Advertisement
Published: February 17th 2011
Colca Canyon, Lake Titicaca, Cusco, Machu Picchu
To reach the Colca Canyon we crossed the altiplano through a Vicuna reserve. These small animals are smarter than the others (Alpacas, Llamas and Guanacos) in that they won't breed in captivity, so they are free to roam except for a once-a-year shearing. At one point in our journey we reached an altitude of 4,800m (about 15,600 feet) before descending into the Colca valley. The high altitude affects almost everybody, and we were no exception. Next morning we set off early to Cruz del Condor, to see these huge birds (with wingspans up to 15ft) as they soared up on the thermals. To say the Colca Canyon is deep is a bit like saying the Himalayas are high - it's 10,700 feet deep (over 2 miles), but unlike the Grand Canyon it was formed by a geological fault rather than river erosion. It's also much less steep-sided, so that much of the valley sides are terraced and cultivated. The next stop was Puno on the shores of Lake Titicaca. The lake is impressive - larger than Holland - and the highest navigable lake in the world. We saw the Uros Islands, which are
floating reed islands in the shallower part of the lake. Sadly, these are now just tourist attractions, each island being visited daily by many tour boats. In contrast, Taquile Island, is solid and attractive. One of the larger islands on the lake at 7km long, it is home to around 1,500 Quechua-speaking people. It's amazingly fertile and pretty, with terraced slopes scattered with pre-Inca ruins. Next day we took a 10 hour bus ride to Cusco, stopping ar Raqchi, a large Inca temple. Here there was an avenue of houses aligned so that the sun shone directly between them on the summer solstice - very much like Stonehenge. Cusco is a destination in itself: a Spanish colonial city built upon original Inca foundations - huge blocks of tightly-interlocked granite which have withstood major earthquakes which severely damaged the buildings above. There's a famous painting of 'The Last Supper' in Cusco Cathedral, painted by a local artist, where the main dish is roast guinea pig and Judas has the face of their hated conquistadore, Francisco Pizarro. Then, finally, to Machu Picchu. Mapi, as the locals call it, does not disappoint. It's setting, high up on top of a green-covered mountain, surrounded
by many other misty green-covered mountains, is nothing short of spectacular. Also, as it was not discovered by the Spanish, it is still largely complete. It's hard to overestimate the skill and labour needed to cut, shape, and build the temples, houses and public spaces hundreds of feet up on a cloudy mountain-top. Mapi is still remote. It's 72 miles from Cusco to Aguas Calientes (the closest town to Mapi, about which the less said the better) and the single-track, narrow-guage, Toytown railway took over 2 hours to cover just the final 27 miles from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes. Our next stop is the fascinatingly named Puerto Maldonado, on the Madre de Dios River, one of the tributaries of the Amazon, where we will spend 4 days in a jungle lodge with open sides - more later!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.124s; Tpl: 0.034s; cc: 7; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0567s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
dianne Bret Harte
non-member comment
Dazzling photos!--I can't imagine how you're taking it all in, plus doing all the reading and writing that plays into your wonderful blog. Adelante!!