Lake Titicaca and the Beginning of Bolivia

Puno is a small, quiet town with not much to do besides visit the lake. While we were there, there were political rallies in the plaza, and that was also interesting to hear the speeches translated to three different languages.

(Of course the police are nearby, just in case)

We decided to take the one-day tour of the islands, which included stops in the Uros islands and Taquile. The Uros islands are about sixty floating islands made from straw. It was strange trying to walk around on the island because it would sink with each footstep. My friend actually took a step at a weak point and made a hole in the island. We then took a ride on a traditional boat to a second island.

The president of the island demonstrates how the islands are created

Our transportation

Island number two

On the boat headed for our next stop

The next stop was Taquile. Taquile is known for weaving - the women make tapestries and the men knit their own hats.

After Puno, we crossed the border to Bolivia. We spent a few days in La Paz, the largest city and administrative capital of the country. We happened to show up during their carnaval, so we got to watch the parade featuring tons of different dances from the country.

The view from our hotel room - La Paz is known for being extremely mountainous

The no-fun zebras in the Carnaval parade

One of the younger dancers

We also took a daytrip to the ruins of Tiwanaku, which is known for its giant monoliths and for being a special place to receive energy from the sun.

Our guide receiving energy from the sun

One of the giant monoliths

Cochabamba, the next stop, was not at all as expected. I had heard it was a great city, but when we were there it was rainy and there wasn´t really much to do.

Peru

We had a great time in Lima. We got to spend quite a bit of time with our friend, even though she has been really busy lately with her business. We also got to meet and spend time with her family, which was very nice.

After Lima we spent one day in Nazca, to see the lines. Our original idea was to fly over them, but after the perfect storm of complications we ended up taking a land tour. It was nice - we got to see quite a bit of the area, even if we didn´t get to see all of the figures. We also went to a necropolis which was a bit eerie. It was in the middle of nowhere, no guards, and a bunch of graves and bones scattered around. It didn´t help that we were the only people there.

The figure of the tree

Palpa figures

The graves are in a wide open space

Looking into the graves

That night, we took the overnight bus to Cusco. From Cusco we arranged a two-day trip to tour the Sacred Valley and go to Machu Picchu. On the first day we saw the ruins of Pisaq, which were incredible. Then we went to Ollantaytambo to see the ruins there and catch the train to Aguas Calientes (the city from which you are able to reach Machu Picchu). Our day at Machu Picchu was nice, though a bit rainy. We walked up and around the side of the mountain to the Incan bridge, which was both terrifying and awe-inspiring.

Pisaq

View from Pisaq

View of the valley from Ollantaytambo ruins

The Inca Bridge

A cloudy view from Machu Picchu

Now we are back in Cusco, where it has been rainy for the past day and a half. Tonight we take a bus to Puno, a city on Lake Titicaca and our last stop in Peru before we cross the border into Bolivia.

End of Ecuador, on to Lima!

After Baños we were off to Riobamba. Upon arriving we noted it was a very nice town. However, to our dismay, we quickly learned that the train doesn't currently run as the tracks are under repair and have been for a few months. So we had to do a bit of an adjustment, and we headed for the small town of Alausí where we could once again try to get on the train to Nariz del Diablo.

As it turns out, Alausí is a beautiful little town. It's as though it has been forgotten by time, but you're never quite sure from what era. It's surrounded by beautiful green mountains, and we've had perfect weather, so it was really a nice surprise.

View down one of the streets; at the end of the road is the patron saint, San Pedro,
that watches over the city

On Sunday afternoon we went on the train ride. Although you can no longer ride on the top of the train, the views from the windows were amazing enough. Though it was a bit expensive for our budget, it was definitely worth it (even though the second half of the ride was backwards due to the inability of the train to turn around).

View from the train

We then went to the colonial city of Cuenca. It has beautiful architecture, but we were getting anxious to get to Peru, so after one day we took a bus to Loja, where we took an overnight bus across the border. The next morning we found another overnight bus to Lima, where we arrived this morning.

Some of the architecture in Cuenca

We plan on spending about four or five days here with a friend from camp, then we´re off to the south of Peru.