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!