Day Seventeen ... roadtrip to Puno
Today's blog us brought to you by Ian. Twelve hours on the go ... eleven of them involving a bus or an excursion. Since starting some new medication recently my ability to read and write in a moving vehicle is zero.
3.10pm. Pucara. Jacqui sits beside me - awake, snapping pics, tired, but still smiling after a long (already) day. Let me recap.
12.10am. Hawks win by 49 points. Go Hawks! Better get some sleep.
5.37am. Bags in hotel lobby. Who feels like breakfast at this time, with a raspy throat, at this altitude (3,300m)? Black coffee (J). 3 small dry pastries (I).
5.58am. Waiting for a 6.10am transfer to the bus station. We are booked on a guided 8-10 hour bus trip to Puno, visiting some cultural sites along the way. But we know very little about the logistics of this day. No confirmation, no tickets, no schedule. A little uneasy.
6.11am. Still waiting.
6.12am. Still waiting.
6.13am. A man in a van. He takes our bags and herds us into the van. I've seen movies like this.
6.16am. More bags. 3 more people. He drives through the narrow streets of Cusco. Jacqui has located "a" bus station on Google Maps. We are heading in that general direction.
6.24am. We drive past the bus station. And a few minutes later pull over to the kerbside behind a mid-sized tour bus. Just in a suburban street. I watch to see our bags transferred to this bus. Our bus? Jacqui strolls off and gets on the bus.
6.30am. It seems that this is our bus. Jacqui got on first (just). She snaffled the two from seats behind the driver, giving us good views out the front and the left side of the bus. The matching seats on the right are occupied by "guide stuff". Other passengers grumble about their seats. More passengers get on (18 in total). Silent prayer for a resourceful travel buddy.
6.40am. Eder (our guide) introduces himself and our driver (Yobani). We are off. We are heading south from Cusco to Puno (3,800m!). 5 stops along the way. ETA 5pm. Buckle up.
7.15am. First stop is a surprise treat at Oropesa. Eder jumps off the bus at a roadside stall, is handed three huge rolls of bread (plus 2 juices and small cakes) and jumps in again. Chuta is a local chocolate breakfast bread. Chuta means "pull it", so I do - a warm yummy chunk of bread. It is much smaller by the time it returns to the front of the bus.
7.40am. First scheduled stop at San Pedro Apostol de Andahuaylillas. In a small rural village is one of the 16 Chapels of The Americas. Ornate, exquisite, Baroque-Andean, gold silver, cedarwood, icons, statues, chapels, etc. 100s of Jesus's from birth to crucifixion to ascension. No photos allowed (again) but Wow! It would have been Wow in Lima or Cusco, but out here ... double Wow! J and I are back at the bus at the designated time, as are four more of our group. 18 - 6 = 12. This is why we like private tours. 😀 (J - you weren't allowed to take photos inside the church but the ticket officer handed everyone a book mark with a QR code on it that took you to a gallery of photos. So the inside ones are from there).
10.00am. Raqchi Inca Village, stop No. 2. Fascinating archaeological site and a chance for more guiding on Inca history (which overlaps 85% with the other versions we've heard - one of the problems with a civilisation with no records). Highlights. 1). The 153 circular granary stores, thick stone walls, high thatch ceiling, very cool inside. Laid out in rows like streets. 2) The astronomical section, buildings aligned to signal the key times for planting, harvesting, etc. 3) The temple. Only the central structure remains but it has a presence. 4) Little Catholic chapel on the way out. We bypassed the souvenir stalls.
11.45am. Buffet lunch at Suciani. We are not the only bus on the Cusco-Puno tourist run, and there are others coming back the other way. So quite a few of these restaurants in Suciani. The buffet was yummy, the 3-piece band in the corner was better. Sounds of Silence, Guantanamera, Yesterday, traditional Peruvian tunes. Thankfully not El Condor Pasa - we're over it. We think it was Dad on guitar, oldest son on a selection of wooden flutes, youngest son on the drum. There was a lovely waterfall nearby.
12.45pm. The landscape is changing dramatically as we move from the Cusco region to Puno. Out of the valley, less cropping, fewer trees, fewer dwellings and buildings.
1.00pm. Stop 4 at La Raya Pass, at 4,335m the highest point on today's trip. Off to the west is glacier-topped Apu (Mount) Chimboya at a mere 5,489m. You've probably never heard of it but the glacial water feeds Lake Titicaca to the south. But more impressively it is the source of the Urubamba River, which is only a stream here, but it picks up as it heads to the ocean via the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu (see previous river shots) and a little river called the Amazon. Every great river starts in a mountain somewhere.
1.15pm. Back on the bus. Breathless.
2.15pm. Zzzzzzzz (I). Resting (J). Andean Plateau. Distant hills. Treeless grassy plains. Llamas and alpacas in livestock numbers, plus cattle and sheep.
2.30pm. Stop 5 Pucara museum, souvenir stall, coffee shop. Random collection of artefacts from pre-Inca civilisation. Museum ... pretty empty. (J - I think the archeologists society may have been a little concerned at the masking tape used to display the artefacts). Gift shop ... packed with 4 busloads of tourists.
3.50pm. Juliaca. Quite a large city, we come back on Monday to go the airport as we start our homeward bound journey. What a city! Absolutely filthy. Everything is dirty. The civic infrastructure is a shambles. Large statues on parks are made out of used tyres. As told by Eder ... 1) Unfinished dwellings due to tax avoidance (as noted a few days ago). 2) Major industries are commerce and illegal mining (!). 3) The absurdly constant run of petrol stations on the road into Juliaca (approx. 50 in a 5km stretch) are used to launder the money from the illegal mining.
4.15pm. We have left Juliaca behind. Urk!
5.02pm. On time arrival at the bus station in Puno. Nah! Pulled over next to a street stall with enough room so that we're not blocking traffic. Casa Andina Premium? A man smiles and takes our bags. Within 7 minutes we are safely in the lobby of our hotel.
5.39pm. In our room overlooking Lake Titicaca. Sipping Mate tea (it helps at altitude). It's all a bit surreal. We may dine in room service, or shuffle down to the restaurant. It's been a long day, but another memorable one together. 8.00am start tomorrow - our last touring day.
J is back ... and so we are now having an early dinner in the hotel restaurant. Our hotel is a long way from town and we can't be bothered going in to find a restaurant.
A hamburger and some pizza ... because neither of us felt like we could face eating alpaca! We couldn't even finish our meal ... this trip has not been the culinary we thought it might have been as neither of us have had much of an appetite!
We will have an early night tonight ... and hopefully sleep well! Tomorrow is our last day of adventuring where we will explore Lake Titicaca and the floating Islands.
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