Lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca and Peninsular Home Stay (Day 19)

We awoke the next day to light rain. I'm never one to complain about the rain because I see precious little of it (particularly in Perth) but I was worried about it spoiling a nice couple of days out on the lake.

Above and below was our transport to the lake. It was all very touristy, but it was the most fun we'd had in days! The drivers turned it into a race. By the time we reached the port a couple of kms away, the rain & clouds were gone & it was shaping up to be a belter of a day.

 

 

 

Lake Titcaca

We climbed aboard our cruise vessel and started out through the reed beds toward the open water of the lake. Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world at 3827m above sea level. It's quite large as well and forms a section of the border between Peru and Bolivia. Our boat wasn't very fast, but we had all day to take in the view so we were in no rush.

 

Along the way we saw people in small boats harvesting reeds (above) and others tending fish farms like the one below.

 

The shallow waters near Puno allow the locals to simply drive stakes into the bottom of the lake and string fish nets between them. It's not the same as the fish farming in the western world because they catch the wild fish and rear them until they're big enough to sell. No captive breeding here. Just as we were about to make it outside the bay where Puno sits, we had to perform a rescue mission on a stricken boat that had broken down and was drifting aimlessly. It was all a bit hap hazard, but you have to let the locals do it their way. We dragged them close enough to shore so that they could hop off without drowning. Our good deed for the day.

Taquile Island

 

Our first stop for the day was Taquile Island. After a short wonder up the hill we reached a nice spot where we could look over Lake Titicaca.

 

Taquile Island has a slightly odd society. It's a commune of sorts (Community Collectivism it's called technically). It's not like the communism of China or some of the eastern block countries. Nobody is forced to be there and people from the mainland are able to come to live there. Everybody has a job to do and they all rotate their jobs every 6 months. It seems to work very well and the locals seem to be a happy bunch which is proof that the system works. It's a shame the rest of the world can't play so nice together.

 

We had a prearranged lunch on the island. It was quite nice and with a great view over the lake. After lunch we set off in the opposite direction from where we had come from to jump back on our boat.

 

Home Stay - The Peninsular

 

That night was the night of the trip I'd been dreading since before we booked the tour. It was what they call a home stay. They set each of us up with a family of peninsular residents.
The obvious issue was the language barrier (because our Spanish was rubbish), but there was another underlying gut feel thing that I couldn't put my finger on until sometime later. (I'll explain below). We were greeted by this welcoming committee whose musical talents weren't brilliant.

 

Considering this lot have a new group in every 2 days, they really don't have a clue how to organize the billeting. The chit chat about who's going where went on for a good 20 minutes. I don't understand why.

 So we thought we would be staying in one of the houses in the village near where the boat dropped us off. No such luck. Most of the group were whisked off somewhere close, but Kerri and I (and I think it was Vixy, Special K, Melissa & Richard) were frog marched up the hill and along the ridge (above) to our home stay places. This was after we'd been told we'd be coming back twice during the evening. I was stoked considering the chest problems I was having.

 

 No sooner than we'd dropped our stuff off in our room for the night, than we were turned around & taken back down the hill to the village. Everyone was already playing soccer & looked like they had been for some time. I gave it a miss being unwell. Volleyball was next. Kerri got involved, but I just wasn't up for it.
The games finished & it was time to hike the 3km back up the hill for the second time.We had a fairly simple dinner with our hosts and before spent some time with their inquisitive children. Communication was dreadful with us picking words out of our translation book & me showing photos of animals & birds from earlier in the tour to try to understand what each one was called in Spanish. It was hard work!

 

After dinner,we were supposed to 'suit up' in traditional dress and go do some traditional dancing. I wasn't about to do that hike again and was crashing badly with the chest infection. The temperature drop with the sun gone wasn't helping. I told Kerri she should go because she was keen enough, but I think she wasn't about to do the hike up the hill again either. We decided instead to get an early night.

Travel to Puno

South America Day 18

 

We were glad to be leaving Cuzco at long last. Our group was back together with the Jungle folk arriving the previous afternoon. We had exhausted the interest value of Cuzco some time ago.
The afternoon before, I'd started to come down with some kind of cold/flu to add to the eye problem and the shoulder problem. I was starting to think South America was going to be the death of me.
On our way out of town we passed by the Monumento a Pachacútec.

It's supposedly a statue of the Inca ruler when the empire was crushed by the Europeans. The reality is that the ruler was probably a woman, but the Catholics decided to bend the truth a little.

The Next Leg.

Shown in blue, you can see the ground we've covered by this point in the trip. We're nearly at the end of the Peru leg of the journey.
The red section is the day bus trip we endured today. 6 hours seemed like nothing at the time, but the bus had uncomfortable seats and dodgy air conditioning. It was far from fun.

 

Nevado Cunurana.

This was the high point (summit) on our 6 hour journey and about half way. By the time were reached it we'd already had enough of the bus. There were some nice snow capped peaks to look at but we really didn't want to get back on the bus.

Puno

 

We arrived in Puno late in the afternoon and were very glad to be off the bus. The only brief highlight for me during the second half was seeing a couple of flocks of flamingos just outside of Juliacca. It was a brief look and being that we were on a public bus, there was no chance of stopping. No doubt we'll see more flamingos when we visit the desert in a few days.

Cuzco - White Water Rafting

South America Day 17

We had booked a white water rafting trip, more out of lack of things to do than anything else. It was kind of fun, but not exactly the most difficult rafting. We didn't even manage to take any photos and the photos taken by the operator never found us.

Cuzco - But what to do?

Out of ideas of things to do in Cuzco - (Day 16)

Another day in Cuzco. We were fast running out of things to do. Kerri got her opportunity to go shopping for trinkets and merchandise. I spent time either following her around security guard style or taking a nap at the hotel.

We went around the corner down a dodgy looking street where we were told of a nice place for dinner. It was a strange Moroccan style place where we had some excellent food (even by western standards). It was so good we went back the next night as well.

Cuzco

South America Day 15

Back in Cuzco and an opportunity to rest for a couple of days. A little over half the group boarded a flight to the jungle which didn't really appeal to us. In hindsight, maybe we should have....
We spent the day doing jobs like washing and buying snack supplies. We eventually decided to go and see the tourist spots around Cuzco.

 

Qoricancha, the Temple of the Sun was our first monument..

I was somewhat underwhelmed by The Temple of the Sun. The one thing that did interest me was that building structure. Qoricancha was originally built by the Incas and when the Spanish arrived, they cut the top off it and added some European architecture. They must have learned that the Incas knew how to stop their buildings being shaken to a pile of rubble and left the lower levels as they were.

  

 

 

It wasn't just Qoricancha that had the split architecture. Most of the older buildings in Cuzco have the 3 deg. rock foundations and ground floor with a European top. The building above is no exception.
That afternoon we also went to the Inca museum. It was OK, but the Spaniards had already melted down anything metal or sold or stole anything else of value. I made the mistake of looking at an exhibit with a light under it. I didn't see it with the main part of my vision, but I still ended up doing damage to my retina. (Edit: 6 months later I still have a sideways crescent dark patch from my right eye just under my normal vision.)
We ended up playing darts in a pub that evening. Sometimes on a long trip you have to have down days every now and then.

Machu Picchu

South America Day 14

Machu Picchu

 

An advantage of staying in Ollyentambo vs somewhere up the valley was that we didn't have to get up quite so early. There were some shenanigans with another GAP group who were a tourist permit short for the day at Machu Picchu. Roberto (or tour leader) had to go early so he could get a ticket as a Peruvian resident. It was all very nerve racking for a bit but we got away with it and all got on the train (below) OK. There are only a certain number of permits/tickets to Machu Picchu each day to reduce the people traffic on the ruins. The ticket limit also applies to the trains. The trains are the only way into Aguas Calientes (the village in the gorge below the ruins). The only other way to get to Machu Picchu is to do the 3 day hike of the Inca Trail.

 

 

The train ride wasn't that long and the last part of it turned from the arid landscape we'd become accustomed to over the last couple of weeks, to a lush green jungle at the border of the Amazon rain forest. We reached the village of Aguas Calientes, followed Roberto's directions and managed to find the buses that run up to the ancient city.
Our first look at the world famous Machu Picchu was pretty good (above). The peak behind it was shrouded in cloud, but the main part of the ancient city was in full sunlight.One of the girls even shed a tear.

 

 

We were taken on a tour of the ruins by yet another "Local Guide" who rambled on a bit, but the one thing that stuck in my head was that the names of the buildings and other features were names assumed by westerners when they discovered the site.
Above is the Sun Temple (well it may have been called that). It seems to be to central point of the city and would likely be a place of worship. The Inca were a sun worshiping people, so the name makes sense.

 

This doorway is so typical of Incan Architecture. They fit all their stones without mortar and the gap tolerance is next to nothing. Also typical is the 3 deg angle on the stonework. They discovered over a period of time that having this angular design protected their buildings against the frequent earthquakes in the west of South America. Its a design that the Japanese have apparently adopted to some extent.
The one thing I did notice was the general size of the stone blocks at Machu Picchu when compared to Sacsayhuman. The Machu Picchu blocks are way smaller. I guess it figures since Cuzco was the seat of power and the rulers would have made sure everything was bigger and better for their "Head Office". Machu Picchu is only famous because it survived untouched by the Spanish marauders. Don't get me wrong though, the setting is quite spectacular (more on that in a bit).

  

They were busy little ancients with their stonework. They liked to make their structures out of the fewest blocks as they could. These ones pictured aren't exactly your standard rectangular house bricks are they?

 

Even the world heritage listed Machu Picchu has Llamowers and why not? Llamas are very effective at controlling the length of the grass, you don't have to pay them, they don't back chat, they fertilise as they go and they don't use fossil fuels. A good solution all round don't you think?

 

Machu Picchu is not just a series of old building ruins, above is the agricultural part of the city. The terraces are all fully irrigated with a series of channels that are fed from the surrounding peaks.
The small hut at the top is pretty much the high point of the city. We decided that going up there for a good view of the ruins was a good idea. We hadn't done any hiking up any hills for a day or so and it was starting to feel a bit strange. So a view from above, it was then.

 

 

 

And this was the path up to the viewpoint. The steps from hell! Apparently nothing in comparison to the steps on the Inca trail, but after the trek we'd just done, our bodies weren't exactly thanking us. I could have been worse and there been no steps.

 

At the top of the seemingly endless staircase, we took a break. Even at that point the view was quite different. The cloud was starting to clear revealing the peak behind it, Wayna Picchu. If you have enough time you can hike up Wayna Picchu, but we had no chance.

 

After a short walk we reached a nice outlook point just under the hut I spoke about. The effort to climb to the top was easily worth it. You can see where all the tourist brochures and postcard shots are taken from.
You will notice in this photo that I'm wearing shorts. I made the mistake of wearing shirts instead of my long pants (because the pants were wet and muddy from the slip on the trek the day before) but I thought it would be warm enough not to worry. I started to notice little blood spots on my exposed legs. Initially I thought I'd brushed against some sharp plants, but eventually I spotted one of the culprits. They were flesh eating flies! They were somehow able to bite off little chunks of my skin without me being able to feel it. By the end of the day my legs were a mess. (Footnote: more than a week later they were still itching!)

 

Group Photo time.

Well a half the group photo anyway. One of the better locations for a photo during the trip.
The big group was already starting to splinter somewhat. It could be because there was already some friction among personalities or maybe because South America wasn't so scary after all and everyone was becoming a little more independent.

 

Of course there was always someone to act the goose in such a terrific setting. Mike and Polly had been planning this one for some time. There were other shots that were far less tasteful.

Of course there was always someone to act the goose in such a terrific setting. Mike & Polly had been planning this one for some time. There were other shots that were far less tasteful.

 

Machu Picchu was pretty impressive, but I was more impressed by the Sacsayhuman. The big thing about Machu Picchu is that it's untouched by the Spanish. For me the biggest thing is this view. As usual its a small part of the bigger picture. The valleys created by the river are stunning. The lush green jungle tops it off. I think I spent more time looking at the surrounding landscape than the ruins.

  

 

The Postcrad shot.

Here's one more shot from the top before I move on, this time without the clowns in front and without the clouds. Impressive place regardless of what I've already said. Between the ruins and the surrounding scenery, it's one of those bucket list places.

 

The only place that you can get a better view if from the Sun Gate at the top of the ridge high above the city. Those who walk the Inca trail, rise early on the final day to reach the Sun Gate before the tourists enter the ruins. Great theory, but on most occasions, the fog or cloud blocks the view at least partially. Apparently if you hit it on the right day, it's amazing.

  

This is one of the irrigation channels I was speaking of. Nothing particularly spectacular, but brutally effective. Hundreds of years after the city was abandoned, the irrigation system is still working. How many things we have in our modern towns today operate pretty much on their own and survive for centuries?

Aguas Calientes

Our timing for the day couldn't have been better. We were given a time to be back at the train so we jumped back on one of the many buses head back down the Aguas Calientes. No sooner than we did the rain came down in buckets! It's probably not apparent in this photo, but the rain didn't let up for some time.

 

 We found our fearless leader in a Pizzeria and set about finding something to eat. The weird thing was that instead of the car traffic that you become accustomed to when dining in alfresco restaurants, it was replaced by these trains. Not as frequent, but conversation certainly grinds to a halt for a period.

 

We boarded the train back to Ollyentambo. As soon as we arrived there we were herded onto a bus for our trip back to Cuzco.