(En francais en bas du texte!)
From La Paz, we travelled north-west towards the Bolivian shore of Lake Titikaka. Copacabana, our first stopover on the shores of the lake is located 3 hours away from La Paz. Our bus journey was interrupted in order to cross an arm of the lake. All passengers had to disembark the bus and get into a shuttle boat, while our bus (and all our belongings in it...) was also tranferred by boat. We were told it was not safe to stay on the bus during the transfer...
Our stay in Copacabana has been rather tranquil in comparison with our activities in La Paz....(previous entry). We have visited Isla del Sol where the Incas believe the Sun was born. While walking across the island during a 4 hours hike, most of it uphill, we walked through our first Inca ruins which was very exciting. The countryside here is really nice, the hills are covered with terraces to enable more efficient agriculture. Corn, coca and rapeseed are very the most cultivated crops. There is a lot of flower cultures as well, I presume the shores of the lake provide for very fertile conditions. Dogs, pigs, sheep and donkey roam happily in the area and in the village. It is well known that the light effects on the lake Titikaka are very beautiful and we have been able to admire magnificent sunset above the lake.
Today we crossed the border and arrived in Puno in Peru which is still on the shores of the lake Titikaka, but on the Peruvian side. There is not a huge difference between the two places. We are doing a stopover before catching the tourist bus for Cusco tomorrow. It should be more fun than the traditional direct bus because we will stop in places of interest - i.e. Inca ruins - along the way.
We will spend the last few days of our holidays in and around Cusco - the capital of the Inca culture - and we hope to be able to join a hiking group for a 3-4 days hike in the sacred valley before discovering Machu Picchu which will be our last adventure.
I have, and Dave is, very much enjoying the reading of "the Conquest of the Incas". It is a great book to prepare a trip to Peru, understand how the Spanish conquered the Inca civilisation - and destroyed it - and also get some insight into the modern Peruvian and Bolivian culture.
Maman, c´est le Perou! Finallement nous voila arrives dans notre dernier pays a decouvrir...
Apres un sejour Bolivien plein de rebondissements. Apres la mine d´argent de Potosi, le centre colonial de Sucre, le transfer glacial en bus de nuit vers La Paz, la visite du marche de la sorcellerie et du musee de la Coca a La Paz, puis une excursion en velo tout terrain pour descendre les 64Km de la route la plus dangeureuse du monde entre La Paz et Coroico (entree blog precedente dont je te cache les details...) nous voici aux abords du lac Titikaka, toujours a 3600m d´altitude.
Ici c´est tres joli, tres tranquille il y a des cultures enterraces partout sur les collines - style Inca - des moutons, des anes, des chiens qui se promenent partout dans le village. Les bonnes femmes andines sont vraiment typiques, ont les appele les "cholitas" avec leurs large jupes a plis et puis leur petit chapeau rond. Sans oublier bien sur leur morceau de tissu multicolore qu´elles nouent aux travers de leurs epaules pour transporter...tout et n´importe quoi.
Nous avons fait une grande marche a travers l´Ile du Soleil, ou nous avons pu visiter notre premiere ruine Inca. Il y avait meme au bord de la falaise devant la mer, une table de marbre ayant supposement servi pour effectuer des sacrifices.
Puno au Perou n´est pas bien different de Capacabana en Bolivie...Sauf qu´aujourd´hui c´etait carnaval dans la rue. Les "gringos" (les blancs - moi) sont des cibles preferees, donc j´ai ete litteralement couverte de mousse a raser - enfin j´aime a penser que c´etait de la mousse a raser! par les danseurs masques qui passaient dans la rue...une sorte de cadeau de bienvenue...
Bref, notre voyage devient maintenant vraiment tres passionant surtout que mon imagination est completement en feu apres avoir lu un bouquin sur la conquete des Incas par les conquistadores espagnols. Ce qui est arrive est effroyable mais passionant, dommage que ce qu´il reste de la culture Inca ne soit qu´une fraction de ce qui a du exister a l´epoque...
Demain matin nous nous rendons a Cusco, centre de la culture Inca. De la, nous visiterons la Vallee Sacree et puis effectuerons surement une marche de 3-4 jours dans les montagnes aux alentours de Cusco avant de nous rendre au Machu Picchu!
Eh oui plus que quelques jours de vacances alors on en profite un max.
Bises
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