Travel report #9
Peru - Puno, Cusco, Arequipa and Lima
Thursday Januar 11, 2001
We arrived in Puno, Peru, in the afternoon by bus from Copacabana, Bolivia.
Found a nice hotel and strolled around the city (though, we had to wait for the rain and "hagl" to stop...)
(A local woman with her store right outside our hotel window)
Nice city, good market and a bit touristy but ok pedestrian street. Very good pizzas here!!
Friday January 12, 2001
We had arranged guided tour to the floating islands (Uros) and to Taquile on Lake Titicaca. Early start (0700) and the first stop was at a floating island, a small one. Facinating experience, built only from "straw" material, very soft to walk on. The island we visited was only for tourism, and had several houses where they sold suvenirs. The kids were selling postcards (instead of begging...).
We also got to see 4-5 other islands around there, some really big ones with watch towers. This culture has existed for some hundred years, it was indian tribes that fled from the spanish and settled "on the sea". Quite a few people still live on these islands, lately more and more based on tourism rather than fishing...
The next stop was Taquile, 3 hours away. Taquile is a nice island with 2000 inahabitants. The first thing we noticed arriving there was that all the men were knitting!! Our guide explained that the island was organized as a socialist/communist community. Very facinating, everybody dressed in traditional costumes. You could tell on the mens hats if they were single, married or important! Also this island now lives more and more on tourist...
We hiked to the top of the island and had lunch there, then saw the main plaza. Nice!
Saturday January 13, 2001
Used this day to see Puno, walked around the city. In the afternoon we visited Sillustani, a pre-hispanic grave yard. The indians had built tombs up to 12 meter high!! Facinating.
Sunday January 14, 2001
Another day relaxing in Puno, lots of reading :-)
Headed for Cusco on a night bus.Monday January 15, 2001
Some night bus, it arrived at 3 in the morning!! Never do this...
We chose to follow a lady that recommended a hotel, though we did probably not get the best deal... (but what can you do in the middle of the night...)
We bought the Cusco visitor ticket giving access to about 15 sights in and around the city. We managed to rush through most of what was in the city this day, the museum all in spanish and not that good, the rest was catolic churches that we have seen before...
Tuesday January 16, 2001
Time to see some more interessting sights, we got on a bus taking us about 8 km out of the city. Walking back we saw "baņos del Inca", a nice ruin with running water and stuff. Then a fort (the red fort), nice buildings.
We got our first choclo con queso (sweet corn colb with cheese). Really good!
A nice walk back. The next stop a huge lime stone that was carved and had caves. The last stop was Saqsaywaman (not sexy woman), a fantastic site. The city of Cusco was the Inca capital, the puma was their favorite animal, represented power. Cusco is formed as a Puma! And Saqsaywaman is the head of this Puma, with very big teeth!
Unlucky for us, it started raining very bad and we had to rush around it...
Tried the local beer, Cusceņa :-) Really good!
(Aerial view of Cusco)
("Du store alpakka!")
Wednesday January 17, 2001
Visited one more ruin inside the city, ok, but not too facinating. Was according to the history covered by gold. Should have been here 500 years ago...
Arranged plans for the coming days, our visit to more ruins and Machu Picchu!
It rained really bad this afternoon...
Thursday January 18, 2001
Had arranged a guided tour this day. The first stop half way to Pisac, on a commercial tourist marked...
Approching Pisac was fantastic, the city placed by the river (part of the Amazon) in a deep valley. Fantastic view on the way down! This valley is the most productive agricultural area in Peru, very green and nice.
Then a long stop at the marked in Pisac, also very prepared for tourists...
We then visted the Pisac ruins, situated in the hillside above the town. Very facinating, lots of buildings and tempels. Also lots of tombs in the hillside!
Next stop Urubamba, we had only bread for lunch, the tour company wanting us to go into a fancy and expencive restaurant...
The next ruin was Ollantaytambo, very nice. As in Pisac, built in the hillside above the city. High up they had a temple construced of 5 enormous stones, each about 5 tonnes!! These stones had been transpored from the other side of the valley, about 7 km away!!!
This temple was the sun temple, and standing on it on June 21, the sun would turn the mountain across the valley, though a carving they had done there (a place you have to climb to access) as the figure of a face! Also in that hillside they had other carvings and a storage for seeds!
The city of Ollantaytambo was also facinating, kept with the original Inca structure. Narrow streets with canals for water...
The last stop was another cathedral...
Friday January 19, 2001
Early start, train to Aguas Calientes, the nearest town to Machu Picchu. On the train we met a Japanees couple, Yoshi & Kaoru, they had been traveling for more than 2 years. They had been to Norway and we talked a lot. Really nice people. Nice to have friends in Japan as well :-)
Found a nice hostal in Aguas Calientes and used the afternoon to see the town. Very touristy...
(B enjoy the porrige that most likely ruined the following day...)
Saturday January 20, 2001
Even earlier start, we wanted to get as much time as possible on Machu Picchu. But, it rained, and it did not stop as we waited, eating breakfast. Eventually we had to start walking in the rain. It eased a bit, but it rained the whole day...
Since we had already bought our return tickets, we had to go this day. We walked up (B getting sick on top of all) and spent about two ours up there. Very nice ruin. A lost city. Placed on the top of a moutain edge, looking down into rives on both sides. And moutains around it where you supposedly can get an even more fantastic view (but not this day, it was foggy...).
The Inca ruins are quite different from the ones in Mexico. Here we saw a lost city of ordinary houses and only one or two buildings with carved and perfectly fitted stones, meaning it was temples. In Mexico it was almost all temples...
We returned to Cusco on the train, again seated next to Yoshi & Kaoru :-)
Sunday January 21, 2001
Took the bus from Cusco to Arequipa. A long and humpy ride, with us the only non-locals. Was entertained by a woman that had bought only one seet and had her two dauthers of 8 and 10 with her, sitting by her feet and on her lap!!
Monday January 22, 2001
Arequipa is a very nice city. Coming from Cusco, it was getting away from a tourist zone. Arequipa is Peruīs second largest city. Very nice plaza and plenty of nice restaurants and a nice market.
We visted the Santa Catalina monestry. Facinating, a city within the city. They had streets in there!
The rest of the day enjoying the city. Better climat than we have had the last 2-3 weeks...
Tuesday January 23, 2001
Another guided tour, this one to Colca canyon. We started early, driving for 4 hours. Passing on the highest 4825 meters above sea level. Nice scenary with volcanos all around us.
(Funny stone/sand formations on the way)
Arrived in Chivay for lunch, got to know to Australian girls, Lisa and Sharon.
We had a really nice hotel included in the tour! In the afternoon they took us to a hot spring, fantastic! The water was boiling and we sat in there for about an hour. Really relaxing :-)
Chivay a nice little town. Nice place and a good marked.
Wednesday January 24, 2001
Early start again, this time driving down into the canyon. More and more facinating scenary. Arriving at Cruz del Condor around 9 to watch for condors. We got to see some, mostly far away, but one was flying fairly close.
(The tiny spot is a condor!)
Fantastic place. We could see down into the river hundreds of meeters below us, and moutains on both sides covered with snow. Did many stops, everywhere locals selling stuff or wanting us to take a photo...
(Local women selling all sorts of stuff on all the stops)
Arrived back in Arequipa in the afternoon.
Thursday January 25, 2001
Anther long bus ride, heading for Nazca. Finally back to the ocean, warm, but windy on a bus with no A/C.
Arriving in Nazca was weird. We were the only "Gringos" getting of the bus, and we were met by about 10 very agressive locals wanting us to stay at their fantastic, best hotel.
Ignoring all the "sharks", we headed for the hotel we had decided from the guide book. A really nice hotel (Pasada Guadalupe).
Walked around Nazca, ok place. We arranged flights and tour for the coming day.
Friday January 26, 2001
Early start, flying was best in the morning. We were a bit unlucky, having to go in different flights (the plane took 5 passanges). B in the first flight, IA in the second.
The lines was fantastic. Unbelivable how the indians thousands of years ago could construct figures they could not be able to see. We saw all the different drawings, the bird, the fish, etc.
The flight itself was also an experience, a small plane is very different from a big, and the pilot made some really sharp turns around the drawings.
It cost us some dollars, but it was absolutly worth it (the fligh including the afternoon tour for US$ 30 pr person).
The afternoon tour was to a graveyard. About 2000 years old, we could see scalps and bodies that had been fantasticly preserved. The desert is fairly dry... A surrealistic sight.
On the way there we could see the worlds highest sand mountain. It was called Cerro Blanco, the white mountain. It was about 1500 meters high!
Later we saw a canal system that the Nazca cultur (pre-Inca) had built, fantastic contructions. Then we stopped at a ceramics factory, getting a long lecture on how the Nazca maid their pottery. They have not been able to copy their quality!
The last stop at a gold "factory", we got to see how the extract gold from the minerals they get from the moutains. A lot of work and they produced about 2 grams of gold a day... (worth about US$20)
Spent one more night in Nazca. The most remarkable about this place is they noise from the taxis. Constantly using their horns to tell people "here I am"!
Saturday January 27, 2001
We got on the local bus for Ica. What a start, the bus started up 15 minutes before departure, making lots of noice and having to people running around it yelling "Ica, Ica, Ica". At time of departure we started driving, but only around the block, back to start, and another 2-3 minutes of noise and yelling...
Finally we were on the road, driving through the Nazca lines area, could not see a thing but flat desert with lots of stone...
Arrived in Ica in early afternoon. Spent two hours there, nice plaza. Around the city there were mountains of sand where lots of people walked up and sandboarded back down...
Another local bus took us to Pisco, where we found a really nice, good value hotel (El Condado on plaza de Belen).
When looking for a tour to the islands we met the Australians again, Lisa and Sharon. We booked the tour together.
Sunday January 28, 2001
Started the tour at 7.30, short bus ride before we boarded a fast boat with about 20 people. It was foggy and we did not see anything until we arrived at the bird watching site.
Very spectacular. The mountains had been carved by the sea, and had hundreds of caves and natural bridges. Fantastic place. And on and around all this it was thousands of birds and sea lions.
We even got to see pinguins.
The droppings from the birds has been and still is used commercially as fertilizer...
On the way back we were supposted to see a line figure similar to the Nazca, in a hillside, but it was too foggy...
We the stopped at a nice museum, describing the Pisco and Nazca cultures, both pre-Inca. We saw a ruin, and some flamingos. We continued to a beach and a huge cave, then seeing the cave from above it was supposed to look like a cathedral...
The last stop was at a beach, Sharon had a swim, Lisa and IA got into their swimming gear but never into the water... :-) Then we all relaxed with a beer!
Back in Pisco we met a norwegian, a SAS pilot travelling alone. The first norwegian we have met since down in Grand Canyon! (Well, except Gabriel in Mexico of course, but he didnīt talk that much...)
Monday January 29, 2001
We got on the bus for Lima, together with Lisa and Sharon. About half way, Sharonīs bag dissapeared. We stopped at a police station and the whole bus was searched without finding anything! Professional theefs. Bad luck...
Arriving in Lima, we all went to Hostal Espaņa, where also the norwegian showed up again. Lisa and Sharon had to fix passports and tickets, and we had dinner with the norwegian. His name was Inge Sollerud.
We also fixed tickets out of Lima and Peru, heading for Rio. But via Bogota, Colombia, so we stopped over there for 6 nights.
(Lima by night - IA and Inge)
Tuesday January 30, 2001
Lima is a dirty and not specially nice city. It could have been though. Down in Miraflores by the beach, it was almost like LA!
We visited two museums together with Inge. First the Museo de Nacional. Lots of information and artifacts from all the indian tribes, all the pre-Inca and then the Inca with a big model of Machu Picchu. Good museum.
Then we continued to the Museo de Oro, the Gold museum. This was an unbelivable museum. It was a private collection and the owner ripped everybody visiting for 20 Soles. He must be a notorious collector. In the basement of the museum, it was thousands of gold artifacts. No descriptions, only gold figures and jewelry stuffed into exibition boxes. It was so full that it was impossible to absorbe it all.
Then on the ground floor he had all his war artifacts. Hundreds of rifles, helmets, swords etc. As with the gold artifacts, to much stuff in one place...
On the first floor, textiles and carpets, the same...
We then met Lisa and Sharon on McDonals and later had a nice dinner with them.
Our hostel had two scalps and a baby mumie, too many of them in Peru when a hostal can have such artifacts!
(Had a nice dinner with Lisa and Sharon the last night in Lima)
Wednesday January 31, 2001
Our last day in Peru. Flying out of this country cost you US$25 in airport tax!!