Peru - Machu Picchu

I headed up to Peru over land, stopping in Copacabana on Lake Titicaca on the way (super fun, beautiful, and we got to watch our bus travel over water to cross from the east side of the lake to the west). I left Alyssa in Copa and headed up to Cusco on my own, meeting many interesting people along the way. In Puno, the first "big" town to hit in Peru, I went out on the lake to visit the floating man-made islands on which a population of about 400 people live (still no pics, as I still had no camera).

Once in Cusco, I ended up waiting an extra day for my Dad and Shae to arrive (stuck in Miami for a night) with almost no money... I did a lot of walking, talking to people, meeting some more really interesting characters. Luckily they did show up the next day, and we got organized to go to Machu Picchu (more work than it should be, trying to get train tickets, etc).

Aguas Calientes, the town below Machu Picchu, wasn't anything to talk about, really, but we did a spectacular hike the afternoon that we arrived up Putucusi, about 4 hours round trip, with time at the top to scope out Machu Picchu from above and across the valley. The hike included hundreds of feet of vertical wooden ladders and a total climb of about 600 meters (in about an hour and a half, not so easy). It was well worth the effort, especially since Machu only came into view in the last 5 yards or so, a very sudden reward.

The next morning we were up before dawn to catch one of the first buses up, and there were already hundreds of people in line before us. As the sun came up and the moon was still out, there were llamas wandering the grounds and we got out first up-close views. I can't begin to describe how impressive the work there is: endless terraces, intricate stonework, and lots of mystery as to what in the world those crazy Incas were thinking. After an 11 hour day in the park, tons of walking (including backtracking on the last miles of the Inca trail), and way too many people, we were wiped out.

We headed back to Cusco via the Sacred Valley with yet more grand, sweeping views and Inca ruins, spent another day in Cusco (way too touristy), and then had an eventful bus ride to Copacabana, back across the Bolivian border. This included the bus breaking down at 2 am, a 6.5 hour wait for any new transportation, and finally arriving there after 20 hours of travel. Typical.

Copacabana was bustling by the time I got back there, as thousands of people came in from both Peru and Bolivia for the weekend religious celebrations leading up to the Bolivian day of independence, August 6 (today). The beach scene made me think of what it might have been like in the 1920's on Jones beach or some classic place like that: families picnicking and colorful paddle boats abound.

Way to go, Incas. Awesome work.

Uyuni

To escape Cochabamba for a little while, Alyssa and I headed to the town of Uyuni, which lies to the east of the large salt flat of the same name. The trip was half bus, half train, which was an awesome ride... We saw flamingos (huge!) and lots of birds on the way, as well as a spectacular sunset. Since neither of us had digital cameras anymore, there are no pics to show at the moment (the banner of this blog is a pic of the salt flat, though, to give you an idea...); we did purchase a "Canon" point and shoot film camera and some film, which I think actually gave us a much greater appreciation of our surroundings, made us really look at things rather than try for the best shots, etc.

It was bitterly cold at night and windy during the day, but the sights were spectacular... we visited the Isla del Pescado in the middle of the salt flat, thus named because in the rainy season, when the entire area is covered in up to a few feet of water, the reflection in the glassy surface makes the "island" appear in the shape of a fish. It´s all covered in cactus and has lots of ancient coral reefs to climb on, as well as volcanic rocks strewn about.

We spent a night in a small village at the base of the Volcán Tunupa, where there were lots of llamas milling around, miles of loosely constructed rock walls (with plenty of rocks to spare in the surrounding fields), a very excited puppy, and of course no heating. The next morning we hikes up to see the remains of some mummies in a cave, complete with ancient pottery... most of the other goods had been sacked long ago. We then climbed up to the first vantage point to see the (inactive) Volcán Tunupa, with its immensely impressive crater. We were hurting a bit on that hike, having come from Cochabamba the day before at about 2600 m to Uyuni at about 3700 m. It was well worth it though, and our awesome guide Walter basically ran circles around us while carrying our small pack for us and not drinking any water.

Pics to come on my flickr site once I get the film developed and put onto CD, or the nice Frenchcouple we were with sends us some digital pics that they took for us.