I could hardly believe that my arrival in Puno, in Peru, heralded my last country in South America and my seventeenth country of this trip! It wasn´t a particularly inspiring town but it did allow me to go out to visit some more of the islands on Lake Titicaca.
Leaving on the slow boat from Puno the water was green with thick weed and algae but as we got further out into the bay it got clearer and bluer. Considering how calm the water was we rolled around a bit - boat design doesn´t seem to be the strong point of life on the lake. It was a pretty sail though and although there were not many birds around I did see a couple of steamer ducks racing across the water. After about an hour we reached the floating Uros Islands. Constructed entirely from Totora reeds, a floating bed of the roots about 1-2 metres thick acts as the foundation then more reeds are laid on top for another metre or two providing a soft springy floor. Reed houses are then built on that floor and hey presto the island is complete. A new island takes about a year to build (there are about 50 of them in total of varying sizes) and will last for about 25-30 years with continual topping up of the reed floor base until the whole structure gets too unstable. It was very interesting to see and although we were on a small island of just 8 or 9 families some of the islands are much bigger and include a school and medical centre aswell. Traditionally the Uros people were fishers and hunters of birds but tourism has become a big part of their culture. It was, I guess, pretty commercialised really with wares set out all around the island for us to examine and purchase, but at the same time it was fascinating and at least people do still live on the island maintaining the majority of the traditions and customs. There was also a traditional reed boat on hand to ferry you across to a second island. It was fantastically graceful and peaceful as we punted along. Nowadays little dinghys with small outboards are more common, or even plastic bottle filled tubes of nylon tarpaulin bound with twine to create a basic raft, but it was nice to enjoy the traditional craft. The reeds used for islands and boats can be harvested year round from the 36000km2 national park area and take only a few days when stacked to dry out suffciently for using. The young shoots can also be used as a calcium and iron rich food. Tasting it it was quite pleasant - a kind of cross between sugar cane and piñones!
When we left the Uros islands we chugged for another couple of hours across the flat blue lake to Amantani Island. In the tiny harbour the engine was cut and we were punted round to dockside where on disembarking we were met by a number of traditionally dressed women in their flared layered skirts, decorated blouses and shawls. These were our hosts for the night, and divided into groups of various sizes, dependant on how many people they could accommodate, we set off to their homes. I was with a Swiss couple and we climbed up the little hillside, across little fields to our family´s mud brick property. Our room was up an extremely rickety wooden ladder and though basic was quite comfy. A little outside toilet sat at the edge of the garden area where much of their crops are grown. A little barn, reminiscent of the Bayfield tattie shed, acted as kitchen and eating space. We were served a nice meal of Quinoa soup followed by grilled cheese with tomatoes, potatoes and Oka - a local type of potatoey veg which looked a bit like gnarly purple fingers but tasted like a cross beween potato and chestnuts. Later we all met up in the village square to walk up the long steadily climbing path to the sacred inca temple of Pachatata which sits atop the island at a height of about 4100m. I was glad to be a bit acclimatised to the altitude by now as it was a fair trek up past some of the terraces used for growing crops. Some of the stone walls bounding the fields were almost like lacework there were so many gaps between the stones - it was certainly a far cry from our dry-stane dykes! Finally we reached the top with the intention of enjoying the sunset but it was not a very spectacular setting sun. Nevertheless there were some nice views over he island and down the lake to the mountains and altiplano beyond. It got really chilly as the light faded so it was good to go back downhill and meet up with our hosts again for tea. Afterwards we were all dressed in traditional garb before heading to the village hall for a fiesta. With my short green flared skirt, multicoloured waistband, embroidered white shirt and long rainbow coloured floppy cap I looked like a cross between wee willie winkie, a colour blind little red riding hood, and an old fashioned milk maid!! The only saving grace was that everyone else was similarly attired. Over the next couple of hours the four piece band played traditional music and we danced the night away - a bit like having a Peruvian ceilidh! By the time we´d danced the night away with all our finery on I most certainly wasn´t cold, but I was extremely glad I had fresh batteries in my torch for the walk back to the house and to climb the stairs to my room!! It had been both an interesting and fun day and nice to explore two very different island ways of life despite their relatively close proximity to each other.
Next day it was across to my third island, Isla Taquili. At the tiny little harbour there was a stone path which worked its way up the hillside giving more nice views over the lake and terracing. Talquili seemed much greener than Amantani with more in the way of flowers as well as crops and grass. The men on the island are fanatical knitters, famous for their hats, and anyone I met walking down the hill was knitting at the same time. Later I was to learn that the islanders live very closely by the 3 main inca laws of: Don´t steal; Don´t be lazy, and Don´t Lie. Taking the don´t be lazy law very literally they are always doing something, never idle, and don´t even have llamas or mules to carry their goods uphill, opting to do everything themselves instead. Finally reaching the village there was a nice arched entrance to the square. The square itself was rather bare however with just a few old and well-worn buildings. The exception was the the very modern looking town hall which looked a bit out of place. After a bit of a wander, which didn´t take long, I sat people watching for a while, then it was off to lunch and to get an explanation of the symbology behind the hats worn by he men: A part white hat dictates a single man, whereas without the white he is married. A community leader wears a brown trilby type hat. For single guys if the hat flops to the left he has no girlfriend, but to the right he has! Women wear a black shawl with pom-poms, small ones for a single woman, larger for a married lady. Its a bizarre arrangement in many ways but interestng that the customs remain despite the ever increasing number of tourists coming to the island, which previously survived solely by knittng and crofting. I wonder how long it will be before western influences see the traditions dying out. Already they are losing the younsters to the mainland once they finish school. Later it was back down a long set of very uneven stone steps to a picturesque little harbour at the bottom to which our boat had travelled round while we visited the island. As we headed back across the lake to Puno the engines were cut out a couple of times while our driver pottered about with the engines from a cupboard at the back of the boat. I´m not sure what he was doing as it made no noticable difference to our slow chug back to town. Boat travel is definitely a leisurely affair on Lake Titicaca - like life in general really!
I was pleasantly surprised by Cusco when I reached it. Its a lovely city with lots of Inca architecture remaining and in the centre in particular the beautiful old buildings all seem to have terracota roof tiling which, given the hilly layout of the town, makes it seem blanketed by a warm dusky orange as you look out over it. It was also very fortunate that the town is likable and nice to wander round and through because I was to discover a rail strike and road blockades over trhe nexr few days were to prevent me doing and seeing everything in the surrounding area which I would have liked! For instance I´d have liked to do some trekking but if I went I might not have been able to get back in time to do anything else in Peru. As a result I spent my first day in town running round between train ticket offices, bus offices and tour agencies trying to work out some sort of itinerary for myself! Unable to trek or take the regular train route to Machu Pichhu, but not coming all this way to miss out altogether, I ended up going by a bit of a convoluted route which turned into an experience all of its own. Heading out by minibus we drove through the farming orientated landscape and green hills, then steeper mountains, until the little town of Ollyantambo. It´s a quaint little town of narrow cobbled streets, uneven houses and a busy little square overlooked by tiered inca ruins. With no time to explore further we set out again and climbed up a long series of hairpin bends. The countryside was like a yellowy-green patchwork quilt below us as we continued up passed cactus plants complete with red apple like fruits and heavy with dust from the road. After climbimg amd climbing we evemtually crested the pass and atarted to descend again. By this time we were in patchy but thick mist and I couldn´t decide whether or not that was a good thing: on the one hand it meant there was no view to enjoy, but on the other hand it hid the alarmingly sheer and enormous drops at the roadside from sight! When you could see anything you looked down hundreds of feet onto the trees futher down the valley, patches of the road were strewn with boulders and rocks which had fallen from the crumbling hillsides requiring a bit of weaving about to avoid them, and at some of the corners the rivers of water came flooding across the bends requiring us to slowly ford the the fast flowing water. Up til this point the road had been sealed but it gave way to ripio and we rumbled on past little homesteads and small villages in the middle of seemingly nothing, and all the time huge leaved plants and cactus comtinued to line the roadside. At Santa Maria we turned onto an even rougher narrower track and the very single track road twisted along the hillside with no protection from the drop at the side which must have been hundreds of metres in places! The dusty road was omly just wide enough for one vehicle and with hairpin bend after hairpin bend the horn was used aplenty to herald our presence. I´m so glad we only met a couple of other cars, and at a point where there was just room to allow us to squeeze passed each other as I really did not fancy having to reverse in the tiny space we had available on our perilously high track. I was never so thankful as when we slowly began to descend a little agin and reached the wee town of Santa Teresa! From there it wasn´t too much further along the narrow tracks above the river below, and across perilously fragile looking bridges where the wooden planks were almost nailed together so the rumbled like a train, but were still so narrow you couldn´t see the edges from the car, before we reached the little train stop at Idroelectrica - much to my relief. There were several little tarpaulin sided stalls lining the old rail line where a train was waiting for the surprisingly large number of people arriving for it. Some like me by bus but many having trekked and cycled along some of the jungle trails to get there. It set out through the jungley growth on a series of very noisy clanking zig-zags until we came to a stop. Moving again we managed to leave some wagons behind so had to go back for them!! Restarted we continued through the trees until stoppimg once more. We sat and sat and sat for about 45 minutes before the engine which had left us returned and we carried on to Aguas Calientes the village nearest Machu Picchu. Purely by random chance I found the guy with my hostel booking (not having got a name for him or it before leaving) and after a fine tea of grilled Alpaca I was happy to call it a night in readiness for an early start in the morning. Getting the first bus in the morning it took about half an hour up a series of switchbacks through the trees to get to the site entrance of Machu Picchu. There was already a short queue waiting to enter but joining it we were soon allowed in and I went straight up to the gatekeepers hut and got a wonderful panorama looking across most of the site. It really is impressive - a huge site in its own right and with Huayna Picchu mountain looming over the corner it adds to the atmosphere. It was a clear morning and the sun was just appearing oner the surrounding densely forrested mountaintops making a truly wonderful scene. I found my way over to the Ceremonial Tock where I met up with our guide. With his limited English and typical laid back attitude it wasn´t a fantastic tour of the ruins but it did provide a flavour of the place, teach me a little bit more about the Inca lifestyles, and by listening in to some of the other guides I was able to fill in some of the blanks. The rock where we started was huge and was where llamas would be sacrificed to ther gods on ceremonial occasions. Other areas we visited included some of the agricultural areas, the temples of the moon, sun and condor. It has a huge carving of the Condor forming two halfs of a doorway with the head inlaid on the floor. We saw where mummies were displayed for worship, rowers and fountains, amazing stonework including one section where the difference in styles between the "upper class" and the peasants areas was clearly seen: for the royals the stonework was much more exact and had absolutely no gaps at all whereas it was lass precise for the peasants. The incas basically had three tiered class structure" the specials, the locals and the messengers. The locals were not allowed to look at the specials so there is a window room where sound can be amplified through the cut out windows allowing communication between the classes. The condor was revered for its size and grace and ability to soar close to the sun and the puma and vicuña were the most respected land animals. All three can be seen depicted on many featyures and carvings. At the astronomical observatory there was further evidence of the academic awareness and abilities of the incas. The time dfial is set at 13degrees, the same latitude as the site and perfectly positioned so that the rising sun indicated the seasonal solstices. All in all the buildings are just incredibly complete, and with llamas still cavorting round the place it didn´t take too much imagination to think of it when it was full of people amd messengers would be running back and forward transporting goods, people and animals or messages to the other cities in the area, such as Cusco. Apparently MP is even laid out in the shape of a condor bu I struggled to see that. I was only sloghtly disappointed not to be able to have time to climb Huaynu Picchu because there so much to see and wander round in the complex and such amazing views anyway that it didn´t really matter. When the time came to leave I caught the bus back down the hill to Aguas Calientes and with the daylight I was able to appreciate how sheer the mountain sides are above the town - it having been dark the previous night and in the morning preventing me fully appreciating the location. The town itself is also quite pretty for a tourist cemtre with the river´s white water tumbling through the centre and the railway line beside it. After a bit of a browse it was time to catch the train back to Idroelectrica and to start the return journey to Cusco on the road from hell. I fluctuated between trying to convince myself it wouldn´t be so bad as I remembered on the way in and trying to reason with myself that it would be horrendous and just to be prepared. In the end it was just as bad going back! By the time we reached the comparative safety of Santa Maria I had very sweaty hands and damp fingerprints on the knees of my trousers where I´d been clenching them as I leant and pointed them into the hillside as if that´d save us if we started to slide!! Definitely not a road for the fainthearted! Back on the right side of the valley it was then back along the rough roads and through the villages until starting to climb back over the mountains. The rain then started aswell, and as we climbed up and up the twisting hairpins in the dark and wet I was a little concerned at times that the silence and hypnotic effect of the rain would send the driver to sleep too and we go tumbling back down to the valley floor way below. I really wish sometimes that I hadn´t inherited mum´s sometimes overly vivid imagination! I´m really not a good passenger in difficult conditions - too alert and concious of potential dangers. Really beginning to feel the driver was getting drowsy I was happy when he swapped with his newly reawakened pal. The pal drove exceedingly slowly however and after only a short time they swapped back. The break had done him good though and we safely made it back to a short stop in Ollantaytambo. By the time we reached Urumbaba however there was a police checkpoint in operation with all vehicles being stopped for routine checks. At that point we discovered our driver had no documentation, licence or insurance information with him and so the van was impounded and we weren´t allowed to go any further! The fact that his mate had nothing either further heightened my suspicions from his earlier efforts that he wasn´t actually a fully qualified driver! After hanging around for a while with no sign of a replacement driver or vehicle and our "drivers" disappearing into the night we were stranded. Then, one of the policemen called over another legitimate van driver and arranged that he´d take us back to Cusco. And so after going to fetch our new driver´s wife to accompany him on his trip, we finally set off and raced the last hour and a half back to Cusco. A real adventure of a couple of days in so many different ways, but worth it overall for the amazing sight that is Machu Picchu!
Back in Cuso with nothing worse than a sore throat and a bit of a cold to show for my adventures I enjoyed a couple more days around the city. Still unable to get out to the Sacred Valley I made do with a visit to some of the inca sites close to the city. Qorancha Cathedral was originally an Inca temple but was built over, around, and partly demolished when the Spanish arrived bringing catholocism to the area. An earthequake reexposed some of the exteernal walls in the 50´s and inside there are still plenty of signs of its previous form. Its now an unusual mix with perfect angular inca walls complete with perfect cut-outs for hinges and locks, square cut windows and fantastically ornate ceilings, rendered walls, extravagent oil paintings of christian religious themes, remnants of inca monuments and so on. There is one super painting of the milky way highlighting the animals central to the inca culture, and one depicting all the elements important to them: sun , moon, puma, people, condor, farming etc. The latter picture was in gilt and very striking indeed. Leaving the cathedral and its manicured little grounds it was up to Saqsahuaman. This enormous fortress is in an archaelogical park just outside the city. Massive, and constructed in intricate tiered stonework, each layer gradually decreasing in size, there are three separate gateways leading into the fort and along the walls you can see how the stones have been cleverly laid to include the outlines of animals such as the cuy, condor, serpent, llama and so on. Entering the fort there was a great view out over Cusco below. The city was originally planned in the shape of a puma but I couldn´t recognise it now. The next site was at Q´engo. Here a rocky construction consisting of narrow tunnels through towering stonework with carved out seats and ledges hides a cavern within in which a table is carved out of the icy cold rock and on which mummification was practised. Outside an amphitheatre was formed around a huge rock representing the surrounding mountains and where the mummies would have been sat in the carved seats as important events were celebrated. A further "everday" fortress and staging post, and a pefectly constructed watering post completed the impressive array of sites. The water was filtered down from the marshy grounds above until flowing completely purely. Drinking from it is said to bring eternal youth so I made sure I took a good gulp of the icy water just in case! Not quite all Inca´d out, just captivated by their skills, I managed a visit to the inca museum in town before finally leaving the charms of Cusco behind and heading for the town of Nasca.
With the buses only just returning to action after the strikes I headed to the bus station in reasonable time, only to discover my bus was to be delayed for an other hour and a half. When we did get going it turned into a long slow journey and taking 18 hours in total rather than the advertised 12! Part of that was due to the debris still strewn across the roads from blockades and round which we had to manoevre, and some was due to roadworks on the narrow roads forcing us to wait at control boards on several occassions, but mostly it was just due to the laidback South-american attitude to time keeping. Needless to say I was happy to reach Nasca and to find a decent hospedaje, despite the taxi drivers sending me off in the wrong direction when I didn´t require their transport. Fortunately that was the first place I´ve been where I was knowingly given false information, and not typical of the rest of people or places I´ve come across along my way. I had an early morning flight over the stange Nasca lines etched into the desert booked, but when I got up in the morning there was a seasonal fog hanging low over the area so there was no prospect of flying for a while yet. Hanging around chatting and waiting the sun slowly began to burn through until we finally after three hours we got the nod to race out to the airport. Several other groups were waiting inside the little terminal but the 5 of us from the hostel got ushered straight through and across the apron to our waiting Cesna. With the two couples filling the rear rows I was co-pilot! Once strapped in and checks were done by our reassuringly captainly looking pilot we taxied off and were in the air in no time. It was very bumpy and coupled with lots of banking I didn´t like it at all. As we circled to see our first shape - a whale - I couldn´t look down! The pilot laughed at my frantic tapping on his arm as the plane went along at nearly 90degrees, him with no hands on the controls pointing out shapes on the ground and on our little info map. (Fraser it was a hundred times worse than that time in Aberdeen when we went on that little rollercoaster!) He assured me "normale normale" as my over vivid imagination worked double time. Gradually as the flight went on I relaxed more, didn´t clench the seat back or base all the time and was able to look and take more photos. By the time we landed in fact I would have been happy to have gone round again! As far as the limes rhemselves go some were far easier to see than others. Generally they were not as vivisble as I´d imagined - especially with so many other lines in the desert sands and hills made by dry river beds, roads and general scuffing. We did overfly the astronaut, monkey, dog, condor, hummingbird, spider, hands tree and parrot before we turned to land and whatever the reasoning behind them and whoever etched them into the ground its certainly a strange and interesting spectacle. Back on the ground it was then a mad race back into town in oeder to catch the bus to Lima.
The trip to the capital was largely unevemtful as we trundled across the desert and along the coast. The only entertainment came when bimgo cards were handed round for a game with a prize of a bottle of Pisco on offer. I´d heard other travellers speaking of bus bingo games but hadn´t experienced one for myself so it was nice to chalk that up before leaving. By the time BINGO was called I had only three numbers left, but that was three too many. I will be practiced though for my return to the UK should National Express have taken up the practice by time I get there!
Lima itself was a bit of a dull city really. Not overly endowed with attractions, and with a constant hazy fog hugging the Pacific coast there wasn´t a lot to entice me to stay longer or to return in the future. The old central square was bounded by highly ornate architecture, and there was a very colourful procession of dancers and bands going on while I was there, but that seemingly was that. Even passing the old railway station all was quiet with not a sight nor sound of Paddington Bear or his friends. I obviously didn´t venture deeply enough into darkest Peru this time round, but with no time left to go back and have another look, I wasn´t too disappointed to move on. Hopefully more wonderful sights await me on my quick trip to the USA.
