Snapshots

These women wearing the skirts and bowler hats are called ¨cholitas¨. The word comes from Aymara and means of mixed race (spanish and indigenous). It no longer carries the negative connotation that is used to. They are used mostly by indigenous women now.

That´s my bus from Puno (Peru) to La Paz (Bolivia)! We were crossing the Strait of Tiquina of Lake Titicaca. All the passengers got off and took a separate, and slightly more stable boat.

Arriving in La Paz, signs of support for Evo Morales - Bolivia´s first indigenous (Aymara) president.

La Paz

More on this amazing city soon. However this is an important day for Bolivia - they are voting to approve or reject a new constitution for the country!

See more here and here.

The good and the bad

Traveling hasn't been all glamour, of course. Here are a couple of the not so wonderful things so far:

• The cheapest meals in Peru are usually the fixed lunch or dinner, ¨El Menu¨ (runs between 2-4 USD). Although I've had some great dishes so far, like alpaca in rosemary sauce (mmmm...), ¨El Menu¨ usually consists of a watery soup for a starter and an entrée composed mainly of starch. A huge portion of very dry white rice served with some soggy french fries still glistening in oil, with a tiny portion of beef or chicken. I think I'm about done with ¨El Menu¨...
• This next one is bit more complicated than soggy french fries - traveling in places like Cusco and Lake Titicaca it seems hard to avoid the kind of tourism that is a cheap commercialization of the culture. Mass produced souvenirs are sold everywhere. In Cusco some of the local people put on traditional dress mostly as a show for tourists and to ask for money when they are photographed. Even our tour of the islands seemed like a bit of an intrusion into the lives of those traditional people. Seems a bit tricky to appreciate the local culture, stimulate the economies with tourism, and yet not take away some of it's authenticity as well.
• Stray Dogs! More dangerous than you think...Jeff had an unfortunate encounter with one and was bitten while walking the streets in Puno (yes, a bit off the beaten track...). The next day he started the 7 day series of rabies shots, which at least are all free. Aiaiai...
• The most recent development has been a salmonella infection. I'm pretty sure I can trace it back to the last dinner I had in Peru. Yesterday afternoon and evening were a bit rough, with fever and stomach issues (I'll spare you the details). Thankfully, I'm now staying with a wonderful bolivian family in La Paz, and the father is a doctor. After starting antibiotics I'm feeling almost 100% again this morning. Ah, small joys of travel. ; )

Lake Titicaca

Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world, and the largest of South America. The first place we visited were the floating islands of the Uros people, who construct their homes, and the islands they live on, all out of reeds. The island are anchored in a not so deep section of the lake (10-15 m). The whole place looked like the scenery for some fairy-tale. The Uros came up with such an interesting way of life after fleeing from the Incas with whom they were at war with in the mountains. I guess conflict does foster quite a bit of creativity!

The second place we went to was a real, rock-solid island called Taquile. The people living there are still very traditional Aymara (also Inca descendents like Quechua). These islanders make the most exquisite knitted clothing - like hats and belts. The husband knitts the pieces that are used by the wife and vise-versa. The men all wear hats (andean - beanie style) and you can tell by the colors if the are single, married, young and dependent of the family, or independent. So many cultural elements revolve around the clothing and the colors all have meaning. We were greeted with a traditional dance and had a great lunch of quinoa soup and trout from the Lake.



Floating islands













Traditional reed boat













Aymara people of Taquile





























Taquile man (you can tell he is married because there is no large white band on his hat).

Machu Picchu!

Maybe the best way to describe Machu Picchu is ¨slightly surreal¨or ¨what were they thinking?¨. The site is incredibly perched on a verdant mountain top and surrounded by the most amazing views of other mountains shrouded in mist. We took the 5:30 am bus up (uhhh!) and enjoyed the morning hours without a huge amount of tourists swarming the place. Unfortunately, we figured out too late that we needed to get tickets to hike up to Wayna Picchu (the big mountain in all the classic Machu Picchu photos). They only allow 400 people up per day - by early morning all the tickets were gone.

Even without the hike, we spent about 7 hours exploring the site. Much more impressive than the ones we had seen so far. Our lack of sleep at night also called for a nap on one of the many agricultural terraces. We had fun with the llamas that seem to serve as very practical lawn mowers for the place.

It was a long day and the view and ruins so impressive, I'm still not sure they've sunk in.

Sacred Valley

Saturday we took a tour of the Sacred Valley of the Incas, a fertile valley along the Urubamba river. It´s the most important area for growing maiz in Peru. The corn (which I had a chance to savor) has HUGE kernels. Apparently the fertile soil and the high solar radiation (we´re much closer to the sun here than Seattle!) causes things to grow quite big. Potatoes, which are originally from the Andes also grow big and in all sorts of varieties. We visited 2 important Inca ruins -- Pisac and Ollantaytambo.

Agricultural terraces of Pisac.

Today we took the 6:50 am train to Aguas Calientes (also known as Machu Picchu pueblo) from where we will take the bus up to the famous site tomorrow!

Machu Picchu train ride.

See here for more info on the campesino protest:

http://www.peruviantimes.com/peru-farmers-launch-indefinite-strike-to-protest-water-laws-machu-picchu-railway-cut-off-and-dozens-of-roads-blocked/

Yesterday we set out to buy tickets for the train up to Aguas Calientes (and from there Machu Picchu), but we found out that the train was not running because of a ¨campesino¨(rural people´s) protest. Apparently the peruvian government now wants to charge them to take water from nearby rivers to irrigate their land. I´m kinda glad they have such a good card up their sleeve -- interrupting the Machu Picchu train is very bad for business! So...we go up on Sunday now, sleep in Aguas Calientes and come back Monday. I heard today that the protest is over, and that the government is willing to talk to them, and maybe negotiate the new law...?

The rest of our day was spent walking...lots! around town. We visited Qorinkancha, the site that used to be the temple of the sun, where the Inca ruler lived. It is only partially there now, with a Dominincan catholic church built on top. Later we hiked about 2 km up to Saqsaywaman (sorry if some of this is spelled wrong - the names are complicated!). Saqsaywaman is also an inca ruin site. The incas envisioned Cusco in the shape of a puma, with Saqsaywaman as the head. While walking around up there I was approached by a local Quechua who gives guided tours. He explained some of the amazing construction of the incas -- how they carved each stone with stronger meteorite stones, how for each new space in the wall they would make a mold and then carve down the rock accordingly. Afterwards, they used a ramp to push the new rock into place, and covered it with an oily substance so that it would slide in. Amazing!

However, as always, there is some sort of injustice at play. The fees to enter the arqueological sites, and to take the train up to Machu Picchu are quite steep. Only about 30% of the money stays in the Cusco area and reverts back to locals. The trains are foreign owned, and the visitor fees end up in someone´s pocket back in Lima.

View of Cusco.

















Traditional weaving
















Saqsaywaman.
















View of Cusco with mountains.