Floating Islands

We rode in a boat along a canal surrounded by the reeds that the island people use to create their floating homes.  Titicaca is pronounced ‘Tee tee ha ha’ and means Great Puma in Quechuan.  The lake is 60% in Peru and 40% in Bolivia.  The name comes from it shape which resembles a leaping puma.

There are over 100 floating islands made from the Papara reeds and their root balls.  Each Island is 5 to 8 meters thick and floats over 40 feet of water.  We stepped onto one island which was very spongy feeling and checked out their homes.  Lunch was on a large island in the middle of the lake and took about a hour and a half long boat ride.  This island is 5 miles long and 3 miles wide and is home to 4,000 people.

Travel Day to Lago Titicaca

We left Cusco, flew to Lima and then flew to Juliaca where we drove for an hour to Puno.  Tula will be our guide in Puna but Carlos is still with us.

Lake Titicaca is located on a high plateau at 12,600 feet high and is the largest lake in South America and possibly the world. Tula told us a lot about the culture of the region on our hour long drive from the airport to our hotel.  Most of the people in this are are Quechua or Amara and speak only their languages with maybe some Spanish.  Many rivers and springs feed the lake but only one river drains the lake.

Cusco Day Two

The plaza near our hotel was filled with people, not only going to church but celebrating the Holy day with music and dancing.

Our first stop was at an indoor market which was also filled with people.  Carlo gave us 30 minutes to shop which was nearly enough time according to us women but the men appreciated the time limit.

Nearby was the local cemetery and this is one that I have never seen the likes of before.  It was row after row of five story tall mausoleums.  Each level held a space for a coffin and a small window where artifacts, pictures and flowers were placed to commemorate their loved one.  The cemetery holds over 50,000 burial vaults.

A modern and uplifting experience followed with a cooking class for all of us.  We donned chef’s coats and then an apron, took our place at the table and learned how to prepare an authentic Pisco Sour (John may tell you that I am not allowed to shake a shaker of liquor). As this was on the top floor we went outside to enjoy our drinks and enjoy the view. They then handed us a very large and very sharp knife to slice trout for trout carpaccio.  So good.  The main course was stir fried vegetables, bacon and sauce served on a bed of lettuce.  We all had so much fun and the men discovered they could prepare a fine meal.

Our guide Carlos far right. 

The afternoon was spent napping, shopping and enjoying a beautiful day.  Our farewell dinner was next door to the hotel in a museum where we had a very fine meal.

Cusco History and Culture

Cusco sits at about 11,600 feet elevation and has a population of 400,000.  

The main plaza. Our hotel was 2 blocks away in a restored convent. 

Our first stop of the day is at a Temple Fortress built by the Incans named Saqsaywaman and pronounced ‘sexy woman’.  It was built not just to protect the area but to intimidate their enemies.  Most of the stones have been removed to build houses and buildings in the city but what remains are massive stones.  It boggles the mind as to how they could have moved them from the quarry that was 32 miles away.

Nearby was a Llama farm where we could see the differences in the camelids that resided there.  There were llamas, alpacas, guanacos (also spelled huanacos), and vicuñas.  The vicuñas are wild and cannot be tamed while the others were very friendly.  We also saw condors and were blessed by an authentic shaman.

In the town we visited the Basilica de la Cathedral that was built in the 1500s.  We were not allowed to take pictures but suffice it to say it was very beautiful with many silver and gold covered apses.  One Jesus statue wore a skirt.  The Incas viewed Jesus as a god who represented male and female.

Our next stop was at a convent for monks and nuns that was built over the Temple of the Sun Incan religious site.  Again no photos allowed  but I found it interesting that a religious building was placed over a religious site.  The Spaniards arrived in 1534 and found that all the walls of the temple were covered in gold.  It took 8 years to melt all the gold and send it back to Spain.

Machu Picchu Day 2

We were up at 5 and ready to enter the ruins at 6 am. We visited the lower sections of the city where more homes were located.  A few were for nobles as witnessed by the finer stone masonry.  We saw a tomb under a huge stone, a two story home and a small temple area.  We knew it was a temple because it had three steps up to the alter that pointed east.  Each step represented the Condor which represents the heavens, the puma that is the earth, and a snake that goes to the underworld.

A green tent located in the center of the main plaza covered an excavation of a toppled monoliths that was knocked down so that a dignitary could land his helicopter on the plaza in 1978.

The last temple we saw was of the condor.  Two massive stones rose up from the ground to look like the wings of a condor while a large stone was imbedded in the ground along with a small stone head to represent the Condor landing.

We were back at the hotel for breakfast at 8:30 am then lounged around the hotel for the remainder of the day when we got back on the train and rode to Cusco.

Machu Picchu

Just 10 minutes from the hotel we stopped to view “cabins” attached to the side of a rock wall. You literally have to climb up the rock to get there. If you want when you check out you can take a zip line back down. 

On our way we stopped in the small village of Ollantaytambo to experience the way an Incan village was laid out and to see the inside of a home with rooms that surrounded a central courtyard.  One room was filled with guinea pigs, a staple of rural Peruvian diet. 

No they aren’t holding live Guinea pigs. 

Late morning found us boarding the Hiram Bingham luxury train where we had lunch while enjoying the beautiful river and mountains as we descended into the Sacred Valley where we will find Machu Picchu.

We arrived in the town of Aguas Calientes then took the bus up the mountain on winding switchbacks to the entrance to the ruins and the Hotel Santuary Lodge.

The Incas moved into this area of the Andes, along the Urubamba river, around 600 AD and stopped building in the 1300s.  By 1400s they moved to another city, Villa Bamba, about 72 miles away. Most likely they were run off by other Incans or the lack of food. That city was totally destroyed by the Conquistadors in 1872 and that was the end of the Incan dynasty. They only occupied Machu Picchu for about 100 years and the Spanish never discovered Machu Picchu. 

The word Machu Pichu means Gold.  There are 178 buildings on the site for 700-1000 people.  The round building is a temple to the Sun god with one window facing east.  What looked liked other windows was actually niches for idols or other objects.  The structure was most likely covered with gold or plaster painted yellow.

Machu Picchu was discovered in 1907 by Hiram Bingham.  He returned in 1914 -1921 to remove a lot of the vegetation that covered the stones but nothing else happened to the site until the Peruvian government  took over in 1968 but by then most of the stucco and paintings had been lost to the jungle.

We ended our afternoon at the Sacred Plaza where two unfinished temples bordered two sides, a third side was another unknown building and the west side was open to the setting sun.

Humming Birds, Potatoes and Salt Mines

I started off the morning feeding baby alpacas but as I was going back to my room I tripped up the steps, fell and cut my nose and bruised my forehead.  The hotel staff were very concerned and called a doctor to come to the hotel and examine me.  It was not a deep cut so only a bandaid but the bump concerned them.  The doctors returned later in the day to make sure I was okay.  I love being pampered.

Our first stop of the day was at a hummingbird sanctuary where we spied a Giant Hummingbird, a long tail hummingbird, tanagers, turtle doves, a thrush and many small green and orange hummers. The sanctuary is run by a local man who is concerned about the birds and the environment.

Our next stop was at the home of a milliner, a lady who makes hats for women of Incan descent.  Each hat reflects the education of the wearer or her marital status.  Her husband works the salt mines so they are fairly well off and able to help others in their community.

On our way to the salt mines we stopped to see Moray (pronounced Mo rye) which was discovered by a plane flying over it.  The three circles resemble crop circles from above but are actually deep, terraced holes built by the Incas to experiment with growing crops, mainly potatoes, at different elevations and different temperatures.  We saw the largest hole and were told that the temperature from the top to the bottom can vary by as much as 52 degrees.  Over 3,000 varieties of potatoes are grown in Peru and it is believed that the Incas created many hybrids by using this terracing. 

A short drive up the hill took us to an overlook for the salt mines.  A salt water spring feeds the 3,000 pools where the water is evaporated and then the salt removed to begin the process again.  Because this is so open, when the rainy season begins in late October the mines are closed and the miners become farmers. Each pool is owned by individuals or coops. The area of the pools is over 800 years old and is thought to have been established by the Moras who conquered the Incas.

Lunch was at a Hacienda established in 1572.  The building was beautiful with many antiques and the food was very good, with lots of local foods including llama.