Puno to Cusco

 A long bus ride today starting from Puno on the shore of Lake Titicaca. 

We drove through a high mountain pass in the Andes and stopped at the highest point of over 4,300 metres.

It was beautiful, but very headachy, and then we travelled quickly downhill and my headache soon disappeared.

We then stopped Raqchi which has a very big Inca settlement dating from 1440.

It is on the route of the ancient Inca trails which run across most of south America, and total  more than 24,000 kilometres of paved paths.

Here is Darren standing on a few metres it.

Next we visited a richly decorated Catholic church which had been built on top of the ruins of an old Inca temple. This was built by the Spanish conquerors and missionaries who were trying to convert the local people to Christianity. 

A few months ago the town was hit by an earthquake, and the church tower is now held together with beams and is in a dangerous condition. The same could be said of this street just around the corner.

To be honest, today was more of a long transfer with lots of beautiful scenery, and not the most exciting of stops.

However, we drank some excellent coffee, we are still eating lots of chocolate and Peru is an amazing country to admire from the comfort of a bus.

Lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world, at nearly 4,000 metres above sea level. It is also enormous, with just over half of it in Peru, and the rest in Bolivia.

We went on a boat trip today to see two amazing groups of people who live on islands in the lake.

The first actually live on a floating island that they built themselves!

It is built mostly from reeds lashed together, it is round and is about 25 metres across. Six families live on the island and they share all of the tasks between them.

Their ancestors have lived in this way since the 1500s, and there are currently about 100 similar islands spread across the lake.

However, the islands only last about 25 years before they start to rot and disintegrate, and then they have to build a replacement.

They make money nowadays from visitors and selling hand embroidered crafts, and I bought a beautiful table runner from a lady who was even shorter than the women on the mainland.

We went on a little boat trip on a canoe that was also made from reeds, and then watched a storm head across the water.

Luckily it was a false alarm as the storm stayed in the distance, and we left to go to our next island.

This one was more traditional and extremely beautiful, l our boat pulled up to a tiny jetty and we went ashore.

It was difficult to remember that this was a freshwater lake as it looked like a Caribbean island.

This one is also inhabited by long standing indigenous people, and it is illegal for any foreigners, or even non island dwelling Peruvians to buy land here.

These islanders also make money from visitors and selling crafts and all of the men learn how to knit at a young age and make intricately patterned hats.

The altitude made it very difficult for us to even walk around, and just walking up the path from the jetty left everyone completely out of breath and with a headache.

The locals are of course used to it and put on a little show. They then got volunteers up for a little dance, which is always my sort of thing, but I just didn't have the energy. 

Apparently their bodies have adapted to have larger lungs, big hearts and extra red blood cells to pump blood faster around their bodies, or something similar.

We didn't have that advantage so struggled to make walk the two kilometres across the island to where our boat had docked.

We did still manage to admire the scenery.

It took our boat about 90 minutes to get back to Puno and our hotel and I was shattered. I haven't moved from the hotel bed since, and Darren went out to get supplies of chocolate, peanuts and fruit juice and I am feeling much better now.

My favourite photo from today.

Amazing canyon and watching the condors

We set off this morning and soon stopped at the little town of Yanque. Each morning the local people put on a dance display for any passing tourists.

Not only does this picture show one of the dancers in national dress, but also in the background a volcano is quietly erupting.

We also got into the tourist spirit, and got a photo with two tiny ladies and their llamas.

After that bit of excitement we started our drive along the Colca Canyon. The canyon has a beautiful river running along it's base, and then the most amazing tettaces on either bank.

It was so lovely that it didn't look real.

But then the terraces ended and we reached the National GeoParque, and had to pay to visit the Mirador de la Cruz del Cóndor.

Our guide says that it is where a large number of condors nest, and if we are lucky they will be soaring around in the morning before heading down to the Pacific to feed for the day.

Well, we were so lucky! There was up to about 20 birds all soaring up and down the canyon, sometimes right over our heads. They have a wingspan of about 3 metres and when they passed low overhead their shadow was quite a surprise.

They were also landing on a nearby rock, taking a few minutes break and then flying off again.

What an incredible experience and then all of a sudden, they were gone. 

We left too and stopped at the little town of Maca where we tried the local drink called Colca Sour, which I think is a spirit made from the local prickly pear cactus.

We drank ours while sitting on a bench next to a very friendly alpaca, and close to a large life like statue of a local worker.

Cheers!

Arequipa to Chivay

We set off up into the Andes mountains this morning with strict instructions from our guide to try to reduce the effects of altitude sickness.

Basically we had no choice but to eat lots of the lovely local chocolate and wash it down with coca cola.

At first we were driving along the Pan American Highway which is the longest motorable road in the world.

It was only a single lane in either direction on our section, and it went relentlessly upwards.

We took a break at a café at about 3,600 metres above sea level, and we were all feeling good. Our eyes were peeled looking out for the wild vicúnas and there was great excitement when we saw one in the distance.

We all piled out of the coach, some with binoculars, and all I could see some brown blobs in the distance. However , we then started to see lots of them, in all directions.

 This isn't the best picture, but you do also get to see a couple of Peruvian geese.

We did much better with the alpacas and llamas as these were domesticated and kept by the local people for their wool and also meat.

I was almost run over by one llama that decided it wanted to cross the road as I was taking it's picture.

We carried on upwards towards the highest point of just under 5,000 metres above sea level. By then our guide had given us coca leaves to chew on one side of our mouth only. It slightly numbed the area so it felt a bit like going to the dentist, and she also kept giving us essential oils that we had to inhale deeply.

After that the only way was down, with more' beautiful views and lots of camelids.

Not that far down though as we are staying overnight in Chivay, which is still at 3,600 metres.

We had a great beer and sandwich in the centre of town for lunch, but our hotel is about 1 kilometre out of the town up a steep hill. 

We were keen to return to for dinner, but pulling my wheelie case up a short distance to the reception desk so totally wore me out that I had to have a lie down. 

And the hotel restaurant was really rubbish and five times the price!! 

Alpacas and sunsets

I think that the jetlag and altitude is catching up with me, but fortunately we had a relaxing free day today.

However, about ten minutes walk from our hotel was Mundo Alpacas, which I am translating as Alpaca World. 

We got to see the alpacas and llamas close up and then fed them alfalfa which is grown in the local fields.

They belong to the camelid animal family which includes camels (obviously). In Peru there are alpacas, llamas and vicúnas. I am not an expert on them yet, and so far my understanding is that llamas are the biggest, alpacas are in the middle and vicuña are the smallest.

Then we had a bit of a lazy day before heading into the beautiful town square to watch the sunset over the incredible buildings.

Then we tried the local cocktail, pisco sour, and enjoyed the atmosphere and a very popular local dance troup.

Ps, it's seems that the local people are mostly very short so I can easily see over all of their heads.

Arequipa, Peru

We have been travelling for two days, but we have now arrived at Arequipa, Peru.

It is about 1,000 Kms south of the capital, Lima and is over 2,000 metres above sea level. It is a large city that is surrounded by three large volcanoes that dominate the skyline.

We did a tour of the city and then stopped at the Santa Catalina monastery for a guided tour. I was feeling quite tired, what with the jet lag and altitude, but it was on the itinerary and highly rated.

The monastery dates from when the Spanish settled/invaded the area and construction started in 1579. It was destroyed in an earthquake in 1600, she then again in 1604.

Surprisingly to me, they started to rebuild it again, and they must have improved their construction techniques because this time it survived, although lots of sections have been repaired..

At that time each Spanish family sent one of their children to become either a monk or a nun. Allegedly this was an honour and also bought the family a direct route to heaven, no matters what sins they commited in their lifetime.

The girls went in at about age 13 and after a small amount of contact for a few years, they never saw their family again.

I thought that this was terrible, but gradually the guide led us further inside the monastery and the story began to change.

The families of the girls at this monastery were rich and paid a lifetime dowry when they entered of about the equivalent today of 200,000 US dollars. The girls/nuns could also ask for extra privileges and so they could have private rooms, and as time went by this turned into private villas. (They paid extra for this.)

They could also have up to four servants to cook and clean for them, they had beautiful flower filled courtyards and even pets.

This photo is of where the servants came to do the washing. It was a rill with water running down the middle and then massive terracotta jars sliced in half that were used as bowls. The servants put a little rock in the rill to divert the water through a little pipe into the bowl, and then used a carrot to act as a plug at the base!

The whole place was so lovely and peaceful, and the guide kept telling us to imagine it filled with flowers, candles, cakes, wine, birds, pets and nuns wandering around.

There was great views from the rooftop and by then I had changed my mind and thought what a nice time the nuns had in comparison to life outside.

They lived to an average age of 60, compared to 40 outside, and they were totally protected from all of the civil wars and fighting between the Spanish and the local people as they were never invaded or attacked.

It was a brilliant place to visit, but it's a very long way from England.

Bourne and tour of Berlin

First thing this morning Darren and I recreated a very short scene from the film Bourne Supremacy. Obviously Darren took lead role of Jason Bourne, while I played the rather smaller part of his colleague Nikki.

In this scene Bourne (Daz) is on a tram travelling towards Alexanderplatz, while Nikki (me) is waiting as agreed under the World Time Clock.

About a second later my phone rings, I answer it then run on to the tram just as the doors are closing, and we both escape from the FBI.

Unfortunately for Daz he does not actually appear in the final edit.

After breakfast we then went on a tour of the sights of Berlin. We stopped at Checkpoint Charlie, the checkpoint between east and west which President Kennedy visited in 1963 and where he famously said 'ich bin ein Berliner'.

We followed in his footsteps at the checkpoint which marked the entry to the American sector of Berlin, and also stood under the sign to show the exit for the sector.

It is all very different to that time now, although another nearby section of the wall has been retained, and there are two very interesting museums to explain way more than I have room to write here.

One surprising fact that I read about the wall was that it was 160 kilometres long and surrounded the whole of the western part of the city.

Walking on we came across our first Buddy Bear. These are life sized statues of bears in various poses that are all across the city. A bear is the symbol of Berlin and apparently there are over 100 of them, but surely this one is the best.

Finally, we started to turn back towards our hotel at the Brandenburg Gate, by far the most crowded area of the day.