Bus Ride from Cusco to Puno

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Freddy met us at the hotel and we had a cup of coffee together as we discussed the rest of our trip. He said he would be "following" us until we got to Iquitos. He took us to our tourist bus and we left Cusco behind.

Our tour guide, Coco, spent the first 30 minutes telling us about what we would see and then would break-in along the way adding tidbits as we passed villages or landmarks. This would be a 9-1/2 hour luxury bus with five scheduled stops.

A short distance from Cusco, we passed through the small town of Chuta, famous for its one-foot round loaves of bread. Tanya, our hostess, gave all of us a sample which was slightly sweet and very good. There were many women selling these along the roadside.

Our first stop was Andhahuaylillas, the Sistine Chapel of S. America, St. Peter the Apostle. It is the second oldest church in S. America and has to have the most gold leaf! Nearly all the artwork and the incredible painted ceiling all date back to 1620. We have been in a lot of churches and this one ranks near the top.

Along the route, called "The Trail of the Sun", Coco explained that all the red balloons hanging from the homes were for Mother's Day. Tanya gave all the mothers on the bus a red fabric rose.

Coco also pointed out several pre-Inca ruins with estimated dates of 700 to 800 AD. For the first couple of hours, we followed a large river with its wide valley and then rising hills with terraced crops, eucalyptus (not native, but planted for harvesting and building).

Throughout our trip up to this point, there has been brick making by individual homeowners. They make them with local dirt, some mortar, straw, place in a mold, with final drying in the sun. It seems like people build one story, move in and then when time and resources allow, build the second story. Half the homes in this valley seem to have 8 feet of rebar sticking out their roofs.

The river was well used. We saw oxen loaded with large containers of water being led up the bank, women doing laundry, people fishing and families celebrating Mother's Day with a picnic.

Our second stop was Raqchi, an Inca city with a population of over 4,000, nearly three times the size of Machu Picchu. As we said earlier, there were four major roads leading out of Cusco and one of these roads led to Raqchi.

The Spaniards destroyed most of Raqchi, only foundations for the most part remain. Raqchi is situated in the middle of a very wide river valley which is a total contrast to what we saw on the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu.

Just before we began the steep ascent to the La Raya pass,14,000 feet, we stopped for lunch in the small village of Sicuani. As we had our buffet lunch, we watched the llamas and alpacas graze. This is where we took a photo of Sue, a small girl and an alpaca that we posted on Facebook.

When we reached the La Raya pass, there wasn't a tree in sight, only arid grassland. In the distance were jagged snow-capped peaks that had to be 18,000 feet. There were many local venders selling alpaca products and Sue got some alpaca slippers for when we move to Alaska!

After the pass, the high plateau stretches for miles as the river turned from small mountain stream into a 200-foot wide flow. On this high plateau, the farmers grazed cattle, llamas, alpacas and sheep. In the areas closest to the river, there were several grain crops.

Our last stop was Pucara, a small pre-Inca town with a beautiful church on the square and an interesting museum with an altar where the pre-Incas performed human sacrifices and some sculptures that depicted decapitated people! We also saw people walking from the church in a funeral procession.

We passed through Juliaca which has a population of 400,000 and is the fastest growing city in Peru. It is an ugly town with mostly unpaved streets and looks truly third world. It turns out it is a crime ridden city where they sell black market goods from Bolivia. It is not a safe town even for Peruvians. The Plaza de Armas was a highlight and the hundreds of tricycle cars. We had no interest in getting off the bus!

We arrived in Puno at the bus station about 5:00pm and were transferred to our hotel on the shore of Lake Titicaca, Sonesta Posadas del Inca. The hotel was beautiful but was far from the city center. We were counting on doing laundry in Puno but didn't want to pay by the piece which is the only service the hotel offered. So, we ended up washing some clothes in the bathtub.

We ate dinner in the hotel where the food and service were top notch. The trout wrapped in bacon was amazing!

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