On the road to Puno

Tuesday, May 03, 2011
Carlos drove us to the bus station where we began our trip from Cusco to Puno via sightseeing bus. The trip would take five hours without stops, but we visited several places along the way making the trip an all day affair.
Our first stop was at Andahuaylillas, a tiny colonial village with a Jesuit church dating from the 17th century. The church has a soaring painted ceiling, frescoed walls, and the requisite silver altar and gold-leafed everything. Artisans were working at restorations and the highly embellished interior is in strange juxtaposition to the surrounding small town.
Our next stop was Raqchi, and the ruins of the Incan temple to their most important god. Much was destroyed by the Spanish, but enough remains to see how large the structure was, and how it soared. The site also contains the substantial remains of houses of Incan nobility, as well as over 150 storage buildings, evidence of Raqchi’s importance as a trading center between Puno and Cusco.
At La Raya, the mid-point of our journey and, at over 15,000 feet, its highest point, we stopped to admire the view of the snow-capped Andes before moving on to another ecosystem, the altiplano, or high plateau. Here rich agricultural land gave way to plains, and llamas to alpacas.
Pucara was a center of pre-Incan civilization and we visited a museum containing artifacts from the site, as well as a dark stone church.
Our base for two nights is Puno, situated on the shores of Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest navigable lake. Our guide, Xavier, met us for the drive to our hotel and explained what we’d be doing tomorrow.
More great Peruvian food for dinner; one of the great surprises of this trip has been the country’s cuisine. It’s outstanding and a guaranteed diet-buster!