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  Arica, Chile
Friday, April 4, 2008

March 27th -  29th
 
Thursday we got up at 4:30 am, in order to make the Vistadome train departure to Machu Pichu at 6:05. Luckily, we managed to get reserved seats the afternoon before when we arrived, just in the nick of time, in a salon car with tables and seats. We were served morning tea, while the mountains unfolded around and above us. Getting out of Cusco was itself a challenge for the train. There isn't enough room in the valley for the train track to curve its way towards Machu Pichu - which is actually at a lower elevation - so it forward and then backward in a crazy zigzag manner giving us an intimate view of the backyards of houses and side-streets. Eventually there was enough room so the train proceeded to make the normal twists and turns. Arriving at the Machu Pichu station at 10, we found our way by bus to the entrance and walked into an incredible site of mountain airies. There were peaks rising hundreds of feet above and below and all around us. The pictures do not do it justice but we tried.
 
The path to the complex of ruins led down beside a mountain slope of terraced agricultural fields that was easily 300 feet

A domesticated LLamas

. The palace, living and administrative quarters, jail and special level fields for ceremonies and rituals spread out across peaks and valleys and were connected by twisting rock paths. The foundations still remain, and many end-walls with peaks still stood, which would have supported straw roofs. In a strange way, it all looked like a ruined village of Cotswold cottages set in the middle of Shangri-La. There were spectacular views down the surrounding valleys and superb examples of dry-stone wall building, most pieces irregularly shaped and some 3-5 feet across. You can see an aerial picture of it at: www.andreweland.org/2004/6/5/photos/machu-picchu, which I found by putting into Google the phrase: Machu Pichu photo.
 
THE LONELY PLANET guidebook says it was built in the mid-15th century by Emperor Pachacuti as a ritual and agricultural, perhaps experimental, center. We wore ourselves out climbing around and trying to match the descriptions in Lonely Planet to the rocks, angles and paths in front of us, all the time impressed by the pre-Colombian technology and the extent of the site and the empire it controlled. At its height, just before Pizarro arrived, the Inca Empire extended from Quito in Ecuador to Santiago in Chile, connected by stone roads traveled by armies, merchants and emissaries. There was an exhibit that showed the map of the Inca Empire, turned sideways and superimposed on a map of Europe and Asia. The Inca space started in central Spain and went all the way across Europe and halfway across the Russian empire out into Mongolia

A floating Island

. And it lasted such a short time - a little more than a century, maybe a century and a half, before the Spaniards arrived with cannons, horses and smallpox, and virtually wiped them out. At this point, we were wiped out, too, so we climbed back on the bus to the train. The Vista Dome train to Cusco continued its reputation with a tea service and a fashion show of Peruvian designer clothes, and finally arrived at 7:30 pm. We staggered into our hotel with welcome warmth in the chill mountain air.
 
 The 28th was devoted to Cusco itself, a charming colonial town with great museums and a fantastic cathedral, covered with more gold on the inside than Fort Knox. The Spaniards did not get all of the Inca's gold and silver.  Cusco was the capital of colonial New Spain and showed its wealth visibly. We were especially fond of the historical art museum with its paintings of the Virgin with huge orbs for crowns, examples of the Cusqueno school in the 16th and 17th centuries, and the archeological museum with exhibits of pre-Inca and Inca cultures. The Plaza de Armas itself - the central square - is very large and graceful in the Spanish colonial style with Moorish balconies enclosed in carved wood with windows that open onto the square. Exhausted by culture and elevation, we collapsed into our hotel and found our laundry delivered, a signal event when you're traveling with one week's clothes at all times.
 
Up and out early the next morning, we feared that the road to Puno would be as trying as our approach to Cusco

A solid island of rock and some earth

. We found excellent highways, little traffic and wide upland prairies to drive across, with only short stretches of pock-marked highways, and we made it to Puno with relative ease, found our recommended hotel, greeted with steaming cups of mate de coca tea, which relieves altitude sickness and perks you up. We found a large family of Americans in the 4th floor bar, including young school children, and compared notes on travels in Peru.
 
March 30-April 2
 
Puno lies on Lake Titicaca, the highest lake in the world, which belongs half to Peru (Titi) and half to Bolivia (caca) or so the Peruvians say. The lake is known for its islands, some fixed and some floating, inhabited by indigenous cultures that have maintained their traditional ways. We took a fast boat tour of both, the only way to experience the native ways. The floating islands are made of a single type of reed that grows in the shallow water of the western shore and maintained by the native people who live there and are constantly repairing and enhancing the very 'ground' under their feet, which is several feet of layered reeds supported by the reed root bog which are cut from the bottom near shore and float They use the reeds to make their houses and much of what they own and eat the roots, supplementing their diet with fish from the lake. The two normal islands were comprised largely of stone and a little earth, with terraced fields growing corn and local crops. The inhabitants gave us a display of their native crafts and dances

A storehouse of Inca Gold as well as a church

. Everyone on the island seemed to be weaving or knitting or embroidering, and the colors were intense. Everything they wore was made by their own hands, and every garment and hat seemed to have a purpose in signaling social standing - married, single, young, old, widowed, etc. We ended up dancing to Peruvian pipe music after lunch, climbed back on our fast launch and headed across the lake to town. It felt like the lake was on the top of the world and as if we would fall off the edge if we went too far. But we arrived safe and sound on the other side.   
 
From Puno, we headed back across the country southwest to Arequeipa, perhaps the classic colonial town in Peru. It was extremely prosperous in its time and full of handsome mansions, which are now mostly banks or other commercial or municipal activities. The best was the House of Ricketts, with three different courtyards surrounded by what were living quarters and formal reception rooms. It was not hard to imagine the carriages rolling through the porticos and the 17th-century ladies and gentlemen descending. The cathedral was a strange style, very large and unlike others in the area and quite simple in comparison. There was a lovely convent with a detailed and complex collection of artifacts, including religious and everyday items, right down to clothes and fans. The shopping streets were bustling on a Monday evening, and everyone seemed cheery and relatively prosperous.
 
April Fools' Day: John tried to convince me he was seeing elephants in the seemingly eternal sand hills we drove through from Arequeipa to the Chilean border

A strangely designed Cathedral - Mr. Effiel

. We had heard stories of the difficulty of getting through this crossing, so were a little apprehensive. It turned out to be our best border crossing. We used our trick from the customs in Lima and wrote out a little note in Spanish: we're traveling by car, don't speak Spanish and need help to get through the formalities; could you please help us? The border police on both sides took us under their wings, filled out all our forms for us and went to the head of every line to get each one stamped 4 times exactly. They barely inspected our vehicle, but did make us x-ray our luggage, then they waved us cheerily on our way. The whole thing took about an hour; we had heard 3-4 hours was normal. The helpfulness of ordinary people and officials will be one of our most enduring memories.
 
It was immediately obvious that Chile is more prosperous than Peru. The buildings on the roadside were larger and better maintained; the roads had better surfaces. We easily found our destination seaside town of Arica and drove along the coast road to the resort hotel we had picked out. After the rigors of Peru, we decided to give ourselves 2-3 days of R&R before tackling the deserts of northern Chile. We've walked around the central old town and found one more example of the iron pre-fab churches designed by engineer GustaveEifel - of Eifel Tower fame - for the "colonies." It was shapely and proportional, with lots of airy space inside and painted in lively colors on the outside. There seemed to be a market day - lots of stalls and things for sale in the main square and along the main streets - but turned out to be the arrival of a cruise ship, with all the passengers taking the air and buying mementoes. Our biggest achievement was to get the Jeep washed and cleaned. It was covered with mud splashed up higher than the door handles. At one point, we had to clean them off with paper towels to be able to get in. And the inside was just a little grubby after 3 months. Now it's all fresh and clean, and so are we - ready for the next set of adventures.

More Pictures

Arequipa - Aramas	As it was originally built	At 15000 plus feet	Bolivia accross the water
Breakfast with Volcano Misti	Carol and the City	Carol in command	Circle back
Civilized decadence	Cusco walkway	From our R & R room	From the train
From the train 2	Great legs	Inca wall - no mortar	Island at a distance
It is for real	Juan and Carol	Leaving Puno - Heading to the Floating Islands	Machu 1
Machu 2	Machu 5	Machu 8	Machu 9
Machu and Carol	Machu and us	Machu steps	Many sweaters
Music and dancing is their enjoyment in life	No smoking	Not telling	She is so cute
Snow at 16800	Solo sailor	The end of the Inca Trail - City Gate	The kids loved this guy
The old rock quarry	The train Conductor?	The Valley from Machu	The white is sand and the brown is rock
They are for real	This is how the islands arfe built	This is their life	Whose's with Carol
You saw the duplicate in the Baja

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