I last wrote on the evening after my departure from Cusco just before we headed to Puno. Puno is located on the shores of Lake Titicaca (lago titikaka in the local tongue) which is the world´s highest lake. This unique microclimate is extremely influential in the region in every way from geography, transportation, and even agriculture. Lake Titicaca, despite being over 4,000 meters above sea level, causes the surrounding land to resemble a much more temperate, and lower, climate. Plants which would only normally grow thousands of meters lower thrive along the lake and not just becasue of increased irrigation and better access year-round to water. During the day the sun beats down on the millions of gallons of water and heats them up. During the night this hot water holds its heat much longer than the ground and the breezes off of the lake keep the area much warmer than would ever be possible. This way the entire agricultural climate can be changed and life can exist in a way that would never be possible anywhere else in the world at that altitude.
Another important aspect of the region is, obviously, tourism. Some of the major attractions of the lake are its islands. The uros, or floating islands, are made entirely of a reed called totoro which is very buoyant and abundant in the lower parts of the lake. The inhabitants of the islands gather their own reeds and build up their islands month by month. We got to stop by a Uro on our boat trip to the lake and we got to take some pictures with the locals there as we took partin their local customs:
After we visited the uro we stayed on the island in the middle of the lake known as Amantani. There we got to interact with our host families and get to know the lake culture a little bit better. I even got to swim with two or three other guys from the group and we really enjoyed the freezing cold water of that huge lake. Overall, the stay at Titicaca was definitely an awesome experience overall and I hope to be able to make it back some day!
We left Puno on Monday afternoon and arrived at Arequipa later that night. Arequipa is a much more modern town than we had been used to up to that point and may people were really happy by the looks of the city. When we arrived we got settled in to the hotel and then went out for dinner to get our bearings. Like every other major city or town the plaza de armas was the most touristy place but had most of everything there that you could need. Melody and I, however, sought a different dinner and a few blocks off of the plaza we found some excellent Turkish food for very cheap so we were very happy and ready to take on the next day.
Tuesday we had a city tour of Arequipa by double-decker bus. Although it is a city there was a lot of ground to cover and we really got to see some cool sights. Perhaps the best part of the tour, however, was going to the two major museum attractions in the center of town. The first was a museum of the human mummies found at the top of mountains as sacrifices to the gods of the mountains to appease them for the year´s agricultural production. There, despite seeing all the of the well-preserved items used for mummification and burial, we got to see an actual, real mummy which was left at the top of the Misti volcano just outside of town. This mummy´s name is Juanita and she was sacrificed to keep the volcano from erupting and ruining the crops. Her body remained perfectly preserved by the snows which surrounded her and she is now kept in a frozen chamber to be appreciated and studied by visitors.
The other attraction was the convent of Santa Catalina. This place was also close to the middle of town and it was a great spot where the bustle of the city was kind of kept at bay while we got to appreciate the beauty and simplicity of the place where the nuns lived and tried to grow closer to God. It was amazing to think that the nuns could have lived to well and so secluded while inside the huge city but I guess it worked and it was certainly something I could appreciate. Here are a few photos:
This organized tour lasted until 3:30 and after that we were basically free to go anywhere we chose. To relax, eat, explore, or even nap. We spent the night in our hotel and then left very early in the morning to head on our way again.
Our next destination was Nasca, Peru which is famous for the "nazca lines" drawn in the nearby desert. These enigmatic figures in the sand of the desert have not yet been accurately explained by scientists and anthropologists. The figures are about 30 centimeters deep but take up huge areas of the ground and show pictures of animals, people, and geometric figures. The most curious part of their existence is that there is no way to see them or plan them our without being in an airplane. The mystery, then, is how did the original artists/civilizations come up with the designs and execute them so perfectly?
Anyway, as soon as our bus got there I had to immediately jump off with three other people on the trip to run to the next flight because we were late and had to make our appointments if we wanted to be airborne. We did make it, however, and after seeing some of the figures below it was definitely worth the effort. Here is an idea of what we were looking at:
The only real attraction in Nasca was the lines so we made our way back to the very classy hotel on the outskirts of town after our flights and prepared for yet another day of travel, this time headed to Lima.
Our next stop on Thursday was las islas ballestas off the western coast of Perú. There we had to wait a few hours for the fog to clear and the boats to begin running again, but once all was alright we ended up driving out to those islands to observe soem of the local plant and animal life. We saw penguins, three species of cormorants, and even sea lions. All in all it was a good, refreshing stop before our last push to Lima and I really enjoyed it. Here are a few pictures of what we saw:
On thursday night we finally made it to Lima after a long time traveling. Lima is a huge, modern city with every international comfort known to man. It was definitely a shocker to go from Cusco to Lima but we decided to get as much of it in as we could.
Friday morning we got to go on a city tour on our last day and we got to see a few parts of the city like the Plaza de Armas and a very old church with a great set of Catacombs holding the remains of over 2,500 faithful christians who wanted to be interred below the church in the past to be closer to God during death. These are some secret pictures I took while we visited:
Lima was much more than the dusty bones, however, and it was a cool city to be able to visit although I definitely wouldn´t have wanted to live there.
Much later that night we got on our bus and headed over to the airport loaded up with luggage to make our way back home on our 11:45 pm flight. Once we got there and checked in we heard that we were an hour late so we just made the best of it. Finally, once we did get off everything went smoothly thereafter and we landed safely in JFK sometime around 9:30 AM eastern time. I got out with all my luggage (and sanity) and we started our drive home with my parents and Melody. We had to stop for lunch somewhere, so I figured Pepe´s Pizza on Wooster St in New Haven, CT was as good a place as any. We had to wait about an hour to be seated but we got what we came for and made our way home happy and well-fueled. Finally, finally, finally, I walked through my door at home at 5:30 PM on Saturday and my trip was officially over!
Appreciate your time and effort. Peru is a great adventurous country and also it is the only country that has the coast, desert, highlands, mountain ranges and jungles. Hotel Lima Peru is a place where you can taste different varieties of Peruvian foods.
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