Peru Tour - 6 - Puno

30 Dec 2005 – to Puno

It was a cold night, there was no heating in the room. Could not sleep well but had to get up early 5:45 am. Our wake up call was going to be our own Peruvian guy coming to knock on our door. But he never came. Had barely had our breakfast by 6:45. Shirley was off today so our breakfast was a little bit of a mess.

Our guide came to pick us up for the drive to Puno. There were some familiar tourist faces on the bus from the days before. The bus was quite comfortable. We will stop in many places on the way to Puno – 1) Ardahuylillas, 2) Raqchi, 3) San Pedro, 4) Sicllani, 5) La Raya and 6) Pukara.

The initial scenery was like that on the way to Machu Pichhu – all mountains and river – all beautiful. The valley was clearer i.e. there was more flat land.

Our first stop was Ardahuylillas. Our guide, Manuela, gave us a good introduction about the cathedral.  It was about 400 years old with some of the original paintings still there. After the earthquake and Spanish invasion the cathedral was renovated.  The front wall of the cathedral was covered with gold leaf work. The framework was cedar wood covered with 24 carat gold. It was all really beautiful.

Next stop Raqchi. The temple here is quite different from everywhere else.  This was made of mud on the top, with the bottom is stone. It was shaped like a hut, a row of wall like structures in the middle and two rows of columns of about 8-9 on either side suggesting that the structure ay have been a hut like structure. There were residential quarters behind the temple. Most were made from mud.  It was all very symmetrical except for the first one – maybe it was the priest’s hut? 

On the side there are many silos. This area is very rich agriculturally and they seem to transport grain all over the place. The Inca Empire used to be quite huge – from Colombia to Pacific Ocean into Bolivia.

There was a place for offering sacrifice – usually black llamas as they are rare. There was a huge wall surrounding the temple.  So interesting. I wish I could go back in time for a while to see how Inca people lived. Outside the temple were vendors (of course). I did end up getting some bracelets and toys.

At 11:30 am we stopped at a tourist spot to see more llamas and do more shopping. The baby llama was so naughty, it kept running around and spit at anyone it did not like. Baby llamas are so cute! After 15 mins we departed for Sicuani where we had lunch. This was not the usual buffet. There were a few ladies who had made home cooked meals. We had soup, spinach-corn, Quinoa grain and quinoa mixed with eggs and fried – so yummy!! The desert was custard…good also.

Did end up buying a couple scarfs made of Alpaca wool – really soft. After another 45 mins of driving we reached half way to Puno. This place was 4335 m high (about 14,000 ft.). It was cold and the mountains were quite different. Not barren but not lush either. The scenery had also changed. At this point, La Raya, we could see glaciers far away. So picturesque. There was a huge row of vendors; and I yet again bought another scarf and a cap. Most prices are pretty much the same.

And then hail came down. It hailed for about 15-20 mins while we were on the road. La Raya was just a picture spot stop. The scenery changed again – now it was more barren. There were more llamas to be seen, fewer people, no huts, really large valleys. Mountains were getting smaller. It rained for a long time on the way. I took some power naps!

The bus was leaking! How funny! And I did have tea on the bus, twice – good tea.

Reached Pukara around 3:35 pm. visited a museum of pre-Inca artifacts. Manuela compared the pre-Inca with Egypt – no mention of Chinese or Indian civilization.

The Andean cross that I was curious about came from pre-Inca civilization. This civilization was more into sculptures. However, I think they were very violent, from all the history I was learning.

Passed Julianna on the way. Small city with an airport. It was quite big, but really dirty with garbage everywhere. Almost all Peruvian towns have been this way. We reached Puno by 5 pm. Our wonderful guide Placido was waiting for us. We drove into the city to the hotel. The city is also quite dirty. Our guide told us about the next two days program and luckily we were able to call home to wish happy New Year to everyone.

Puno

We were only about one block away from Plaza de Armas, so we decided to walk there. It was smaller than Cusco’s plaza but still quite nice. Walked around to see the vendors. Bought some more little trinkets. I am enjoying the shopping here. Very different and affordable. Came back and had last of puris for dinner! Repacked stuff for tomorrow. It will be one night stay at an island in Lake Titicaca.

All in all good day – it was a relaxing day, but I can still the pain from the mountain climb of yesterday!