Peru

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We went on a boat tour on Lake Titikaka which, upside down is shaped like a puma hunting a rabbit. It is a huge lake at 3800m above sea level so one of the highest navigable lakes in the world. The guide we had was great he was telling us all about the Aiamara and Quechua tribes that used to live around the lake who have their own languages and traditions. We visited Uros a group of floating islands where they speak Quechua andhave houses, kitchens, lookout points, primary schools and a basic medical centre all built from reeds. The islands themselves are also built from peet, with reeds laid on the top. We got dressed up in traditional dress by a girl called Melissa who was so friendly and was telling us about her life and what the colours mean, for example if a woman wears bright colours in her plaits then she is soltera (single). We also tried eating the reeds and I held a friendly fish! The people that live in Uros made handicrafts to make a living, the women weave very colourful weavings about their lives and the men make things from the reeds like mini boats, houses and other creatures or things. I bought a weaving from Melissa and she gave me a necklace, she was so sweet. Then we all got on a reed boat to go to another island after saying goodbye to everyone and the women sang us a song in Quechua and then sang 'my bonnie sailed over the ocean´! Back on our boat we made our way to a large island in the middle of the lake which might have been called Taquile (I can´t actually remember) Had fresh trout from the lake for lunch which was yummy. We met a really lovely family originally from Peru that now live in Australia they had lots of children between all of them and were palying lots of fun games on the boat. After lunch we went on a walk to the plaza on the island, which was, of course, uphill. The view was very pretty though. The walk down was quite long and steep so natuarally Tracey and I stopped for chocolate and drinks half way down!

The floating islands were probably one of my favourite parts of my trip so far - it was so much fun and so good to meet different people and learn about their lifestyles.
We had some time to kill once we got back on dry land before out bus out of Puno so we went to the closest restaurant we could find because it was freezing, as it very often is at altitude with no sun! Had some lovely food on the plaza and then caught our bus to Arequipa.

We arrived in Arequipa at 4am, the poor guy who we woke up to let us in to the hostel. It was a slow start but we found a lovely cafe for lunch on the plaza and then went to a place called Ekeko. It was like a shop full of art and statues and nativity scenes that looked Peruvian (related to each culture), it was really interesting to wander around and a saw Paddington Bear too! The Ekeko is supposed to be good luck and he has many different guises, sometimes he is a miner, sometimes a baker or a musician. Franki and I then found a church that was making very loud singing noises so we went in to find some very energetic singing going on, it looked fun. Later in the evening we went to a roof top restaurant with the lovely view of the plaza and the cathedral and a snow topped mountain.
The next day we were going on a tripto Colca Canyon, the deepest canyon in the world which is famous for being a home of condors as well. It was a really early start at 2.30am. The first place we stopped was called Chalca where we had hot drinks and breakfast before heading to Condor Cross to (hopefully) see some condors. There were a good few that we saw soaring over the canyon, it was great to watch! The canyon itself has lots of Inca and pre-Inca agriculture terraces, a way of irrigation in the mountains. Our guide also told us about the two different tribes that used to live in the valley and how they used to shape the skulls of the children into a peak or flat depending on the tribe. They did this while they were children because the skull is still soft, though the pain it caused often caused the children to die. There are also tombs in the mountain that are dyed red on the outside with cochineal. One girl and one boy would be sacrificed and buried with the deceased so that they had servants in the afterlife, this time they did not feel pain because they chewed coca leaves and were given chicha, an alcoholic drink made from corn! After all the excitment from the Canyon we went to some hot springs to relax for a bit before going to see the mountains at 4000m altitude. On the journey home the guide was telling us about the mountains and the volcano that is something like 70 km from Arequipa that is due to erupt and if it does so most of the people in Arequipa will not be able to escape it. They also have other dangers such as the earthquakes that happen every 10 years, the last one measured 7 or 8, and because they are on a fault line they get tremours every 2-3 days. As if all of that isn´t enough the ozone is very thin and more and more people are developing skin cancer. It does make you wonder why you would live there but there is a lot of industry around Arequipa they have mines for silver and copper and make concrete at factories just outside the city. Even so, I wouldn´t live there....

Then there was the nightmare bus. We had bought our tickets from an agency who turned out to have completely ripped us off as well as almost making us miss the bus by turning up late to take us. We and our bags we taken off the bus to talk to the fraud squad about how much we paid for the tickets etc etc. It was a nightmare and when we were eventually allowed back on none of us slept very well at all! Still, we made it to Cusco in one piece.

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In Cusco we had a lovely dorm with a balcony and en suite with 5 other girls so we all got some good rest. The cathedral complex is made up of 3 churches. We did an audio tour and I found it very intersting how the Andean culture had been incorporated into the church, supposedly to help them understand the new religion but also so they could go to the Catholic church to worship their own gods, the snake, the sun, the moon, the mountains. This is particularly the case in some of the art, for example the painting of the last supper in the cathedral had a guinea pig not a lamb, they are drinking chicha not wine. The virgin is also depicted as atriangular shape like the mountain, her head the sun, her dress the moon. There are also things like llamas instead of camels or horses. In teh Sagrada Familia is the first cross that came to South America which must be very special for the catholics that live here. We had lunch and did some shopping for birthdays, Tracey´s in particular which was imminent and then went to another church on the square to look around.

That evening there was a new bar opening at our hostel so we decided to celebrate Tracey´s birthday early because it was going to be on the Inca Trail and had lots of drinks with the girls from our room and someof us danced on the bar (Tracey). There were lots of people in very weird costumes because the theme was twisted glitz and glam and it was a really fun night. The next day was not quite so fun though, a very lazy day was had by all.

We moved to a quieter hostel the next day to rest before Inca. By this point it was 2 days before the inca trail and I was still not feeling 100% having had a cold for the past week or so. The girls had decided to walk up to some ruins to practise for Inca so I took the bus. We had a good wander around before deciding that the rain was coming and getting a taxi back (Tracey and Franki walked again). Then I didn´t move from the room again except to order a pizza!

The day before Inca we went shopping for supplies most notably snacks packed full of sugar and water. We had our briefing in the evening and met our guide Sol who was lovely and our group. Then we went back and packed and had an early night, it was going to be an early start being collected at 4am!

You´ll have to read the next one for Inca Trail! Love Jen xxxxx

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