Cusco and the Sacred Valley

After breakfast we walked to the Temple of the Sun, which was one of the only partially remaing temple as all the other ones were destroyed by the Spanish.

The tour was a real insight into the Inca building skills and technology.

Then on to Cusco cathedral. It was huge and although OTT it was the most impressive that we had seen. We saw the famous silver altar and last supper picture.

We drove into the sacred valley and on the way stopped at another Inca site. They built incredible structure which withstood earthquakes and without using the wheel.

Our next stop was a marvellous project to preserve the skills of local communities in maintaining their crafts and to encourage them to stay in that region rather than going to work in Cusco. We fed lamas and alpacas.

Before lunch we visited a wonderful market at Pisac at the start of the Sacred Valley.

The scenery was so much more dramatic, greener and ferile.

We reached our hotel for lunch at 3pm !!! We are getting used to this now !!

In the evening we studied the stars in an observatory and planetarium in the hotel.

Tomorrow is the culmination of our journey Machu Picchu !!!!

Back to Colonial Days !!!

The British Empire days are back. Well not really but we were travelling Inca First class on the Orient Express so it felt like it !!!

The train was run specially for our group and was a unique experience. You sat in armchair like seats with a viewing carriage and bar in the last two carriages then our carriage followed by the chefs carriage, the luggage car and then the engine !!!!

The train loo was quite something. A mahogany seat and marble ish basin.

We started the entertainment with a Pisco sour followed by a fashion show.

We were then served our 3 course lunch as you do !!

Lunch or perhaps I should say luncheon was followed by a demonstration of how to make the perfect Pisco Sour. This was swiftly followed by the 2 for 1 happy hour.

Then afternoon tea which was cinnamon flavoured. The only disappointment was the lack of cucumber sandwiches.

We descended through a spectacular gorge into Cusco about 6pm. We thanked the staff afterwards, who were immaculately dressed throughout the whole trip, for their professional and courteous conduct.

Strike !!!

Bad news today there is a national strike !!!

This morning we had a ceremony to clean our spirits by a Shamen. We floated a flower in the lake in memory of David.

Late afternoon we were taken by multiple vehicles over a very bumpy road dodging the rocks on the road from the strike to a lagoon. We saw Inca and Pre-Inca tombs. The Inca tombs in particular were very interesting. The largest one was 12m high.

In the evening the company put on a dinner with a band and dancers. The band was really excellent and consisted of guitars, pan pipes, wonderful tenor voices, drums and an Andean recorder.

On the Orient Express tomorrow strike permitting !!!

Lake Titicaca

We left early by bus for a journey on a boat touring round the lake.

In Winter the temperature of the lake is 3 degrees centigrade. The lake is 120 miles long and 50 miles at its widest point. It is the largest navicable lake in the world.

At 3800m high the lake supports so much life unlike other parts of the world at this height. The lake does this by acting as a temperature guage for the region.

60% of the lake is in Bolivia and 40% in Peru.

We visited the floating reed islands and the people were so warm and welcoming. They invited us into their houses and danced and sang.

Then went on to one of the large islands Torquile and the people were shy. The women wore veils over their heads and the men brightly coloured hats.

Then on to the Yavari, a steam ship built in the UK, carried across the Andes in pieces. It had been visited by Michael Palin in one of his TV programmes.

Journey to Puno

We left early again !!!

On our way we visited a food market which was very interesting and contained lots of tiny Rickshaw taxis and different produce from meat to vegetables and fruit.

We drove over high passes and one was at an altitude of 4910m. We both started to feel a little jaded by the whole height thing. We had a picnic lunch in front of a lagoon where there were flamingos and ate chocolate. This really helped with the altitude situation.

It took us 6 hours to reach lake Titicaca and we are in a brand new hotel on the lakeside.

Tomorrow we go for a trip on the lake !!

Condors !!!

We got up very early and drove about two hours to the top of the Colca canyon. It is one of the deepest in the world and twice as deep as the Grand Canyon.

We were thrilled to see Condors.

Onward to the Colca Canyon

Before leaving Arequipa we went to the Santa Catalina convent where many wealthy girls were there with there servants but in 1870 that all changed when the pope put a stop to the luxury.

It was like a village with named street and all painted in blue and terracotta.

We left Arequipa to the Colca Canyon and reached a height 4950m at one stage of our journey which took 10 hours.

When we arrived at the lodge it was bitterly cold.

Arequipa

Today visited Arequipa which is south of Lima and Peru´s second largest city.

To be honest we were not really expecting that much but this place has a lot more to it than you read in the guide books.

The first thing you notice is how prosperous it is. This is directly related to the fact the city has mines of gold, silver and copper.

It is surrounded by 3 active volcanoes and they have suffered earthquake damage in the past. This particularly affects the older building as most of the modern ones have some form of anti seismic foundations.

It has a strong Spanish influence and many of the building are made of white volcanic rock, although you would not know it as most of them are painted !!!

We visited the ice maiden musemum which contains Juanita. She is a young girl sacrificed 500 years ago after drinking a sedative before being bashed over the head !!! She had fallen into the volcanic crater and was discovered in 1995. She is retained at the same temprature that she was found in to preserve her -27 degrees celsius.

During the day it is t-shirt weather although it got cold at lunchtime in the shade. Our tour leader decided to have guinea pig which did not seem too bad until someone pointed out that you could still see its top and bottom teeth !!!!

Tonight we are on the town in search of a Pisco Sour, the traditional Peruvian alcoholic drink !!!!

Journey in the desert

We departed at 07:00 for our longest journey of 10 hours !!!!

We travelled through spectacular scenery, all desert mainly, which varied from large to very small dunes or rocky expanses by the sea to rocky expanses forming the walls of large valleys.

The road at times had no barriers and sheer drops into the sea. This was not helped with proliferation of crosses to those who had been victims of the corners we were going passed or the sheer drops.

We had a traditional Peruvian lunch comprising of crayfish soup with the crayfish and prawns with their shells still on, sea bass and then fruit.

We arrived in Arequipa at dusk having had a glimpse of the high peaks of the Andes. We are looking forward to tomorrow and are sorry that are posts have been a little slow so far. We are aiming to try and improve their regularity as we carry on our journey towards Machu Picchu.

Flight over the Nazca lines

Disappointment this morning. We were booked on the 06:30 flight but the mist came down. We had to wait around the hotel to be scrambled !!!!

At 10:30 we were given the all clear. Ben was unanimously voted to go in the front and sat there complete with video and microphone for the whole flight !!!

The Nazca lines are shapes in the ground which have been there for 2000 years and cannot be explained. Their creators could not have seen them from the air which makes them even more mysterious. There have been numerous theories as to what cause them from aliens to signs of the Zodiac.

The whole trip to use the Spanish phrase was phenominal !!! The view from the helicopter is simple amazing and it also gives you a fantastic idea of the general geography of the region as you pass through small hills and then see the absolute flat of the lines. Everything is dry and arid apart from the town of Nazca and where we stayed which is lush and green.