Trip from Arequipa to Puno, Peru - Day 8

We were up early for our next adventure... through the VERY high mountains between Arequipa and Puno, which is a small city on Lake Titicaca. I have wanted to go to this lake since I was a kid and learned about it in school so this was one of my favorite days!

We boarded the bus in the morning and said goodbye to Arequipa, and goodbye to Chachani volcano near the Arequipa airport.

As we were making our way through the very high altitude mountains, I saw a BUNCH of alpacas!

I also saw a lovely floodplain.

At one point along our route from Arequipa to Puno, we started screen capturing our phones to see where the highest elevation was. Todd won... 14,740 feet!

SO. MANY. ALPACAS! There were just so many alpaca at these high elevations - how do they even breathe!?

Even high up in the desert Andean mountains, we saw Lake Lagunillas which is at almost 14,000 feet.

It was time for a snack on the bus - Vanilla Oreos, Trolli gummy bears and a Coke Zero!

At one point, we hit some road constructions. At first, they stopped traffic in both directions at. Then they let the other side go for a bit before finally letting us move along. It took like 20 minutes!

We also took a quick pit stop for a bathroom break and some more drinks and snacks in Santa Lucia.

But finally we made it to Puno! And our first stop was for some coffee and cake at the Rupha Cafe!

After some caffeine and sugar, we strolled over to the Plaza Mayor - and I do mean that very literally because Puno sits at 12,500 feet above sea level, so we walked slowly wherever we went.

Here is Todd walking VERY SLOWLY through the Plaza Mayor toward the Puno Cathedral.

This church was built in 1757 and is also known as Catedral Basílica San Carlos Borromeo.

Once inside of the Puno Cathedral, you can climb some very narrow stairs to the second level.

Up here, you get a really nice view of the interior of the cathedral.

And once you've caught your breath after climbing those stairs, you can climb even MORE stairs up to the bell tower!

Why does he kind of look like Batman here. 

In the distance to the east, you can see Lake Titicaca. You will also notice that there are zero guardrails or any kind of protective measures up here. And a cracked bell that reminded us a bit of the Liberty Bell.

The views of Puno were amazing from all sides of the cathedral bell tower.

Hello down there! (Please dear Lord, do not let there be an earthquake here while I am up here!)

I can see Bolivia from my house! Just kidding... Lake Titicaca is very big and you cannot, in fact, see Bolivia from this bell tower! But it's out there!

The stairs were so steep, we both had to back down them backwards.

We also went into the crypt, which, as you can see, was not really built for 6'4" men... but to be fair, it wasn't really built for 5'3" women either. As Todd looked around, he said, "There's a bunch of black mold in here, I'm gonna get out of here!"

We walked back to our meeting spot to meet up with our guide Meneleho and hop on a van to head down to the docks on Lake Titicaca.  Here, we hopped on a boat to head out to the Uros Islands where Meneleho pointed out the British ship the SS Ollanta. This British ship was a "kit ship" - it was sent over from England, and reassembled here in Puno for use on the Peruvian waterways. When they finally put their Lego boat (lol) together in 1931, it was the largest ship here on Lake Titicaca at the time. 

Goodbye, Puno... we are off to visit the Uros Islands! Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world at 12,507 feet, and the 18th largest lake in the world. We were later told that it was 270 meters at it's deepest point (or about 885 feet).

As you ride out to the Uros Islands, you pass a large amount of totora reed, which is what the Uros people use to build their islands.

They also used the totora reed to build fancy boats in order to get around the lake.

There are about 120 of these little man made islands with about 1,300 people living here.

The boat with the little Peruvian flag took about 30 minutes to get us to our destination, which was one of the individual islands belonging to one family.

And this is pretty much what each of these islands looks like. Each one houses about 4-6 families, and although the outward face of the islands is a mayor, each island has a chief which represents their own interests in the local Uros island government. 

The water itself is about 25 meters (roughly 82 feet) deep and each island is about 3 meters (about 10 feet deep) to support the structures on it. Tourism is the primary source of income, so they rely on tourists to come here, learn about their islands, and make a purchase from the goods they hand make. Todd and I bought a pillow cover featuring Pachamama (Mother Earth) for one of our couch pillows made by a lovely woman named Gladys. Nearby, they have a community school that the younger children go to (Kindergarten and elementary school) although the older kids go to school in Puno.

I think one of the coolest things I learned about the Uros Islands is that they now rely on solar power to give them a bit of electricity on each island. You an see the solar panels on the community bathroom which warms the water for their showers. They also have panels that provide enough electricity to light each home, and to provide outlets to charge cell phones. You can't escape cell phones in this day and age!  They cook on the island by using flat stone cookers (and stone pots) - and the stone is incredibly important since it prevents the reeds from catching on fire.

Not only that, but Gladys allowed us to visit her home to see how she and her family lived! I was pretty sure Todd was going to break this ladder, but thankfully he didn't. You can see here there is about 1 meter (or 3 feet-ish) of reeds that elevate their structures above the island itself.

It's just fascinating that they have light on these little islands in the middle of the lake!

We took a quick group photo of all of us who visited the island. It was fun to meet up with people from around the world!

After our island visit, we got to ride in a reed boat to another island. It was breezy, and chilly on the island, but they gave us homemade blankets to keep us warm.

Todd and I on a reed boat ready to float around Lake Titicaca.

I appreciate that the homes here are elevated. This lake has flooded in the past, and it was particularly bad back in 1985 and 1986 when many of the homes flooded and they were forced to relocate within the lake.

It was a beautiful evening on Lake Titicaca.

We had great views from down below the upper deck.

I couldn't tell if this boat had washed ashore or if someone parked it there!

Don't be fooled, he didn't work that hard. There was (just off screen) a motorized boat tied to us that was doing all the work!

We were very cold though! Of all the time we spent in Peru, where it was early spring, this was the coldest.

I hope that elevated house is only using the lower level for building access, parking and storage!

Eventually, they dropped us off at another island where we could get a hot cup of coffee, take a few pictures and even get a stamp in our passport (which you know I did!)

And we were treated to a beautiful sunset.

I have always wanted to visit Lake Titicaca and this trip did not disappoint. 

For the record, despite it's funny name to Americans, Titi means "Puma" and Caca means "Stone" or "Rock" in Quechua. It translates backwards to stone puma, because they believe the rocky shore of the lake is shaped like a puma. (I can't see it, but I'll take their word for it!)

Todd getting some smooches from a fake condor.

Everyone drinking coffee among the reeds.

I think we were only sad about the sunset because we knew we had to get back on a bus and drive all night to Cusco. 

Goodbye Uros Islands, thanks for the memories!

We had a couple of hours before we had to board the bus to Cusco, so Todd and I strolled through Puno in search of some dinner.

It was a very busy evening, with people out and about. I thought this was funny because it was THIS busy on a Monday night!

This little restaurant, recommended by our Peru Hop guides featured many old tyme irons on the wall.

After dinner, we walked back through the Plaza Mayor and there was either a real fire at the government building here on the right, or they were just practicing but they carried a couple of people out on stretchers.

And we obviously didn't document anything back at the hotel where we all waited for our bus to arrive to pick us up and take us to Cusco, but there were a couple of hilarious young college men from England (Bath and Bristol) who were having ... ahem ... some bowel issues (as many people do in Peru). I'll spare everyone the rest of the details, but they kept locking themselves out of the single stall bathroom in the lobby of the hotel and having to get the desk clerk to unlock it. The worst part for these poor kids was that we were about to board an overnight bus to Cusco that did not have a bathroom they could use for errrr .... those purposes. (If you have to do this, you need to alert the bus driver and have them stop at the nearest rest stop!)

It was also the bumpiest bus ride EVER and we hardly slept. Why does Peru have speed bumps on it's highways? I'll never understand it! 

Next stop, Cusco!

Trip to Arequipa, Peru - Day 7

 Day 7 in Arequipa found us... dealing with some stomach issues. It's pretty normal to get what they call "traveler's stomach" in Peru, and you are supposed to avoid any kind of raw fruits and vegetables, and you should not drink the tap water. We even brushed our teeth with bottled water every day, twice a day! But alas... there really isn't a lot of immunity - only your very best friend, Imodium!

So there were not a ton of pictures from this day since we did not really leave the hotel until around lunchtime! But in the morning, Todd did venture out for a bit while looking for some bottled water. He sent me this picture and a text that said, "I found the Peruvian Costco!"

Meanwhile, I made some friends at breakfast.

It took us about a half a day, but we finally got out of the hotel and went to see the Museo Santuarios Andinos museum dedicated to Juanita and the other children that were sacrificed to the volcanoes (aka: the ritual sacrifice called Capacoch) back in the Inca Empire. You can't take any pictures on the inside, but you can take them outside. So this is pretty much all we got.

Again, no pictures from the museum, but the story of Juanita is this: She was a 12-to-15-year-old girl who was sacrificed to the volcano by the Incas. They did such things to appease the Gods in the hopes that the volcano would not erupt. A volcanic eruption had an after effect on the area for many years in that it not only covered the area with ash and lava, but it also changed the climate, and therefore the agriculture. So it was common to make sacrifices to the Gods for the uncontrollable workings of the earth. 

She was found on top of Mount Ampato, and only by chance by Johan Reinhard, in 1995, while he was there photographing a nearby volcano.  Her body, which they think was dated around 1450 AD, was frozen for hundreds of years before, via volcanic activity of that same nearby volcano, the snowcaps melted and her frozen body rolled down the mountain. Her face, exposed to the sun, unfortunately somewhat melted, but the rest of her body was very well preserved when it was found by Reinhard - including her organs, blood and teeth.  It was apparently a great honor to be chosen, but our guide said that Juanita's teeth were worn down, indicating that she had been grinding her teeth (a sign of nervousness). So I assume she must have been nervous about death.

The body of Juanita is no longer in the museum - only recently having been removed to be kept at the university for preservation. So we didn't get to see the real Juanita. But they do have a really good recreation, and that's the grand finale of the tour. 

She was found in a bundle - she was little, of course, but when they found her, the bundle included other items, such as coca leaves, chicha (they think they got them drunk before their death to calm them down), and items of value such as gold and sea shells indicating she may have been of an elevated status within the community. The photo above is one that was taken before they unwrapped her.

They also discovered that she was hit on the head before she died, cracking her skull and causing a hemorrhage - and ultimately this is how she died. Not all of the children who were sacrificed died this way since some were buried alive. The whole story is just so sad!

Well, that was heavy... let's go get some lunch!  We made our way to an Italian restaurant (Il Caffè Della Nonna) just off of the Plaza de Armas for a difficult to find, but a very delicious meal that we, of course, forgot to take pictures of. On our way out, we found a Colleen door, one that we often find on our travels and one that Todd would not be able to walk through without bending over.

And of course, we strolled around the very pretty Plaza de Armas after lunch.

I don't even know what he was doing here, but he looked cute doing it.

What a beautiful day! But the skin cancer king here struggled a bit with the strong sun angle and needed a lot of shade.

We found a bench, and no sooner had we sat down than this big parade/protest came into the square. At first we were like... gay pride? Sweet! But no... this is the flag of Cuzco. Ok... sweet!

And no sooner had they arrived, than the Policia arrived to shut it down.  We aren't fully sure what the protest was about, but the President of Peru Dina Boluarte was removed from office just a couple of days before this, and there were some protests around the country so we assumed it might have something to do with this. This was the "biggest" protest that we saw the whole time.

We tend to escape when we see protests, so we headed over to the Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús to finally see the inside of the church that has a stunning volcanic rock facade that came from the Pichincha volcano.  That's a lot of gold up there on the altar... apparently there is somewhere between 50-55 kilograms of gold in the totality of this church!

I think our favorite part of the entire church was the painting of the Last Supper. Many representations of the Last Supper look this way in Peru... because they painted what they knew in the details, not what was necessarily true. 

Peruvian artists took a bit of liberty in their Last Supper paintings (this is not the only one we encountered) by incorporating local Peruvian native elements, including food and drink. In this painting, Jesus and his disciples had a nice meal of corn, potatoes and of course... cuy, or guinea pig!  Todd's sister Kathleen was very upset when we had cuy in Lima when we first arrived because they had had a family pet guinea pig named Twinkles --  so Todd had a good time sending her this picture and teasing her that "even Jesus ate guinea pig!"

On our way out, we stopped to gather our thoughts and figure out our next steps, and I just had to take another picture of the outside of the Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús. It reminds me of something you might find in the Middle East or in a mosque with the details (although you would never find actual human or animal pictures in a mosque, but you would find flowers, vegetation, and geometric patterns, which we also see here).

Knowing that we had a long day ahead of us the next day, we found a small grocery store where we grabbed a few bus snacks for our trip. We didn't grab this, but I felt this offer was almost too good to pass up! See, you NEED to mix your Johnnie Walker Red Label with some water! BOGO!

We took our newly purchased groceries (sans Johnnie Walker and water) back to the Waya Lookout bar for some sunset drinks. The views here are some of the best in Arequipa of the Cathedral and the imposing Misti volcano in the distance.

The less imposing but no less terrifying Pichu Pichu (or Pikchu Pikchu) volcano has seven summits that stretches about 6 miles across. Again, all three of these (and all of the others in the region) are a result of the Nazca plate moving eastward beneath the South American plate. All of the volcanoes around Arequipa are considered dormant - they aren't actively erupting and haven't in some time, but there is still a chance that they could.

You need to get to Waya for the sunset in advance to score the best seats. 

Of course, we had to have a drink to toast our last night in Arequipa! And you can see Misti over Todd's right shoulder and Pichu Pichu over mine.

Not to leave Chachani volcano out, Todd took a selfie with it as well, with the hopes that it would appease the volcano and keep us safe as we enjoyed the sunset.

While Misti is the quintessential volcano (and the closest to Arequipa), something about Chachani is just so breathtaking. Perhaps because it's the tallest of the three?

The sun sets on another day in Peru!

Happy (exactly one month away) 20th anniversary honey!

Now that's just stunning.

The view from Waya is amazing for the sunset and the volcanoes, but make sure you look all around this beautiful city!

It was a long day, and we knew that we had another REALLY long day the following day so we headed out to grab an early dinner before heading back to the hotel. We passed the Capilla de los Sacramentinos, or the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament next to the Goyeneche Palace on our way to dinner.

And where did we eat dinner? Can you guess the cuisine by this sign?

A German restaurant called Servus, of course! The German Purity law known as Reinheitsgebot from 1516 sits knowingly above Todd's shoulder. 

After dinner, we had to make one more stop on the way back to the hotel for the bad snacks (aka: junk food). The best snacks I found (ironically at the same store we found the Boone's Farm at!) were these Pepero sticks featuring Stray Kids! K-Pop is truly taking over the world!

Until next time, Arequipa!