  We were there about an hour. 

Our next stop was at the highest point…14k feet in altitude.  I’m amazed I could breathe.  There a little Peruvian woman hooked on to me trying to sell me a small rug.  You can’t show any interest in their things as they will latch on.   But they will barter and I’ve always enjoyed that.  We only stayed there about 10 minutes.

Our next stop was not on the itinerary.  We had to stop for well over an hour due to road construction.  Most everyone got off the bus and just hung out visiting with others.  We’ve met folks from England, Colorado and so on.  It’s been fun hearing their backgrounds and stories.  Two guys are all alone.  One in his 40’s, the other 70.   I think a lot of people travel alone which I find interesting that they have the courage and stamina to do that.

We are now back on the road but I thought I’d get ahead of my blog a bit.  More to come later to let you know how the trip concludes today.

It is now 6:30 PM roughly and we are still on this bouncy bus.  They said we will not get to Puno until 7:30 or 8 PM.  And we still have to get to the floating island.  We were supposed to arrive at 5 PM per their brochure.  But this is South America and Peru.  You just never know.  We did make one more stop at a small museum where they have dug up atrtifacts dating back to 500 BC - 400 BC (Book of Mormon times).  It was kind of interesting to see what they had.

Well, lunch is not sitting too well with me.  I hope I get there without hurling.  It has been two days of trains and buses.  Getting tired a bit.  My home, our cat, my bed is starting to sound better each day.  I know this last part will be fun and then the adventure to get home begins.   I will probably not add more to this blog tonight and start tomorrows blog with details on our arrival to our floating island BnB on Lake Titicaca.  Wish us luck!

Pictures:

This picture shows the small alley way that we would walk, maybe 50 yards, to get to the front door of our BnB in Cusco.  it looks a little rough.  But our BnB for the most part was quite good.

Us settling in on the bus to Puno….much more comfortable than yesterday.

Our bus….pretty nice huh!!!

This is the chapel in our first stop.  I wish I could remember the name of it.  It was a crazy one though.  This is a picture shown outside that Denise took a picture of.   They would not allow pictures taken inside of it.

This is what the church looked like outside it.

This picture shows the little tiendas, most closed, that were in the square.  We were there pretty early.  But a few were starting to open up..  It was a nice, little square.

This was our second stop at the archaeological site called Rancho.  The walls behind us are the walls of the temple that once took up space there….we were told.

You have to like the blue door of this little church at the Raqchi square.  It was not open.  So we did not go inside.

This is a good picture of those temple walls.  Not much left.  Borrow section made of stone.  Top section made of adobe.

You can see the woman herding her cows with a small baby strapped to her back.

The entry point to Raqchi archaeological site.

The group at the restaurant at lunch.  Funny story….there was an alpaca in the back of this place.  Scott went up to it and kind of harassed it and the darn thing spit on him.  Just like home when Michelle gets mad.  We do have a video of it as Michelle was filming while it occurred.  Pretty funny.

Our lunch table.  We invited the fellow on the far end to join us.  He was from England touring Peru and doing humanitarian work.

The buffet lunch…pretty good!

The group waiting on the side of the road to get clearance to go through the construction area.  I can’t sit like that!

Cars lined up and waiting….

This was at a stop just prior to the construction.  It is the highest point….14k feet…that we will go to.  The girls are heading down to the bathroom.

Along the way there was a forest fire that you can see in the distance there.  We are in the high planes of Peru and there is little vegetation other than agriculture.

Our bus driver keeping his engine cool.  Should I be concerned?

This is the stop at 14k feet.  You can see the sign in the background.

This lady wouldn’t let me go.  Wanted me to buy a small alpaca rug.  She started at 160 soles and by the end she was down to 100 soles.  That is $40 down to $25.  I kept telling her that I did not have room in my bags for such.  She worked hard to make it look real small.