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Published: January 16th 2007
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Cusco - Cathedral
This is taken from a cafe over looking the Plaza & Cathedral. Its been a while since we last wrote... this diary is a little late and so we are planning to have another blog out shortly! Watch this space...
Cusco
We treated ourselves to a plane trip to Cusco from Arequipa. However, it turned out to be the nightmare trip that everyone must have at least once on any big trip! Due to technical difficulties (how many times have you heard that one?) the plan was not stopping in Cusco. We made the unfortunate decision to go to the interim city (Juliaca) and bus from there. The bus trip was expected to be 4 or 5 hours but turned into 8 hours (on a public local bus). That in itself would have been o.k but Naera also came down with some bug or food poisoning. It got progressively worse (sick bag required) and we were relieved to reach Cusco and the hotel. While Naera spent a couple of days R&R Jem jumped a city tour around Cusco. The tour was unfortunately let down by an over the top pro Inca guide. Unfortunately like any slight seeing tour with a guide they have a huge impact on your experience.
Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu
At 6 am!! Fortunately there are hardly any people. It is a truely spectacular site. The main purpose of most visits to Cusco is to use it as a spring board to see Machu Picchu. A number of factors had meant that our plans didn't include the Inca Trail (the final nail being Naera getting sick). Instead we planned to head up to the small town which is at the base of the Machu Picchu hill (Aguas Caliente). The town itself is nothing exciting and only really exists because of the Machu Picchu traffic coming through it.
We had a quiet New Years eve (we did try to find the happening spots but they didn't seem to exist!) and headed up the hill to Machu Picchu on the first bus (at 5.30am). It was great - as we were one of the first 30 people on the site on New Years Day (this has to be one of the most incredibly things about our visit / as we managed to get photos of the whole site with no one else in them)! We had a spectacular day - a bit of a bonus as it's rainy season and therefore it could have easily been cloudy and rainy! We spent the morning exploring the site
Us at Machu Picchu
Proof we didn´t steal the previous photo from another website! (with the help of a guide for a few hours). The guide shared many interesting things that we would never know otherwise - like standing on a podium and speaking. The natural acoustics mean that the speech was amplified and this would have been used in the Incas time to communicate with the masses. Both of us missed the intense spiritual feeling that our guide picked up on but it is an incredible place.
On the train back to Cusco - Peru Rail put on a fashion show (alpaca and llama wool garments) - starring the train attendants! It provided much amusement to the passengers! When the show was over the hard sell occurred - fortunately we didn´t fit the right demographic (middle aged and american) so were passed by with a second glance. Still if anyone is looking for an entry into modelling - perhaps Peru Rail is the way to go!
Puno, Puno, PPPUUUNNNOOOOO
Back to Cusco (with a quick stop in one of the most western cafes we´ve been too in 8 weeks - Jacks was a great cafe to feel at home in! If anyone is going to Cusco - it´s worth the visit).
From here we headed south to Lake Titicaca and the city of Puno. The guys on the collectivos (minivans which have designated routes - cheaper than taxis & buses but more overcrowded as well) shout the destination and the calls for Puno have stuck with us (hence the title)...
Puno is the easiest place to visit Lake Titicaca on the Peruvian side. Some stats on the lake - it is about 165km in length and about 80km at the widest part (check out the stats we give you for Bolivia - these are published by the Lonely Planet... we´re not sure which to believe).
We visited the floating islands - which is a bit of a tourist trap (but not as bad as we´d expected). The inhabitants (Uros people) make the islands by joining big blocks of turf, covering them with reeds and anchoring the new island down with long thin tree trunks. They also create huge canoes out of the reeds. The number of outboard motorboats also moored suggests that these canoes are no longer their primary transport on and off the islands! None the less we took a trip on one of the reed canoes. Quite
Floating Islands of the Uros
These islands were inhabited by the Uros - who moved out onto the lake during the Incas time. an experience and alot more stable than you´d imagine (much to Naera´s relief!).
From there we headed out to another island nearer the middle of the lake to visit some more island people and hear about their traditions. They had some bizarre ones - for example you could tell if the men on this island were married or not because of the hat they wore. To give you an idea - the hats were a bit like those used by Santa or his elves- the married one being red and blue stripes, the unmarried one having a large red stripe at the top and the bottom was all white. Both had multicoloured pom-poms. Naera tried to convince Jem to wear one but surprisingly he wasn´t that keen! The men make all of the clothes for their daughters and the woman make the clothes for their sons. Some traditions have been adapted to suit modern life - the boys used to cruise the main square for a girlfriend and the person with the best hat got the girls. Now the boys with the largest portable stereo get the girls!
We also went to visit a retired Peruvian Navy ship (the
The captain...
Jem is sitting on the original captains chair in the Yavari Officers mess! "Yavari") - it was transported from Britain, via Chile and then spent nearly a year travelling over the Andes carried mostly by mules. It was then re-assembled in Puno. The ship had to be specially designed so that each piece was small and light enough for a mule to carry it. It was retired by the Navy and was left for scrap metal. An English woman decided to save the vessel and it is in the process of being restored. It has the oldest working Volvo engine in the world. Another small weird but wonderful Peruvian discovery .
And this is where we leave you as from Puno we headed across the border to Bolivia....
Take care,
Naera and Jem
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