February 12, 2009

Puno to Amantani

After a good hotel breakfast, we checked out, leaving the car and most of our luggage at the hotel. We took a taxi to the port in the pouring rain and signed up with Taquile islanders for a boat trip on Lake Titicaca to Uro, Amantani, and Taquile Islands for 30 soles each. Our boat is the Milky Way. It's raining too hard to stop at the reed islands on the way out so we'll save those until the trip back. Thank goodness the rain stopped before we got to Amantani, a four hour ride on the slow boat.

We were met at the boat by Coco, our host for the night. Coco is 38 years old and has four children. The oldest is handicapped and lives with Coco's mother. Pilar is sixteen and goes to school in Puno. Still living at home are Vicky, fourteen, and Jefferson, nine. Coco's husband is also in Puno being treated for headaches. Coco fixed us a delicious lunch of vegetable quinoa soup with fried cheese, rice and potatoes. After lunch, we hiked to the top of the mountain on the island. It was a long, steep hike but the views were worth it.































After a supper of more vegetable soup, stewed vegetables, and rice, Coco dressed us up in native costumes and we went to the community center where the whole village showed up to dance.

February 11, 2009

Cusco to Puno

Today we started out on a six hour drive from Cusco to Puno and Lake Titicaca. We followed the river, staying in the valley for most of the drive. It was good to get out of the traffic and suburbs and back into the countryside.

The train tracks also ran alongside the road for most of the trip.





We stopped in a small town for a lunch of chicken soup complete with feet!







When we finally arrived in Puno, it seemed to be impossible to find any streets on the map! We found the right neighborhood for our hotel, but all of the streets were closed for the carnival parade! By driving the wrong way on one way streets and jumping several curbs, we made it to the hotel parking garage and spent the rest of the night enjoying the carnival parades!

February 10, 2009

Cusco, Peru

We spent most of today at the South American Explorers' Club doing research on our trip back through the mountains. Breakfast was at Ciccialiana's Bakery for a home-made croissant and coffee.



The rest of the day was spent washing clothes and then walking around Cusco at dusk.















We ended the day with a bottle of Cusqueno beer from the tiny shop directly across the street from our apartment.

February 9, 2009

Sacred Valley, Peru

We started our morning with a wonderful breakfast of omelets and papayas in the garden of our bed and breakfast. There were beautiful flowers everywhere.

After breakfast, we left Ollantaytambo and drove through the beautiful Sacred Valley to the salt pits at Salinas. The salt pits are very strange looking. A stream of salt water comes out of the side of the mountain and the people have built settling pools to evaporate the water and collect the salt. Families own certain pools and have maintained them since Inca times. We toured the salt pits in a slight drizzle and bought bags of salt to take home.

Not far from Salinas, are the experimental agricultural terraces of Moray. The terraces were made by the Incas to experiment with growing crops at slightly different micro-climates. Restoration has begun and a museum is planned.







Back to Urabamba for an outstanding lunch at Tres Keros and then we spent the rest of the day driving through some of the most beautiful countryside we've seen. I never knew potato fields could be so picturesque! It was cloudy and rainy all day but people were out working in the fields and the children were always willing to be photographed.





















As we drove back into Cusco, we passed some new houses where the families were making adobe bricks by stomping in the mud to mix in straw.





Back to the apartment about 6PM but no internet so we just sat on the upstairs terrace and enjoyed the view.