Back to Peru

Last drink on the beach in Arica

We left the beaches of Arica, Chile about a week ago and turned back the clock coming into Peru.  It's not just the 2-hour time difference!  Here is a photo journal of our last week.  We arrived in Cusco this afternoon, though so far we have seen only the campground and numerous loops of the same (wrong) roads that got us here.  Looking forward to sorting out what to see and where to go and how to get there with friends arriving tomorrow.

 

Last of the desert, for now, at least.  Snow in the distance.

 From Tacna, Peru, the road rises steeply into the Andes.  We probably should have gone up a little more slowly, we were at 4800 meters within 48 hours.

Suiting up after camping outside of Torata, Peru

Near Torata

Near Torata

On a back road shortcut through the mountains, our radiator sprung a leak in the tiny town of Conduriri.  Luckily, there was a mechanic in town, who patched us up.  We met his friends, helped his kids with their English homework, and parked across the street for the night.

Luc, with mechanic Francisco and his son, Ivan

Ivan giving his grandmother (we think) a ride home

Conduriri friends

Helping Milton with homework

From Conduriri, we drove through an incredible canyon.  This rock structure is called the marriage by the local people.  The relatives are looking on from the cliff in the upper right.

Rock wedding

House in the canyon

Canyon Hillside

More houses in the canyon

Luc checks out the mudslide above Juli before driving through

Roadside

Another house along the way

I made some friends on the road.

We spent a few hours in the beautiful little city of Juli, which calls itself the Rome of South America because it has 4 churches.  What I liked were the amazing doorways.

House in Juli

Guarding one of the Juli churches

We spent a few days in Chucuito, a small town outside of Puno where you can visit one of the floating island communities on Lake Titicaca.

Stonework outside the temple of fertility in Chucuito

A beautiful door in Chucuito

and another

Alpha dogs on the roof in Chucuito (for Diane)

Stonework inside the Temple of Fertility

We went into Puno by bus and had an incredible tour of the floating islands of Uros.

First view of the floating islands of Uros

Our guide shows the root system that the islands float on

Floating island homes

This island is their capitol

Luc on the island

Some of our fellow floating island tourists

Fellow tourist

Our next stop was Pucara, famous for its pottery bulls which sit on rooftops to bring good luck.  We visited the 3000 year old ruins early in the morning after parking the van overnight on the town square next to an enormous church.

Pucara, early morning

Looking over the ruins into town

The man who sold us our lucky bull, displaying the mold

The cliffs behind the ruins work like a giant ear.  We heard the lessons from school.

Another visitor to the ruins.

We weren't alone up there.

Luc was taking lots of pictures this morning!

From Pucara, we went to Raqch'i, which has the largest Incan roofed structure.  Having been in Pucara in the morning, it was interesting to see some of the same ideas reflected in Incan architectue, 2000 years later.

Raqchi is famous for this temple roof which is supported by a huge wall

Incan storage granges (restored)

Loved the steps in the stone walls

Bringing home the sheep  - town square

We are now in Cusco, and have connected with our friend, Fiona, and met some new folks on interesting travels at our campground. We are looking forward to visiting Machu Picchu, which we will visit on the Equinox.

Ah, and the dog bite is healing nicely.