FrugalMoon

Floating Islands & Soaring Condors

 

From Cusco to Lake Titicaca
The trip to Cusco to Lake Titicaca is a pretty long haul, so instead of taking a regular intercity bus, we took the Inka Express, which made a couple of stops at sites along the way.  It was a good way to break up the trip, although considering that we were both dealing with stomach bugs, we probably would have been fine with a shorter trip, too.  The stops included the archaeological sites ofAndahuaylillas and Raqchi, and we´ll make sure to post some pictures.

Lake Titicaca & the Islands (Uros & Taquile)
Our base for seeing the lake was Puno, which is a large an somewhat unsightly city.  We managed to find a cheap but nice hotel next to the main drag, which had some nice restaurants and cafes, but overall the city ofPuno is not memorable.

The next day we got up early for a tour of the some of the islands.  The first stop was the floating Uros Islands, a truly unforgettable sight.  The islands are not in fact made out of land, but are built out of reeds and their roots.  Although the history is somewhat unclear, the islands were probably created by their inhabitants in order to escape the Incas and/or the Spanish.  While the population of the islands (which number approximately 30) used to be around 8,000, only about 2,500 inhabitants remain, with their main livelihood in fishing and tourism.  Because the islands are made out of reeds, and are merely floating on Lake Titicaca (although they are anchored to the lake floor), they are constantly decomposing, and need to constantly be rebuilt by the inhabitants.  At this point, given the relative poverty of the islands, the experience is quite touristy, but still definitely worthwhile.

After the Uros Islands, our tour continued to Taquile Island, which was far less interesting that Uros.  The island is significantly larger, and has an agricultural-based economy, but honestly, other than that, there was really nothing of note.

Arequipa
We took a four star bus from Puno to Arequipa.  It was basically like business class in an airplane in terms of the quality of the seats, and they showed two movies in English, which was fun. It was a five hour ride on curving  mountain roads.  We arrived late that night in Arequipa to find that the hostel we had reserved did not match it´s description onHostelWorld .  Basically it was a filthy, noisy place.  So, we took our luggage and walked up the street to find a really nice little hotel that was only $10 more per night, Hostal Solar. We have a cute little room with a balcony, and cable TV, so we can watch BBC World to our heart´s content. 

In total we´ll have spent six nights in Arequipa.  After moving around for a week and a half spending one night here and one night there, we decided it would be nice to settle in and relax in the beautiful city of Arequipa--and beautiful it is!  In the center most of the buildings are constructed out of a white volcanic stone with intricate carvings, arched doorways and vaulted ceilings.  There is excellent food in this city, which we of course have been enjoying everyday.  Our favorite is the little Turkish place that serves excellentdoner kabobs and a local sandwich place that we had to wait in line for to get a table. 

We also visited a couple very interesting museums while we´ve been here.  We went to the Museo Santuarios Andinos, which holds Incan artifacts, mostly those buried with the victims of sacrifices, and the museum holds a famous mummy.  The mummy is called Juanita, and she was a  12 or 13 year old girl who was sacrificed by the Incas to a local volcano.  The body was found recently, and had been frozen so was in nearly perfect condition.  Scientists have been able to determine all sorts of information from her body--for instance the fact that her stomach was empty except for the strong corn-based alcoholic drink she had had before her death, that she had good nutrition during her life, and that she had died by a single blow to her head.  We also visited a small contemporary art museum.  It had some really great paintings, and also some old photographs of Arequipa in what appeared to be the 1920s or 1930s based on the cars and dress.  We also visited theMonasterio de Santa Catalina, which is a convent that is a small city unto itself with a hundred houses and 60 streets.  According to our guidebook, as many as 175 nuns lived there during the 17th and 18th centuries.  Nuns still live in a portion of it today. 

Colca Canyon and Beyond
From Arequipa we took an overnight guided trip to the Colca Canyon. Some say the canyon is deeper than the grand canyon, and that it is the biggest canyon in the world, although to be honest it did not look that way to us.  Perhaps it is because it is measured from the top of the mountains, and visitors cross the road from somewhere midway down the canyon.  According to our guidebook the canyon is 3,400 meters deep, double that of the grand canyon.  It is truly spectacular.  Perhaps the most amazing sight were the thousands of stone terraces which were built in 800 B.C. and used for farming.  The terracing system, built on the canvas walls was irrigated by thesnowmelt from the nearby volcanoes. 

The drive to Colca Canyon took us only about 150 km outside of Arequipa, but the trip took nearly four hours because of the poor quality of the bumpy roads. The drive took us through a nature reserve, which protected the vicunas (like Llamas but smaller and with finer fur.  The Fur of vicunas is very expensive--for instance, our guide told us a scarf could cost well over $200!).  For a period vicunas were endangered, but now that this land has been set aside for them their numbers are rising again.  It was very interesting to see them grazing and running through the hillsides.  They are graceful, cute animals.  Our first night in the canyon area, we stayed in the largest town there, and had dinner with our tour group and many other tour groups.  A local band played--who were really great--and we saw some traditional dancers. 

The next morning we got up very early and drove two hours into the canyon in order to see the famous condors flying.  Every morning the condors start at the top of the canyon and cruise on currents of air, floating through the skies.  We must have seen about fifteen of the amazing birds.  Like vultures, the condors are scavengers.  Their wingspan is nearly 9 feet across.  From our lookout we could see them fly over our heads and then descend deep into the canyon.  We stayed for about an hour just watching the birds fly around.  Then it was back to Arequipa for another two nights. 

Next we go to Lima for two nights, and we are looking forward to trying some of the world class cuisine there--especially the ceviche!  On Saturday we arrive back in Boston and get back to the grind.  Benny will be starting an internship this summer at Greater Boston Legal Services.  Alison will begin studying hard for her first comprehensive exam--please send motivational vibes her way because she needs it!

Journey through Peru´s Sacred Valley

Cusco:

We arrived in Cusco on Monday, early in the a.m.  We spent two days in Cusco, but the experience is a bit of a blur.  Cusco is at an altitude of over 11,000 ft., and this is not an easy adjustment having come from sea level.  We found that we were very tired and a little disoriented as we adjusted to it, though we still found time to explore this lovely city.

 

We wandered around the narrow, dirty cobblestone streets, up and down the hills.  We also visited the Incan fortress outside the city center.  At the center of Cusco is a piazza with many cafes where you can drink coffee or the traditional coca tea from a balcony overlooking the square.  From there you could observe many tourists being solicited by local vendors selling hand knitted hats, gloves, and finger puppets, paintings, and banana cake.  One of the most amazing sights that we observed in Cusco and other places are the local women who wear traditional clothing, consisting of knee length puffy skirts, woven shawls tied around their back in which they carried all sorts of things (babies, food, and goods to sell), and wide brimmed hats. 

 

And, of course, we found plenty of time to enjoy the local cuisine.  Highlights include the coca tea, which is the leaves of cocaine steeped in hot water, and best enjoyed with a lot of sugar. Supposedly the tea helps people adjust to the altitude, but I´m not sure we noticed an impact of any kind.  We also found an amazing juice place, which had shelves filled with fresh fruits--papayas that were the size of pumpkins, green skinned oranges, and dark colored pineapples.  Ali tried the watermelon juice and Benny had a mixture of cactus fruit and melon, and both were fantastic. 

 

Train to Maccu Picchu and Aquas Callientes :

On Friday we woke at 5:30 a.m. to catch our taxi to the train station in a neighboring town.  We then took the train to Aquas Callientes (yes, a town called Hot Water), which is at the base of Maccu Picchu.  The train was very nice, and owned by the Orient Express company.  During the three hour ride we descended in altitude over 5,000 feet.  From the train as we near Aquas Callientes we can see masses of the porters who carry supplies for the trekkers on the Inca trail.  Some of the porters carried packs that were nearly as big as them, and they have to carry them miles and miles up and down mountains.  Aquas Callientes is a touristy, but fun city.  The setting is gorgeous.  We are surrounded by lush mountains--much more tropical than Cusco-- and a river rushes through the center of town.  Everything in Aquas Callientes is overpriced, and we worry that Maccu Picchu will be ruined by the tourism, but in the end we are not disappointed.  The cost of entrance to Maccu Picchu is steep, so we decide to wait to go until the next morning so we can enjoy a full day there. 

 

We spend Friday wandering around Aquas Callientes.  For some reason there seemed to be more children than adults living in the town.  During our lunch we sat outside and must have seen thirty or more adorable children playing all around us.  Kids as young as two or three seemed to be playing on the streets, often without parents nearby.  It seemed that children ran the city.  

 

Maccu Picchu:

We board the bus at 7a.m. to make our way up the winding mountain road to Maccu Picchu. 

We wind higher and higher, the road right along the cliffside, and suddenly we can see the ruins emerge.  They sweep across the top side of the mountain and are spectacular.  Before exploring the ruins of Maccu Picchu itself we decide to go as quickly as we can toward the entrance of Huayna Picchu, which is another temple and agricultural site of the Incas, which is on a neighboring mountain, the peak of which is much higher than Maccu Picchu, and overlooks the ruins of Maccu Picchu.  They only allow 200 people to hike up each morning, and we got in line just in time--we were numbers 194 and 195!  They are very strict about the limits, which seems to help keep the path in impeccable shape.  Before hiking up we have to sign in, and as we hiked up the steep path along a cliff-side, we wondered if it is to ensure that everyone returns safely.  The hike up Huayna Picchu feels nearly vertical--you climb up a path of steep large stairs for nearly an hour before reaching the top.  The view is both spectacular and terrifying at the same time. We can see the neighboring mountains and valley and all of the ruins of Maccu Picchu. 

 

It took us over two hours to go up and down the Huayna Picchu hike, and by the end our legs feel like wet noodles.  It would be a challenging hike to do anywhere, but given that it is in high altitude makes it much more challenging.  We took a quick break after the hike, and then headed back into Maccu Picchu to wander around the ruins there.  You can climb all around them, inside structures, across terraces that once held the crops, and peer out windows that overlook the mountains and valley.  Llamas (which are actually pronounced yamas for all you Ramona Quimby fans out there who can recall this reference) grazed on grass in the ruins.  We spent a couple hours walking around Maccu Picchu, and finally boarded the bus back to Aquas Callientes, exhausted, sweaty, but feeling like the experience totally lived up to, even exceeded our expectations.  Pictures truly cannot do it justice, though we tried to capture the beauty. 

Sacred Valley:

After Maccu Picchu we took the train to Ollantatambo, a small village in the Sacred Valley area.  It was a lovely town, which held more Incan ruins, smaller in scale than Maccu Picchu, but still very interesting to explore.  The town also had a great town square, and we had lunch there at a local Chifa place--Peruvian-Chinese food.  Actually it was very similar to Chinese food in the U.S., but perhaps a little less greasy. 

 

The next day we took a taxi to visit Moray.  Moray is an Incan site of agricultural experimentation.  Basically it is a set of ringed plateaus that move lower and lower down into a mountain, and each rung supposedly had a different microclimate.  As we hiked into the center, we could definitely feel that the air became much warmer.  Then we went to visit the salt mines.  The Incans had developed a system to dehydrate salt water to obtain salt that was used to preserve food. 

 

Next we went to the town of Pisac.  We were tired after our long day of sightseeing, so made it an early night...The next morning, though, we got up early to wander around the huge Sunday market.  The market held people selling produce, meat, cooked foods, and all sorts of crafts, mostly things woven out of Alpacca wool, which is extremely soft.  From there we took a local bus back to Cusco, a 1 hour ride for less than $1!  Tonight we stay in Cusco, and then tomorrow we are taking a bus to Puno, the town on Lake Titticacca.  It is an eight hour tour bus trip that makes a number of stops at various sights...that´s it for now...We´ll try to blog again soon.

We're Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack

It has been a really long year, so for those of you who actually remember that this little corner of cyberspace still exists, welcome back.  Ali just finished up her second year of social work school at Boston College, and Benny wrapped up his dreaded 1L year at Northeastern University School of Law.  As we write this, we're  gearing up for a 3 week trip to Peru.  We leave tomorrow night, and get into Cusco early the next morning.  We'll try to update a few times from the road, so feel free to check back (or better yet, just subscribe through the feed in the upper left hand corner).  We'll also keep an up-to-date map on the right.  Enjoy!