Floating Islands of Uros

I'm going to skip a day and go straight to our tour of the floating islands in Lake Titicaca.  It was an absolutely wonderful day, I think the best one of the whole trip.


So many photos, I once again put a video on YouTube.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r91cQ_I6yO4


The island we visited lives on what they can hunt (fowl, usually) and fish - and what they make from the tourists.  There ARE islands who don't allow tourists.  The man gives a demonstration of calling for game birds.


The ladies with the 'tassels' on their braids - the colourful ones mean she is single and looking for a husband - the black ones mean she is married - and a child gets a crochet hat.


There are photos of how they build one of these islands.  They are about 3 metres thick, and are attached with strong ropes to the bottom.  The lady with the saw shows us what happens when people fight between themselves - just cut off your part of the island and go somewhere else.


The round hut is a kitchen.  Stoves/fires are set on large flat rocks.  


Our ride in the reed boat was nice and calm and peaceful ... rowed by two men - who would pull out their cell phones when we were still somewhere!

Machu Picchu

I have far too many photos to be able to put Machu Picchu on this blog.  So I have made a slideshow and put it on YouTube.


You can find it here (hopefully):


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyaftLrWmh8


There are 64 photos on the slideshow ... far less than the over 200 in my iPhoto album!


If you can't click on the above address, just copy and paste it into your browser's address bar.

Various Things, Returning to Cusco

There are lots of little interesting things to see on a bus trip, that don't belong in any one category.  The bus itself was like any Greyhound bus.  The roads, on the other hand are not.  Our worst roads are not as bad as most of the roads we've been on here, even the paved ones.  So no matter how nice the bus is, you're still getting bounced around a lot.  You wouldn't want to be prone to motion sickness!


The tour we were on for Ollyantaytambo had 18 people on it, but all of the other ones were a maximum of 10, and once just 4.  We've had one so-so guide, one pretty good guide (excellent knowledge but walked way too fast and we kept losing him), and two extremely good guides.  They really knew their stuff and you could tell they weren't just reciting facts and figures, but talking from in depth knowledge of their subject and the area.


Did you know that Peru gained its independence long before Canada did?  I think our guide yesterday said it was about 1820, but I'm not exactly sure.


Now for some photos:

Bromeliads growing on the hillsides were very common in this area.

Mosses growing on the roof tiles.  We saw various plants and cacti growing on rooftops.  It's a very dusty area and when the dust piles up deep enough, things can grow in it.  We saw the same things happening in China.

Couldn't resist!!!  Actually, it's an election sign.  This was the candidates first name, the rest is hidden by the vegetation.  During an election, instead of putting up paper, cardboard, or wooden signs, they just paint them on the side of buildings and walls.  In a lot of places, just about every flat surface is covered.  The election was over a couple of months ago, so obviously they don't go back and cover them over.

Soccer/football game.   The women on these teams come from neighbouring villages to compete.  Don't you just love their uniforms?  Our driver was kind enough to stop and let us take some photos.

The goalie.  These are Quichua people.  In actual fact, there are no Incas.  The Inca was the ruler and the people were Quichua (or Kichwa or Kechua).  It was the Spanish who started calling all of the people Inca.  The play-by-play of this game, over a loudspeaker, was in Quichua, not Spanish.  It is only in the last decade or two, as schools have been built in local villages, and the children are being taught Spanish, that these people are starting to use anything other than Quichua.

Wouldn't you know it would be almost dark when I finally found an agave actually blooming! 

Just because.

Ollyantaytambo

Pronounced oye-ann-tay-TAM-bow.  It's about 60 kilometres from Cusco and is about 9,160 feet above sea level - puff puff puff.  During the Inca Empire, it was the royal estate of the Emperor Pachacuti (patch-a-cootie) who conquered the region, built the town and a ceremonial centre.  It is an important tourist attraction because of its Inca buildings and as one of the most common starting points for the three-day, four-night hike known as the Inca Trail.

We are at Ollyantaytambo

This was the beginning of my problems with high (12-15 inch or so riser) steps.  They are difficult to climb, and they are scary coming down.  Most of the time, there are no hand-railings or anything.  I got only part of the way up and gave in to the fact that I just couldn't go any higher.  It was disappointing.  Still, it was interesting, and we did get a chance to wander on our own while waiting for the rest of the tour to return to the base.  Here are some of the photos:

This blind man was at the entrance to Ollyantaytambo.

The dreaded steps

Ollyantaytambo.  The second group of people from the bottom is as far as I got. :(

Through doorways and window.

Inca dwelling.  It is made of a more rough stone design, with plaster.  The finely crafted and fitted stones were only used for temples, palaces, and buildings of important people.  If you were a "commoner", you got rough stone.

The Inca revered the mountains as gods.  This one had a face ...  just to the left of the middle of the photo.  They also built grain and potato storage on this mountain (left, middle, and right).  There were no obvious trails to these storage facilities so that warring tribes or groups could not find them.

Lunch

Leaving the Pisac market, we travelled for about 20 minutes to another town and stopped at a restaurant called Tunupa.  There we had a buffet lunch and were entertained by musicians.  There were four buffet tables.  The first one had sushi and other Japanese food!  The second had cold food such as salads and meats.  They weren't very different from many of the things we see on our buffet tables except most things were chopped much more finely and there was no lettuce that I could see.  For the meats, there was a cold pork with orange sauce and a marinated sliced alpaca ... and yes, I did try it.  It was very much like beef, but was sliced so thinly and marinated so well, it was very hard to tell !  The third table had hot meat and vegetables - roast pork, chicken and beef.  The fourth table was dessert, with jello, flan, bananas, oranges etc.  Of course I had the flan since it's one of my favourites.  So here are some photos:

This photo is for you Stephen Essex!  A lumber yard somewhere between Pisac and Ollyantaytambo, Peru!

This one is for Eric !  These taxi's are everywhere.  Three-wheeled.  Made with/from a Honda motorcycle.  Some of them get very fancy both with their paint jobs and with their accessories.

The Tunupa restaurant where we had lunch.  This was the first time I came across a real garden.  Of course, I was so excited about it that I took a ton of photos, whether the flowers were the same as at home, or not!

Our musical entertainment.  It was so nice to be able to see and hear musicians play music that I really like, in the country it came from.  Of course, after about 6 songs they came around table to table with cd's to sell, and a bag for tips if you didn't want to buy anything.  They had some pan flutes that were about 4 feet tall or long and gave a very deep sound. It was marvellous.

A poinsettia the size of a small tree (about 6-7 feet tall).  They don't get snow here, nor frost, so most things just keep growing.  There is a rainy season and a dry season.  I saw lots of geraniums and snapdragons, etc.

Poinsettia Tree

Pisac Market

Our next stop was at the Pisac Market.  It's held on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, with the biggest on Sunday which is when we were there.  It's quite large and crammed into a smallish space with winding 'alleys'.  It seemed to be divided into two parts - the handicraft part and the food part.  


In the handicraft part it's very noisy because all of the vendors are trying to get you to purchase their merchandise.  All woollens are alpaca (not) or even better, alpaca baby "alpaca maybe".  Everything is handmade (not).  Believe it or not we often found things that were probably made in China ... they had that look (sort of like most Canadian souvenirs !)  It's hard not to want something, so we ended up purchasing some Peruvian angels for our Christmas tree (surprise, surprise!!!).


In the food part, there all kinds of vegetables and fruits, herbs, seeds and grains, etc.  I didn't see thousands of kinds of potatoes, but did see three or four.  We did see corn with the biggest kernels ever.  It was being sold hot, boiled in water just as we would, but with 'cow cheese', not butter.  People walk around eating it while they are at the market.

Entering the Pisac Market.  Colourful, crowded.  That darkish line through the centre is actually a gutter.  I got up close and personal with one when I slipped into it and fell.  Thank goodness Terry and someone else caught me before I did any serious damage to my camera !!!

As soon as we got into the market, this lady ran up to us so we could take her photo (and pay her for the privilege !)

The Corn.  You can see how big the kernels are by looking at the one in her hand.  We did try some later that day at another spot.  It was good (without the cow cheese), but would be better with butter and salt ! 

Potatoes.  A staple of the Peruvian diet.

Three little girls - so cute :)

More On The Way to Ollyantaytambo

More photos of our trip to Ollyantaytambo.  

Alpacas, not llamas.  All dressed up for the tourists.  They make an extremely soft wool, and they are edible.  I actually ate  some at lunch.  Does not taste like chicken ... tastes like beef.

Local school.

Blooming, actually finished blooming, agave.  I tried and tried to get one that was actually blooming but they were either too far away or had gone past us by the time I'd turned on the camera and removed the lens cover.  Disappointed.  I thought since we were going to be here in the spring, there would be lots of things blooming.  Guess I'm in the wrong spot.

Urubamba River and Valley.  Some of the scenery was incredible and very difficult to capture with two dimensional photos.  I think I've taken and deleted over 800 ! 

Backtracking

Bulls on the roof for protection.  This tradition comes from a town we visited on Wednesday (Rayna I think, but will have to check).  Apparently they used to use llamas but when they saw the bulls the Spanish brought with them and how strong they were, they changed to that.

Llama grazing.  Not pronounced Lama - pronounced Yama !

On Sunday we took a bus tour to Ollyantaytambo.  On the way, we made numerous stops and had lunch.  I have a few photos to show you  that take us to our first stop.

Fortress of Saqsaywaman or Sacsahuaman (pronounced almost like Sexy Woman).  Stones from this fortress were used to
build the cathedral in Cusco.

Our first stop was in a very little village called Corao, where they teach ceramics.
This young fellow spends his days posing with his alpaca, for the tourists. 

We Made It!

It's been two days since I put anything on here ... two very long and tiring days.  Usually by the time we get back to the hotel, we are so tired that we go straight to bed.  Lots and lots of walking, which isn't so bad, and then lots of climbing, mostly on stone steps that are twice as high as the steps we're used to.  I don't understand it ... the Inca were 'short' people (actually around my height or shorter), so why did they make the risers so darn high?  It has presented quite a number of problems going up and going down.  We haven't had a problem with the altitude, thank goodness, just those stairs.  Anyway ... just wanted to post this photo.  Hope you like it!

No explanation necessary!

Good Morning

We are downstairs having breakfast.  It's almost 7 a.m.  Just wanted to put on a few more photos from yesterdays walk in Cuzco.

Church of the Company of Jesus, begun in the late 16th century, almost demolished in the earthquake of 1650, completed 1668.  Built over the ruins of an Inca palace.

Child in traditional dress.  Most of the children we saw dressed the same as ours except for
sweaters and hats may be of the same designs as the ones they sell tourists.

The Cathedral of Cuzco.  Construction began in 1650.  On the site of a former Inca palace.  Made of stone from
Sacsayhuaman 'fortress'.

This is where we found KFC and McDonalds.

Looking across the main square to the Church of the Company of Jesus.

A Walk in Cuzco

After our rest and acclimatization today, we went walking.  It's tough walking because the sidewalks are all stone ... some cut into squares and some like river rocks put sideways into cement ... so it's hard on the feet, knees, and hips.  Pretty sore by the time we got back a few hours later.  


It's cold.  We have been cold most of our trip so far.  When we landed in Cuzco about 10:30 a.m., it was nice to have it so warm that the sweatshirts and jackets could come off.  Unfortunately, by 1:30 it was so cold we had to put them back on again.  The room has one of those portable oil-filled heaters, so we've had it on ALL the time we've been in our room.  Average temperatures are supposed to be around 72F or 20-22C, so I packed a lot of short-sleeved t-shirts, plus one sweatshirt and the fleece jacket (which I forgot in the Montreal airport).  Think I'm going to have to buy a sweater or two tomorrow.    Plus about 2:30-3:00 p.m., it rained, with hail !  Thank goodness we were at the main square and most of the sidewalks around the edge have roofs over them.  


Took lots of photos of the two main churches or cathedrals.  The workmanship is amazing, inside and out.  Too bad we aren't allowed to take photos inside. 


Cuzco was the capital of the Incan empire.  When the Spanish conquered this part of the world, they took over Cuzco and built their buildings right over the Inca ones, so you still see Inca walls (or parts of them) as you are walking around.  


We had to stop and have a snack, especially since I could smell fried chicken so much when we were walking around the square.  And behold, there was actually a KFC, but they had no tables, and sitting on the steps of the square didn't really appeal to us, so we went a bit further and there was McDonalds ... with seats, so in we went.  The hamburger tasted a little bit different, but I couldn't put my finger on exactly why.  At the side table where we usually get our condiments, they had ketchup and mayonnaise in those push dispensers.  They also had a couple of different kinds of mustard, and some relish, in self-serve bins.  And wonder of wonders, they had white vinegar, wine vinegar, and olive oil ... for the salads, so I got to have vinegar on my French fries!!!  Absolutely no salt or pepper to be seen.  Anyway, we did the check-in thing with our iPhones and Facebook (yes, free WiFi), which you may have seen.

An alley-way of stalls selling sweaters, blankets, and
all sorts of handicrafts.

We came back to our rooms after a few hours and I downloaded the photos I had taken.  Took forever.  I think my new iPhoto has a glitch.  Will have to phone Apple when I get home.  Within an hour, my head was filling up.  I have a head cold.  I am so disgusted.  On the flight from Montreal to Miami, the girl beside me was blowing her nose, etc.  through the whole flight.  Three and a half to four hours of non-stop germ factory.  So I got some stuff at a drug store down the street and am hoping it will help.

Balcony, Spanish style - I took a ton of photos of different ones of these.

Walk out the front door of our hotel, turn right, and this is what you'd see.

Go out the front door of the hotel, turn left, and this is what you see.  This is the direction you go to go to the main square.

Bumpy Sidewalk

I'm too tired to write any more tonight so will have to show you more of my wonderful Cuzco photos tomorrow ! :)

Here We Are!

Flying over the Andes Mountains

We are in Cuzco.  It is about a quarter after one in the afternoon, Cuzco time, which is about an hour behind the time it is at home.  We have been taking our altitude pills faithfully, were given a cup of coca tea as soon as we arrived at the hotel, and have been resting the required two hours ...  so don't seem to be having a problem with the altitude. Yeah !  Shortly we will be going out to have a walk around.  


It was a very long day for us yesterday.  We had to get up in Montreal at 2:30 in the morning and leave for the airport at 3 a.m.  Thank goodness the room had a coffee maker!  Forgot my fleece jacket in the Montreal airport.  Hope it's the only think I lose this trip.  The 6 hour wait in Miami wasn't the most fun I've ever had, and it's impossible to find a cup of coffee without chicory in it ... yuck!  The plane to Lima left an hour late, so of course we got into Lima about 11:30 p.m., flying LAN airways.  I thought it was just fine, except for the highly intoxicated person who sat beside me (obnoxious smell #1) and the person very near who had a wicked gas problem for the whole flight (obnoxious smell #2).  Terry wasn't crazy about our dinner, but I thought it was okay ... pasta and sauce, roll with butter, and a mousse/cake for dessert.  I was surprised there was no salad or fruit, but it didn't bother me.  We had purchased some cookies at the Miami airport, so that helped tide us over till we landed.  We were met by our tour people and taken to our hotel, so absolutely no problems there at all.  By the time we got to our room at the hotel, it was 1:30 in the morning - we had been up for 22 hours!


We didn't see much in Lima because it was dark when we arrived, and too early in the morning (6:30 a.m.) to be clear-sighted when we left. 

Leaving Lima

The snow-capped Andes

Arriving at Cuzco