Arequipa to Cusco

After leaving Arequipa we had a 6 hour bus trip traveling on a road which was desert gradually climbing to 12,800 feet above sea level to Puno on Lake Titicaca. Alpacas and llamas—both of the camel family are the only animals who can be farmed up there and it was amazing to come across small villages with herds of the animals. We were lucky to see herds of Viyacunas, small wild alpacas who blend with their warm brown colour into the desert scenery.
Puno is set on brown hills with the houses of adobe clay and dull red roofs made us think we were in Beirut. Lake Titicaca is huge—170km long and 60km wide but the town is touristier than we have been used to and ¨Gringo Alley¨ is full of western restaurants and locals trying to sell crafts and shoe shines all along the street.
We visited a ship which had been a steamship built in parts in England in 1862, they shipped the parts around the Horn to Africa then to the south of Peru on the west coast and taken by mules over the Andes which took 6 years to finally get them there and reconstructed. It delivered goods around the Lake for a long time and then was left to rust. They have recently restored it and are readying it to take tourists next year to outlying islands.
We also frequented the local markets as we had been told that Alpaca products are cheaper here than elsewhere so stocked up.
We joined a 2 day 1 night tour to the Islands. The first visit was to Isla Flotantes, these are an amazing group of 25 small reed islands each with a family group living on them. Originally these were the Uros people who wishing to avoid the Incas left the mainland to live on reed boats constructed from the reeds which grow around the lake. They then set up life in the boats making everything from the reeds, catching and salting fish and trading their goods with mainland tribes. About 70 years ago they were intermarried enough with another tribe to start constructing the islands which they now live on. They cut great hunks of reed roots and tie them together, anchor them and make an island from them. They dry reeds and build houses from them and now that tourists come to visit they sell their wares and charge a fee so have a comfortable if not amazing lifestyle. They dress the tourists up in their costumes and show their lifestyle and once you have become friendly with them they start to sell you their crafts. They actually have a school and a medical clinic on the islands.
We then went 3 more hours to Isla Amantani, a real island inhabited by 4000 people. Here we felt we could have been in the Greek Islands if they had put whitewash on their walls. It is very rocky and picturesque with flocks of sheep being herded by villagers. A house was under construction and many of the villagers were involved in helping build it. There are no mules on the island so local men were dragging the planks of wood by tying it across their shoulders and dragging them across the fields. Adobe bricks are dried and used for the basic walls.
They have set up a tourist business and when you arrive you are taken in by a family who give you lunch. You then head up to the top of the island which is the site of Pachumama (mother earth) and opposite Pachutata (father earth) this is at 1400feet above sea level so is quite a climb. They still have a very blended religion with Catholicism and the old Inca beliefs which worship nature the way most indigenous religions do. In fact when we were crossing the lake a local man was sprinkling coca leaves on the water to make sure the gods gave us safe travel—it was very rough but seemed to work as we arrived OK.
We waited till sunset which is lovely, looking over the lake to the Bolivian Andes—half of the lake is Bolivia. You then head back to your family for dinner and then they walk you to the community centre for the dance. You dress in Andean costume and the ladies (their husbands seem to have opted out!!!) get everyone up doing the typical dances. It became more of a photo op for most of us but the ladies are lovely and very generous.
Next morning after breakfast we headed off to the next island nearby. This is yet another culture which at the surface seems to be more prosperous. They have become renowned as the best weavers in South America so sell their products all over. They also have developed a restaurant trade and feed the tourists lunch before they go back to Puno. The women are much more shy than the previous island and do not like to be photographed. The men wear brightly coloured hats which have long floppy tops which are white if they are unmarried and red if they are married. There are no mules on this island as their philosophy is of the Inca rules which are “no stealing, no lying and no being lazy”!!! Wow trying to be lazy in this life would be impossible. They do not have dogs as they consider them lazy animals. Horses or mules would mean the people were lazy.
We then headed back to Puno for the night and left the next morning for the 6 hour journey to Cusco. This trip involved climbing up through the desert to a very high pass and once we were over the divide the world changed. There were mountains in the background and fertile valleys. Llamas were replaced by sheep and cattle and crops were being planted. These people certainly have the easier lifestyle than their brothers on the other side of the divide.
Cusco is a beautiful city which was the centre of the Incan Empire. They were here for about 400 years although their expansion from Columbia to Argentina was only the last 100 years and was ended by the Spanish. Massive Inca built walls line narrow cobble stoned streets which wind up the hills. Our hotel is at the top of a windy road and is very quaint.
It is very touristy and restaurants, hotels and street sellers abound.
The sites are all around and we caught a bus to a site 10km away and walked back exploring 4 other sites on the way. Their construction techniques are incredible with no mortar being used and no steel to cut the incredible angles and fit required.
They used springs and channeled water to their villages and developed the amazing terracing still used today to grow crops. The Spanish destroyed a lot of the sites but there is still enough remaining to marvel at their skills.
We are off tomorrow to the Sacred Valley which is meant to be lovely and then on the 7th will start on our 4 day hike up to Machu Pichu which will be the highlight to the end of this sector of our voyage.
We fly back to Lima from here and will make our way back to our boat to get to Quito to come back to Canada.