Peru - Lake Titicaca (Puno) 08/26/2006

Puno 08/26/2006

Our last day in Peru. We booked a local guide and driver again to show us the ruins of Sillustani on our way to the airport in Juliaca.

Sillustani is an ancient burial ground with 5 different kinds of graves, that date hundreds of years before the arrival of the Incas around 1450. The oldest form is a simple stone grave, completely subterranean. The second version is also a simple stone structure, which is half emerged. The last pre-Inca form was a simple stone tower. The Incas build two different kinds of towers, a round one and a square one. During our drive to Sillustani we visited a local farmer family in their house. I am afraid to say their lives probably have not changed much in hundreds of years. The buildings are very simple, no running water, no electricity, not even the faintest hint of luxurious items.

We drove to the airport in Juliaca and then the waiting began ….At first we had to wait many hours in Juliaca for our flight to Lima. We arrived around 6:30 pm. Checking in form y flight to Sao Paolo was a little tricky. Ralf you should not just buy those travel guides but also read them ….. They demanded a Yellow Fever certificate which I did not have. Thank god I remembered that I carried an International Vaccination pass listing all the shots I had received prior to my trip. This document helped me to navigate around this obstacle and soon I went to look for Shana. She was not that lucky and it took her about 2 hours just to get through the security procedures and the check in.

We had dinner at the airport and just hung out until Shana could board her flight to Miami. I had to kill another two ours and then almost did not make the flight. When I was trying to board they requested the "Yellow Fever" certificate again and of course I had putt he vaccination pass in the checked luggage. So they pulled my backpack off the plane. I started to get really worried when the departure time got closer and closer and no luggage in sight. Finally it arrived with minutes to spare and I had to retrieve the document for them. I simply showed the yellow vaccination pass, they did not even look in it and soon I was on the bus to the plane and barely made it. Lessons learned! Oh well, of course I checked the vaccination pass on the pass ….. and I could not find anything mentioning Yellow Fever on it … now I am not sure if I got a Yellow Fever sot at all.Anyways, I made the flight and after a little over 4 hours arrived in Sao Paolo.

Hotel in Puno / Lake Titicaca:

Hostal Pukara
Jr. Libertad 328
Puno
Email: pukara@terra.com.pe

Tel: 368 448

Puno and Lake Titicaca viewed from the Puma vista point.

A typical local farm house we visited on our way to "Sillustani".

Protection against evil spirits, little pigs as wards above the entry.

One of the Inca grace towers in "Sillustani".

A different view on one of the grave towers.

The fantastic view from the "Sillustani" site to an island nearby.

Peru - Lake Titicaca (Puno) 08/25/2006

Puno 8/25/2006

We had to get up very early (again), because we got picked up at 6:30 am at our hotel to take the boat to the islands of Lake Titicaca. Uros Islands and Taquile were waiting for s. The weather was just perfect, cold but blue sky and sunshine.

From the harbor it is a short 30 minutes ride to the Uros Islands, a small collection of so called floating islands. Our boat stopped at one of them and we got the opportunity to explore on our own. It is quite interesting how these islands are made. The Uros “harvest“ the roots of the reed plant very close to the lake shore. They cut them with special saws, sometimes fields in the size of 5 x 15 m (15 by 45 feet). The roots themselves are about 1 m thick. They pull them to the desired location and tie the pieces together with ropes until they reach the anticipated size of the island. Then they add many layers of reed grass until the thickness reaches approximately 3 m (9 feet). The islands are being ankered using large poles and long ropes, they can easily be moved around the lake, e.g. if you have trouble with your neighbour. The next step of the building process are the houses, which are made of reed as well, they also build fire places and fish ponds on the islands.

The Uros also build large boats which inspired Thor Heyerdahl to build a large reed boat and cross the Pacific Ocean with it. One of the locals provided us with a nice lecture about how to build the island, the food they prepare, other things that are being produced using reed, it was quite interesting. The visit ended with a short trip across the lake to another floating island.

We traveled then for another 2 ½ hours to the island of Taquile. It is a small island that reminded me of the Greek islands in the Mediterranean Sea. It was nice, but nothing out of the ordinary. On the boat we met an Italian girl (Christina) who lives in Paris. We met her later for dinner and had a passionate discussion about the soccer world cup.

Peru - Lake Titicaca (Puno) 08/24/2006

Puno 8/24/2006

For today we have rented our own driver and private tour guide to take us down South along the Titicaca Lake to visit three different sites.

The first stop was Chucuito. There is a small Inca temple to honor the gods of fertility, which is called "Templo de la Fertilitad" (in Inca Uyo). Actually there is not really that much to see, lots of phallus symbols and the authenticity and location of the objects is of debate. The village however is very beautiful and has a very cute Plaza des Armas (main square).

On our way we also stopped at a rock formation which was used to bath the feet of traveling Inca warriors. Our last stop was in Juli (80 km south of Puno). We got really lucky because there was a huge fiesta on the mountain close by to celebrate St. Bartholomeus. Indigenous people traveled from very far away to attend, there were many costumes, native clothing, marching bands with huge tubas and little stands everywhere selling everything from food to drinks to little icons (money, houses, cars, babies etc.), which people take home believing that after one year they would turn into the "real thing" and they would have babies, houses, money or a new car.

There was also a small little church which seemed to be on fire inside, flames shooting up at the side walls (which were kind of arched) almost touching the ceiling. Many, many people tried to get in and light candles there, form e it was simply too many people. Some people objected to have their pictures taken, so I just held the camera at my hip and took random shots. Back in Juli we tried to look at the 4 churches in town , but none were open and one of them (Santa Cruz) needed a lot of work quickly to be preserved.

On our way backHenry our driver was speeding like Michael Schumacher and we were back in town around 2:30 pm. A short stop at the hotel and then we hiked to the viewing point (mirrador) with the Condor statue, a steep walk uphill, with 617 steps. Great views of Puno and the lake.

Later that day we had tea at "Casa del Corregidor", a very cute little coffee house in an old building of the 17th century. Actually one of the few really old buildings to see in Puno.

In the evening we had dinner at "La Caywa", it was ok, the food could have been a little better fort e price, the service was not the best either. In general it seems that the people in Puno have not really discovered what good the tourism could do fort he city.

Peru - By train to Lake Titicaca (Puno) 8/23/2006

Cusco to Puno 08/23/2006

At 6:00 am we got our wake up call … another short night with too little sleep. After some troubles to get to the train station (at first the driver showed up 30 minutes early and then we ad problems getting a cab) we finally checked our luggage and entered our coach. It looked like an old train from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, sofas, comfy arm chairs, but just a little too tight form e, not enough leg room. However the best part was the last coach with a viewing platform and a glass ceiling. Amazing views! After 10 hours we finally reached Puno and waited for our pick up service to the hotel. After it did not show for 15 minutes we took a cab.We reached the "Hostal Pukara", but to our disappointment something had gone wrong with our reservation. They were very helpful and put us up in a 3 star hotel (Casa Andina) fort e night. It had the feel of a typical American hotel, but the rice was good and the breakfast was awesome. After check-in we arranged a private tour with the travel agent " " and had a disappointing dinner at the "Plaza Restaurant".

The view from the back of the train.

The bar in the back of the train.

Another view ....

The train was passing "through" several smaller or larger cities. This one is Juliaca. There were shops selling pretty much every kind of service or good along the rails.

Peru - Inca Trail 08/22/2006 Day 4

Inca Trail 08/22/2006

4:00 am….. why do they have to wake us up so early? Quick breakfast and packing and off we went to get in line at the control point. At 5:30 the gate was opened and we started hiking the last part of the Inca Trail towards Mchu Picchu. It was simply amazing. At first we ad to use our headlights r flashlights, but slowly it got brighter by the minute. The surrounding rainforrest came to life …. All the bird calls and other noises …. What an experience!

After a 90 minutes hike we reached the last flight of steps leading up to the "Sun Gate". We got so lucky! For only a few minutes there was blue sky and sunshine, no clouds and we had this breathtaking view of Machu Picchu…. A dream came true. Since I was a little boy I had this picture in my head and now I stand her end can see it with my own eyes. Wonderful!!!

After a short break we started our descent towards Machu Picchu. The reward for all the effort hiking the Inca Trail was the fact that we could view it with basically no tourists around. I took so many photos and really, really hope that some of them will turn out well.

A two hour tour by our guide ended the official part of the visit. We took a little nap in the sunshine before exploring the city a little more with Emma and Chris. It is really hard to describe with words how mind boggling the views of Machu Picchu are, but as much spectacular are the views from it. It sits on this mountain peak surrounded by other mountains and steep valleys. It is amazing how the Incas "integrated" their buildings into the existing rock formations. We also saw lots of Lamas and even a Chinchilla. After a refreshing beer we took the bus down to Aguas Caliente to meet up with the rest of our group for lunch and then to take the train back to Cusco. At 4:30 pm we boarded the train and then later switched to a bus. At 8:30 pm we finally reached Cusco, where we had a good bye dinner with Emma and Chris. Back in the hotel we had to pack and get ready for another early start to catch the train to Lake Titicaca.

The view of Machu Picchu from the Sun Gate.

Tired but really happy! At the Sun Gate with Machu Picchu in the back drop.

Machu Picchu and Ralf.

The mysterious Machu Picchu, the "ancient city"

Pretty steep .... how did they build these terraces?

Peru - Inca Trail 08/21/2006 Day 3

Inca Trail 08/21/2006

On the 3rd day we had to get up at 5:00 am again, since we did not finish the planned route the day before and now had a very long hike ahead of us.

After a quick breakfast we were on the trail again. Unfortunately it started raining and we had to put our ponchos on. I was not even fully awake, but immediately we had to climb 500 m again. However, compared to the "Dead woman's pass" day before it almost felt like a piece of cake. Of course my heart was razing and my lungs were rattling to get me up the pass, but the climb the day before gave so much confidence that I really enjoyed getting my body into "full gear" and up the hill.

On our way up we passed the first Inca ruins of the day, a place that was primarily a hostal for travellers and messengers. After reaching the summit we reached the "Runcuracay Complex" (3760 m), a massive fortress on the peak of a bluff overlooking and controlling the pass and the valley below. Only a narrow flight of steps led up to the entrance to this fortress. I worked my way up and enjoyed the amazing views of the valley and the storage facility below. Unfortunately it was quite cloudy and foggy, so most of the photos I took will most likely not turn out so well.

I climbed back down to the Inca Trail and quickly reached the storage facility below. After a quick exploration I continued on the trail and soon reached our lunch site. The tent was already up and hot, steaming tea was waiting for me. It was almost 2 hours again until the last hikers of our group reached the site. After an excellent lunch (the chef really did an outstanding job) we continued.

After a beautiful hike we reached "Sayakmarca", the so called "inaccessible town". From the pass we had to climb down any steps to finally reach this complex. It was hard to find out from our guide what exactly the function of this place was. It seemed that it had two main purposes. One was to aid in the astrological activities. The big platform was used as an observation point. The second purpose was to help protect the water pipelines that supplied Machu Picchu over many, many miles with fresh drinking water. Again there were so many spectacular views of the surrounding mountains and down into the valley. After further descending into the valley we reached the spectacular terraces of "Winay Waynai". Although I was really tried I decided to climb the steps all the way to the top to enjoy the views. With lots of huffing and puffing I finally reached the top level ….. beautiful! From here it was all the way downhill to our last campsite. This one actually had a restaurant with clean bathrooms, hot showers and beer! The first beer after 4 days of ….. yummy! After an amazing dinner including Pizza (how on earth did the chef prepare them with only two gas burners to cook on?). We went for a final beer afterwards and then got an early night rest.

Well if we thought there would be no uphill on day 3 we were wrong. fortunately it was not that bad.

The first Inca ruin of day 3, a simple selter and storage building.

A small fortress protecting the pass and providing shelter to travelers and messengers.

The Inca Trail, some areas are smooth like this one, but there can also be many steps or rough pavement.

A tunnel on the trail.

A porter carrying sevral chairs to the next cap site.

The ces of "Winay Waynai".

Peru - Inca Trail 08/20/2006 Day 2

Inca Trail 08/20/2006

After a short night, well it wasn't exactly short but we could not sleep that much. The tent was sloping downhill a little and the first night on a simple mat and in a sleeping bag is never quite comfy. We were woken up by our guides at 5:30 am with a hot cup of tea. "Hola champions, how are you my friends …" became the moniker of the hike, used by our main guide Isac all the time. After a quick breakfast we were on our way to the "Dead woman's path". We had to survive an ascend of 1400 m (4200 feet), starting from elevation 2850 m to the top of the pass at elevation 4250 m (roughly 12,750 feet). The pass was very narrow, winding up the hill and unfortunately there were way too many steps. It was amazing and also absolutely grueling and exhausting! The higher we climbed the more difficult became breathing. My heart was razing at a speed that I thought not possible ….. hey, I am getting old remember ….., but step by step I moved closer to the top. I stopped many times …. Of course to catch my breath …., but also to enjoy the beautiful views. It was grueling … one more turn and then another …. More steps …. Will this never end? Porters (the local guys to carry the tents, food etc.) passing me all the time, carrying probably more than 40 kgs … how can they possibly climb so fast?

The last few steps seemed to never end, but finally I reached the summit and the sign indicating the top of the pass and an elevation of 4250 m. So, when I thought that would be it I was terribly wrong. Going downhill for miles and miles was even worse (in my opinion), it really hurt my knees. Finally I reached the camp site, boy was I happy to pull of my hiking boots, get a drink and relax. The majority of our group just finished lunch when the last group of hikers arrived at the camp site about 2 hours after the first hikers reached camp. I wrote a little in my journal, had a nap. It was starting to rain and we were so tired anyways to do much, so we simply had dinner and went to bed early. Do you get the pattern?

The small path winding up the hill towards the "Dead woman's pass"

I survived the "dead woman's pass". I had a quick snack before the picture was taken, that's probably why I could smile as if nothing happened.

Peru - Inca Trail 08/19/2006 Day 1

Inca Trail 08/19/2006

We met at the SAS office at 5:45 am with a British couple Emma and Chris, whom we saw the evening before at the introduction. The bus was a heavy duty off-road Volvo. After 2 of shaking drive through the country side we stopped for breakfast, shop for hiking poles, coca leaves, chocolate and other last minute stuff, as well as to meet up with the rest of our group. After another hour drive we arrived at the entrance of the National Park and the starting point of the Inca Trail. We started at 2700m (roughly 8100 feet) and hiked up to 2850 m (roughly 8550 feet). The trail runs along a river, passing several ancient Inca sites. Especially "Patallacta" was quite amazing. A city built on terraces for farming and housing, sitting on a big bluff overlooking the river and valley. The Quechuan name means translated "city on the platform". We also passed many little farms and houses of local Indians. Sometimes it felt like we were intruding on their day to day life. It seems that not much has changed for them since the Spaniards conquered the country hundreds of years ago. They live a very basic, poor life without any luxury, most do not have running water or electricity. The fields are still plowed using wooden plows, some have a steel head, sometimes an bull or cow is used to pull it, but mostly it is some people. There are no tractors to be seen.

It was raining on and off, but in general we got quite lucky with the weather, it stayed dry overnight. After an excellent dinner we had an early night to get ready for day 2.

In tha beginning ..... The group at the start of the Inca Trail.

The first Inca ruin "Patallacta", the city on the platform.

The first campsite.

Peru - Cusco 08/18/2006

Cusco 08/18/2006

Another very short night, we had to get up at 6:00 am to catch our 7:50 am flight to Cusco. Well, luckily our cab showed up on time, 6:30 am sharp. Check-in and security went smoothly and we were off to via Juliace to Cusco. After some challenges to find our hotel pick-up service (lots of folks trying to make a $ by claiming they were sent by the hotel. Finally we found the driver and were on our way to the hotel. The “Hostal Rumipunku“ is a very cute little hotel, with extremely helpful and friendly staff. After we settled in our room we went to “Jack’s“ for breakfast (“Jack’s“ is a typical American restaurant run by a Kiwi). It is a “safe“ restaurant meaning they prepare the food and clean the salads with bottled water, no experiments and taking a risk to get the runs before the Inca Trail.

We went by the office of our tour operator SAS and finished up all open items in preparation for our trip. After that we explored the city a little, walking through the little alleys and narrow cobble stone streets, climbing stairs ….. boy, suddenly being in over 10,000 feet of elevation is not that easy. I was huffing and puffing up the stairs. We went to the Cathedral on the Plaza de Armas, a magnificent church. I have never seen om many altars in one single church, each of them more beautiful than the other, all made from carved wood, some covered with gold or silver plates. On the other hand it was hard not to notice how much money must have been spent on this church, but how poor the people attending mass have been.

Next we went to SAS for our orientation session and then we went to dinner …. Yupp to “Jack’s“ again. We went back to the hotel quickly and packed our stuff since we had to get up extremely early … again …. to catch the bus at our meeting point. Unfortunately we had to get p at 4:45 am (ouch) to be ready.

Peru - Arequipa 8/16/2006 to 8/17/2006

Arequipa 8/16/2006

What a drag …..11 hours on a smelly bus crossing the mountains on windy little roads …. It was kind of scary at night, but even more so in the morning when you could actually see deep down into the gorges and there were no barriers ….. little crosses next to the road indicating fatal accidents. Finally at 9:30 am we arrived in Arequipa at the bus station, looking for our hotel representative to pick us up. After waiting for several minutes we took a taxi the hotel. During the entire trip the cab driver tried to convince us to go to a different hotel supposedly much better and much closer to downtown. Since we had been warned of such behaviour we declined and insisted to be driven to our hotel. The hotel, La Casa Tin Tin was in a very quite area just next to a river with spectacular views of the mountains. The owners (a French name Francoise with his Peruvian wife) were very nice and while waiting for our room we enjoyed a great breakfast in the winter garden of the hotel, overlooking the cute garden.

After we took possession of our room we had a quick shower and started exploring the city. The first impression was very positive and got even better the longer we stayed. The city is very clean and green, lots of trees, flowers and grass everywhere. The streets were lined with many old houses, but I also believed to recognize some Art Deco and Bauhaus styles. It seemed that the city must have been quite rich at some point. The Plaza de Armas (the main square) was just a 20 minute walk away from the hotel. In the center of the Plaza is a very nice little park, with a fountain in the center. Very nice to sit down on the benches and enjoy the view of the Cathedral, which dominates one whole side of the Plaza. The other three sides consist of long buildings with balconies overlooking the Plaza, most balconies are the home to a restaurant. Each restaurant has pretty aggressive sales reps down at the street level to lure tourists into the establishments.

Arequipa is famous for Juanita, the frozen body of a young Inca girl who was sacrificed more than 500 years at age 12 on a high mountain to please the gods and stop the eruption of the nearby volcano. She was discovered by accident in 1996 when the ice cap of her burial site melted away due to another volcano eruption. As pointed out many times to us, she is not a mummy but a frozen body. All her organs are within the body and revealed interesting details about the ritual before her death, e.g. that she was drugged. She was preserved in the ice and for this reason she has to be kept frozen at all times. After the visit to the museum we explored the city a little more, strolling around the little streets and visited the Cathedral San Francisco. The organ of this church was made in Belgium, the altar is carved wood. Very nice. It was funny that we ran here into a German tourist group that we had met before in Nasca. The tour guide, a very nice German (born in Lima) fellow named Florian recommended a restaurant to us were they serve typical Inca style food. We then moved on to the oldest part of town San Lazaro, a cute little area with narrow cobble stone alleys and old houses. Of course walking all day makes you hungry and so we went to the recommended restaurant. The owner an indigenous named Walter Bustamante took us immediately up to the roof deck to show us the great view of the sun set and the Plaza at night.

Next we took a tour of the kitchen. They were slowly grilling Guinea Pig, Alpaca and other local specialties on hot stones. The Guinea Pig actually was served in one piece. They only use clay pottery and plates and wooden utensils.

Of course I had to try the Guinea Pig, how could I not order it? They serve the whole “enchilada“ on a hot stone. It is a little skinny, but the meat is very tender and yummy, similar to rabbit. We invited a Canadian guy over to our table and had a good conversation. Later Florian joined us for little while. Interesting guy, born in Lima to German parents, moved back to Germany and fort he last 13 years a traveling vagabond.

Arequipa 08/17/2006

The next morning we went pretty early to the Santa Catalina convent (www.santacatalina.org.pe ), which was founded in 1579 and at ist height about 450 nuns lived in total seclusion on 2 ha within the city perimeter. Initially it was more of a luxury hotel for daughters of rich families, since the families bought a house in the convent and had to pay a dowry. Much later it was converted into a more communal convent, with shared bed rooms, kitchens and eating areas.

Next we went to the market of San Camilo. We had the impression that it was a “live“ market for locals and not just a tourist attraction. It seemed that you could buy anything here. Fruits, vegetables, fish, meat, poultry, clothes, seeds, fertilizer, chicken, guinea pigs, dogs (a puppy for 3 soles), cats,whole pigs, juice made from frogs (they putt hem in a blender alive and then blend them to a dark, oily juice) ….. yuck. It was a truly great experience and I would have loved to be a little more adventurous to try more of the offered goods, such as local foods, cheeses and such.

For lunch we went to the Cafe Colibri on Avenida San Francisco (a tiny place offering a lunch menu for less than $2. After lunch we made some travel arrangements and then went to the Museo Municipal, a cute little museum with war memorabilia and photos from various earth quakes in Arequipa.

Later in the afternoon we met with a guy from my hometown at Cafe Casa Verde. They had home made German cheese cake by the way ….. yummy. They have to make their own “cheese“ since you can not buy it in Peru. Volker Nack went to the same school in Lahr, the Max-Planck Gymnasium. He is now running an orphanage in Arequipa the “Casa Verde“ (www.casa-verde-e-v.de ) and many other local projects to help the community. They are about to open a walk in clinic fort he poor in Arequipa as well. At the orphanage all the kids introduced themselves. Some of them have shocking histories of neglect, undernourishment and abuse. There was one little girl that had just arrived. She was sexually abused and looked like 4 years rather than her true age of 8 years. …. She had this haunted look in her eyes ….

Volker and his wife and all of their employees and volunteers do an amazing job fort these kids. Check out the website to learn more. In the evening we had dinner at his house and met two of his friends who just returned from Colca Canyon. Funny coincidence … they had stayed at the same hotel, in the same room.

Hotel in Arequipa

La Casa Tin Tin
Urbanicacion San Isidro F1
Vallecito
www.hoteltintin.com
Tel: 284700

The view from our hotel room.

The cathedral on the Plaza des Armas taken from the roof deck.

The magnificient sun set.

A view of the Plaza des Armas from the roof deck.

Special for Georg: The guinea pig and an Alpaca leg being roastd slowly on hot stones.

The kitchen of the Inca restaurant.

The convent Santa Catalina.

A photo showing me in the convent Santa Catalina.

A little special for Turhan, we could not help but take a photo of me in front of "El Turko", a turkish resturant run by a Turk from Berlin ....