Puno, Arequipa, and Bolivia!

Time flies when you are having fun and don´t have an internet connection good enough for uploading pictures. Well, here I am in La Paz, Bolivia. I met a cool couple from Quebec today and they introduced me to this internet cafe, which seems to have one of the better connections in the city. Right here, I am topping out at an upload speed of 15-20KB/sec. Thus, this might take a while to get the pictures and videos up.

The last week or two have been good. I have been suffering from some sort of stomach bug which makes eating iffy, but I am managing quite well. I don´t know if I already said so, but I am not too fond of Peruvian or Bolivian food, so I have been hanging out mainly at the Americanized restaurants (which there are in ABUNDANCE). Actually, the most popular restaurant seems to be pizzerias. I guess it is typically South American. Also, speaking of eating, I should mention that while I was in Peru I had the opportunity to try both alpaca meat as well as cuy (guinea pig). Add that to my list of international foods I have tried, which include dog, live octopus, snails, silkworm larvae, and chicken buttholes. Most of those were in Korea though... for those in Korea reading my blog, I hope you are proud of me, and that your mouths are watering in envy. Guinea pig actually tastes just like chicken... or rather, chicken tastes like guinea pig and guinea pig tastes like guinea pig. Alpaca is a little gamey and tastes much like beef liver.

Ok, ok, so here come the pictures. In the past few weeks I have headed from Machu Picchu back to my hostel in Cuzco and then to Puno (the city on the shore of Lake Titicaca), Arequipa, a city to the west of Puno where you can take a tour to Colca Canyon, the second deepest canyon in the world and also home to the majestic condor. Then, I headed back to Puno for an overnight while riding to La Paz, Bolivia. I spent a good two days on the bus getting from Arequipa to La Paz because I wanted to save a few bucks. I could have taken a direct 11 hour trip there, but decided to take the 19 dollar special, which extended over two days and an extra stay in Puno. All in all, I saved myself about 20 dollars. I should have taken the direct line...

Ok, I was saying I had pictures, right?

Here is a sunset on the way to Puno from Cuzco. This was on another long bus ride that wound its way around the mountains.

Here is Lake Titicaca´s shore. The entire bay is covered in a thick algae.

First shot of the floating islands of Uros. The locals actually make these islands by cutting away at the peaty roots of the reeds, tens of meters down. The peat rises to the surface and they "stitch" the pieces together into an island. Each island will last about 12 years, and they need to do maintenance on them 2 times a month.

Another shot of one of the floating islands.

Here is one of the boats that they construct entirely out of reeds. Well, almost entirely. The traditional method was to use only reeds, but these days the interior of the boat has about 10,000 plastic bottles holding it up.

The scary looking face on the front of the boat is of a puma, one of the three sacred animals to the Quechua people. The puma respresents strength.

Here is a hut made from reeds.

Potatoes and flowers even grow on the island, as you can see here.

Here I am, captaining the puma-boat.

Sampling the local fare... reeds. Everything here is made from reeds, even the food!! Apparently the soft base of the reeds are high in calcium and fluoride - good for your teeth!

Here is a selection of some of the maize and potatoes grown in the area. There are tons of different kinds, and our guide showed us a picture of a potatoe that really looked like a cob of corn.Here I am on Taquile Island. Taquile Island is famous for its knitting work because of its relative isolation from the rest of the Quechua nation. Indeed, their knitting and weaving was the best that I saw in Peru. I bought a Quechua woolen hat for those long cold Canadian winters...

The side of the island. Growing crops of a sort...

Looking out over Lake Titicaca from Taquile Island.

Some of the village houses on the island. Supposedly, there are about 3000 inhabitants on the island, although it hardly seemed possible. The island really is quite small.

Flowers growing on the island in someone´s back yard.

A shot of Taquile Island as I was leaving.

Skip some travel time, and here we arrive in Puno. The night I returned from the floating islands, I was ready to take off to Arequipa. However, the tour agency was not available by phone, so I stayed another night. I was really glad that I did, because there was a practice session for the upcoming (now passed) festival of Candelaria. It all began with a solemn procession of the local bishops and priests and then loud marching bands all night long. It was truly amazing. Be sure to check out my videos of it on my YouTube account, "mindputty".

Ok, skip some more travel time. I arrived in Arequipa and took the trip out to Colca Canyon aboard a bus. While travelling, the scenery changed considerably. At one of the reststops there was this baby alpaca just hanging out. This little fella decided that this green straw was just as good as a nice juicy piece of grass.

As I mentioned, the scenery from Arequipa to Colca Canyon was quite different from the rest of Peru. Peru really does cover a wide range of geographical types. Everything here was very deserted.

On the way to Colca Canyon, there were numerous alpacas, llamas, and vicunias (sp?). Here is an oasis where a great herd of alapacas were hanging out and munching on the greenery.

Is that a pack of llamas? Why, yes it is!

More llamas.

A rather astute looking alpaca.

Here is the cozy town of Chivay nestled in the Andean mountains. We spent the night here.

A girl feeding her baby alpaca with a milk bottle.

Here is the town square of Chivay. It had a really Mediterranean feel to it.

That night, we were treated to a performance by a Peruvian band and dancers to accompany. I know this picture is a little dark. If you click on it to enlarge, you may be able to see it better.

The dancers, showing a traditional dance narrating the harvesting of potatoes. At one point we were asked to get up and dance with them. Dancing at a high altitude is really difficult.

Here is a group of dancers in another town that we passed through on the way to Colca Canyon. I didn´t catch the name of the town, unfortunately. The bus stopped for a short time to see the church, the dancers, and an optional picture with various birds of prey.

Here I am, nearly getting eaten alive by the falcon that perched on my forearm, then arm, then shoulder.

Surprisingly, the falcon´s grip wasn´t painful at all. I like falcons.

Here is the church that I mentioned. The various artists who did all the commissions for the churches in Cuzco, Lima, etc. decided to join together and make this church out in the middle of nowhere. Check out the detail!

Colca Canyon, near the beginning.

Here, in the middle you can see a large stone with carvings on it. Archaeologists speculate that the drawings are actually a blueprint for the terra-forming that occurred across the canyon to make agricultural plateaus.

The name of Colca Canyon comes from small nooks that were created on the sides of the mountain by the ancient Andean people. In some cases, the nooks were used to refrigerate crops, and at other times they were used as burial sites, as seen in this pictures. The reddish area in the middle of the picture is near the opening of this burial site. Click to enlarge.

Colca Canyon.

A strange plant that was found growing in various places along the mountain.

If you click to enlarge this photo, you can see a lizard resting on the crest of the rock in the middle of the picture. Colca Canyon and surrounding area really is a desert.

The majestic condor. I thought it would be really over-hyped, but I really was impressed. With a wingspan of 3 meters and a vertical body height when perched of over 1 meter, this bird is a monster. The condor actually belongs to the vulture family, and has a highly keen sense of smell. When a condor eats carrion, it actually needs to rest for a while before it can fly again.

Here, you can see that Colca Canyon really is an arid desert. Cactii are everywhere.

Fastforward to my voyage to La Paz, Bolivia. Basically, I returned to Arequipa and then took the bus to Puno and then to La Paz. The bus ride took about 19 hours over 2 days. I could have taken a direct 11 hour bus ride to La Paz, but in an effort to save some money, I opted for the former. All in all, I saved about 20 dollars. Whoopee. Then again, that equates to about 3 nights lodging in La Paz... Here is our bus crossing a strait on Lake Titicaca, on a rickety old wooden boat. We were asked to get off and then board again once the boat had crossed. It was nervewracking to watch the boat teeter back and forth.

Once on the shore, and within the boundaries of Bolivia, there is none other than... Colonel Sanders, of KFC fame, a national hero in Bolivia.

No, actually, as you can read, this is a statue of Don Eduardo Avaroa. He was a war hero during the War of the Pacific, in which Bolivia and Peru waged war against Chile. Anti-Chilean sentiment lingers today in Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina. During the war, Bolivia lost its coastal border to the Pacific. Eduardo Avaroa fought to the death at a bridge pass when all the Bolivian army had retreated. When asked to surrender by the Chilean army, he cried "Surrender? Your grandmother should surrender, you *****". This statue was very close to the Bolivian city of Copacabana (not the Brazilian Copacabana, mind you).

Here is the landscape on the way to La Paz, away from Copacabana.

The valley city of La Paz, Bolivia, as seen from the ridge road leading into the city. Oh, in case you were wondering, (and I know you were) La Paz is the de facto capital city of Bolivia. Sucre is the administrative capital. La Paz is also the highest national capital city in the world.

Part of the city, looking up from a central square, Alonso de Mendoza.

Wares for sale in the streets of La Paz.

A statue I saw while on a walking tour of La Paz. I can´t put a name to it right now, but with some reasearch, I will have it for you later.

Well, that pretty much brings me up to date. Last night, I went dancing at a local bar 3 blocks from my hostel with live South American music. It was filled with locals, and myself and an American guy were pretty much the only two gringoes in the place. It was fun though, despite the struggling to breathe in the thin air.

Hope you are enjoying my blog. If you are, please let me know by dropping me a line via e-mail. Knowing you are interested in my pictures and travels is my only reward for putting in the effort!

Also, don´t forget to check out my videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/mindputty !!

Cheers!

Machu Picchu

At this moment, I have been sitting at the free internet at the hostel for a couple of hours, greedily taking up all the time so that I could get my blog all up-to-date. All for you guys.

The past few days have been a mixture of amazing, magical, grueling, torturous, and scary. For the past four days, I made the hike to Machu Picchu and it was the hardest physical thing I did in my entire life. After 4 days, I had developed some sort of gastrointestinal bug, was freaked out by a mystery lump on my arm (which according to the doctor turned out to be an enlarged lymph node which will go away in about 2 months), and developed blisters the size of baseballs. It was all worth it though. The hike to Machu Picchu was so beautiful and breathtaking (literally). The hike took us up to a frigid elevation of 4200 meters and through cloud forests that were truly tropical and jungle-like, with the path varying from dirt trail to breakneck steep jagged stones. At many points, there were sheer cliffs to the right or left of the trail. Not a hike for the vertigo-afflicted...

Anyway, it all started at my Cuzco hostel with a bus pickup at 6:30 am. The hostel where I am staying used to be a monestary, and the following pictures show a bit of what it looks like. Very cool.



This is a picture of the base camp from which we started the hike. At this point, I had no idea what I was in for.
Our hiking group. There were 13 of us in all. I am second from the right in the back row. Only 150 hikers are allowed on the trail each day, in separate groups. The trail is now closed because February is the rainy season.
This is the Urubamba river. It is a sacred river for the Quechua people. It flows through the mountains and eventually snakes its way around the base of Machu Picchu. This is much closer to the base camp though.
An Andean people´s cemetery. Because of the rock on the mountain, the people are laid to rest in concrete tombs instead of buried.
Mountains.
Here I am, after conquering some climb on the first day. The first day felt like hell, but was actually the easiest of the 4 days. We only hiked for about 4 hours on the first day. I was panting a lot as we climbed. The air got thinner and thinner as we climbed higher and higher. Eventually, I was restricted to slowly walking 30 meters or so and then being forced to stop to catch my breath.
A green-red rock face on one of the mountains.
Along the trail, there were clouds sifting between the mountains and obscuring everything. It was very mystical.

A parrot or parakeet at the camp site on the first day.
Pictures just can´t convey the sensation and magnitude of the mountains. This shot is after having climbed about 2000 meters.
Our group climbing, climbing, climbing.
As I said before, some of the trail was cloud forest. The dense vegetation was beautiful and here I am in front of a waterfall.
Higher up, the vegetation gets sparser and hardier.
Ok, this picture may look tame, but this is at Dead Woman´s Pass. It is the highest point on the Inca Trail and is really killer. It took me 20 minutes just to go the last 100 meters or so. The air is so thin that even though you have the energy to do it, you can´t bring yourself to do it because your body needs oxygen. This pass is 4200 meters above sea level. I was TUCKERED OUT. Look closely and you can see other hikers off in the distance as dots of colour. This was halfway through day 2, about 5 hours into the hike. Overall, the hike was supposed to take about 7 hours. I did it in 8... but was pleased I did it.
Between day 2 and 4, my batteries that I brought on the trail died. I brought extras, but they were dead too... so I had to buy batteries later. Anyway, day 3 was the most beautiful of the 4 days, weaving up and down through the cloud forest. On day 4, we all got up early (4 am) to hike to the Sun Gate to see the sunrise on Machu Picchu at 7:30. However, it was much too rainy that day to see much of anything. I did however see this llama / alpaca. They are amazingly gentle creatures.
As you can see, totally gentle and friendly. I got to pet a llama!
Here is one of our first views of Machu Picchu. Shrouded in mist and rain, it is easy to see how it was hidden from gringos for so many years. Originally, it was occupied by pre-Incans who built much of the agricultural terraces. Later, the Incas built other structures that were of far superior quality. It was then abandoned for fear of attack from the Spanish. The Quechua people took to the jungle, which was much safer because it posed the risk of infectious disease to the Spanish. However, it was never found by the Spanish. It was eventually found covered in dense vegetation by an American, Hiram Bingham, in 1911. Two families were living in the ruins at the time of discovery. Two years later, the rest of the Inca trail was discovered.




The Condor Temple. On the ground is the impression of a condor, and above it are the wings in rock. The condor, to the Quechua, was a messenger and a sacred animal.
Agricultural terraces at Machu Picchu.
Here I am, in a mummy vestibule. According to our guide, 160 mummies were found at Macchu Picchu. Most of the mummies were small in stature, implying that common folk were sacrificed. The nobles and royalty were of a large stature.
This is what our guide called the Inca Prison. Perhaps prisoners were kept here in the small alcoves on display. All of the history of Machu Picchu has been lost to time, so everything is a speculation in one way or another.
A water temple, used for purification rites.
An earth temple. Many stones have 3 levels, symbolizing various beliefs for the Incas - Snake, Puma, and Condor (Intelligence, Strength, and Higher Spiritual Messenger accordingly), or King, Nobles / Government, and Commonfolk (message runners, farmers, etc.), or Sun, Mother Earth (Pacha Mama), and Water.
Here is the side of the Sun temple. Notice how perfectly the rocks are quarried and fit together.
This picture shows the difference between pre-Inca architecture and Inca architecture (right).
The temple of the sun, as seen from above. Some speculate that many sacrifices took place here.
The quarry used to build Machu Picchu.
A residential area. Machu Picchu was mainly a city for nobles, priests, and royalty. No peasants would have lived here.
Here is a "compass". In fact, it is a representation of the Southern Cross. Also, it is supposed to make the shape of a llama when the sun shines on it the right way.
A view of the steepness of the city.
Don´t take the wrong step.
A main courtyard, or perhaps a place for playing a game of sorts.
An Inca sundial.
There are unique eagles that circle around the site. They are very majestic. One is perched here on one of the agricultural plateaus.
Here I am, near the edge of the backside of Machu Picchu. The drop off behind me is probably a good kilometer down. Again, clouds seem to obscure everything. I also have a video of this spot on YouTube, if you are interested. It gives a better idea of elevation.
Llamas! These beauties were just roaming around the far end of Machu Picchu.
According to Alvares, our guide, this is an energy rock. We all placed out hands on it for some good Machu Picchu energy.
A house at Machu Picchu. Here you can see how the roofs would have looked like. They would have been made of bamboo and grasses.
On our way back to Cuzco, aboard the train, there was some entertainment. This man dressed in a traditional costume and danced in the aisle. Following his performance, there was a fashion show by other train attendants to some fine techno beats.
After the train, we took a "bus" (a 11 seater passenger van) to Cuzco. Off in the distance, you can see mountains covered in snow instead of just lush green vegetation.
Patchwork countryside made me think of good ol´Saskatchewan.

Well, that concludes my trip up until this point. Today, I did a bunch of administrative stuff, like book my hostel in Rio de Janeiro as well as book a bus ticket to Puno and send some stuff off in the mail. It is now 1 am and I am beat. Tomorrow morning, I get up and take a 6 hour bus ride to Puno to see Lake Titicaca on the 1st of February. After Lake Titicaca, I will head to Arequipa, Peru where I will see Colca Canyon and condor birds. I might head back to Lima after that, or I might just take the bus to Rio from there.

Also, at this point, I am considering taking the bus from Lima or Arequipa to Rio de Janeiro. That means probably going through Bolivia. I will probably be staying in La Paz, Bolivia for a few days to have my Brazilian visa processed. Then, it is on to Carnival in Rio and Spain after that! Whoopee!