monday, June 8, 2015

on the road to Puno

Today we hopped on our bus to drive from Cusco to the Puno Region and Lake Titicaca, about a six and a half-hour drive, with many interesting stops along the way.

It was a weird day as we saw a lot of cool things, but my dad unfortunately was miserably sick all day from something he had eaten the day before, so it was hard for my mom and I to focus on what we were seeing when we were really worried about him. (Thankfully, after feeling terrible all day, he was able to eventually keep some water down and was feeling much better by that night.)

Our first stop in the morning was at the small T’anta Wasi bakery in Ollantaytambo to try some of their fresh bread.

Continuing to drive, we found ourselves at the Church of San Pedro Apóstol in the town of Andahuaylillas. It looked pretty unassuming from the outside, but stepping inside was a completely different story as it was breathtakingly ornate – it’s referred to as the Sistine Chapel of the Americas. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside, so the exterior shots are mine and the interior shots are pulled from Google Image searching.

Our next stop was at Raq’chi, an interesting Inca archaeological site in the Canchis Province. We first learned about the ruins of the Temple of Wiracocha, the tallest Inca structure ever discovered.

To the eastern side of the temple are 152 round “qullqas” in parallel lines. These were storehouses were used to hold grains, likely corn and quinoa, that would have been used for ceremonial purposes as well as pottery, woven cloth and military equipment. We saw the remains of several of them, along with some that had been restored with thatched roofs for educational purposes.

Our next stop was at Abra La Raya, a high mountain pass and the border between the Cusco and Puno regions of Peru. It’s about 14,230 feet above sea level, where you can see the snow-capped tops of the Andes, and is noticeably a little colder! It’s also the origin point for the rivers that will go north through Cusco and become the Amazon, and south to Puno to ultimately run into Lake Titicaca.

Our stop was primarily a souvenir shopping one, but I loved the distinct change of altitude and scenery, and getting to see the snowy mountains.