Inca Ruins, Llamas and Stupid Angry Tourists.

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It has been quite a while since I last wrote. A lot has been happening, so there'll be a few entries in a row, sorry that they haven't been more regular.

We decided that we had seen enough of Puno. The Uros Islands were nice and all, but the town and hotel left a lot to be desired. The room was on a noisy street corner and the water only worked occasionally. I had somehow managed to get myself a stomach bug, and when you throw in a bit of diareha with non-flushing toilets, things get ugly pretty quick.

So on Monday we got a First Class bus (name of company, not to be confused with level of service) from Puno down to Cusco. We were collected from the hotel at about 7:15am and headed around the corner to the "bus depot", more like a bus stop. Most of the opther passengers were already there, and we all started loading our bags under the coach. That was when the complaining started.

Along with the other passengers, there were two obnoxious 60 year old Australian men that were travelling together. They had decided that they didn't like the way that the bus driver had packed the bags in the luggage hold, and they started to let him know in no uncertain terms. Eventually, they were satisfied and we set off for 10 hour drive to Cusco.

That was when they discovered that the bus had no air-conditioner (it was nice enough with some windows open) and their particular window didn't open properly (but most of the others were fine). It didn't stop there. There was a problem with the microphone (so the tour guide had to speak up) and a few other minor things that they decided were the fault of the tour guide and started to give her a mouth full about it. You could see that a lot of the other passengers (us included) were more annoyed at the two of them than any shortcomings that the bus had. I was wishing that we could pass them off as New Zealanders, but they told the tour guide that if this was back in Australia, their company would be shut down.

Eventually, the guide settled them down and we were able to make it out of Puno all in one piece.

The tour had a number of stops along the way, the first was at a small museum that had some Inca pottery and other artifacts. We had already see some in Arequipa, so we relaxed for abour half an hour in the uncompleted town square.

The next stop was at the highest pass along the route, La Raya. I think it was at about 4300m, but it was quite cold and windy with some views of rocky, snow capped mountains.

We next had lunch at Sicuani, which was quite a plesant suprise. The food was very nice, a hot and cold buffet, and since we had not had any breakfast, we were famished. One of the two angry Australians managed to bargain a lady down from 70 to 20 soles for a pair of Alpaca skin slippers, so he was a mildly happy camper after that.

After lunch, we continued to a small farm where we got up close and personal with some tame, friendly Alpacas and Llamas. They also had some guinea pigs, which are a local delicacy, and loads of handcarfts and clothes made from alpaca wool.

Next along the way was Raqchi, an Inca temple, granary and fortress used to regulate the movement of people on their way to Cusco, and guard against attack from hostile tribes outside the Inca empire. All very interesting stuff.

Last stop was Andahuaylillas, a Jesuit church considered the "Sistine Chapel of the Americas". It was a pitty that it was in not very good condition, partly the reason they would not let you take photos, because it was amazing how much work would have gone into constructing and decorating it.

We got into Cusco fairly late, just as the sun was going dwon. We found a hostel that had a private bathroom and seemed fairly good value for the next few nights and settled in.

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Photos

The ruins at Raqchi
This is the main temple/granary. The guy in the ridiculous iridescent orange hat is one of the grumpy ones.

Heading out of Puno
With the bus pulled over and complaints flying, it was the perfect time for some quick snapshots over Puno. The Uros Islands are just to the left of the frame behind the hill.

Cute Llamas
This was at a small arts and crafts shop that we stopped at. They make the same jokes in Peru about Llamas that we make about New Zealanders and sheep.

Mmmm, dinner
They breed these guinea pigs to eat as a delicacy, but there's not a lot of meat on them as we later found out.