Oct 26, Wednesday

Oct 26, Wednesday

Early start today with a wake-up call at 6:30 so that I can get ready for my day’s 6-hour excursion, have breakfast, freshen up and be ready by 7:30.   Surprise, the bus did not show up until 8 am.

I’m off to visit the archaeological site of Tiwanaku, a pre-Columbian civilization which survived 3 thousand years (1600 BC to 1200 AD).   We visited two museums on site (Sorry, no photos allowed) as well as the archaeological site (Sorry, no filming allowed).

  El Alto Street scenes

   El Alto Street scenes

They are actually trying to “re-create” the site which has been pilfered (stones used by locals to build their own houses) and to uncover what is left of the main pyramid.

  The Akapana pyramid, partially rebuilt, mostly still covered in debris

  The monoliths used to construct the walls of Kalasasaya

  The gates of the sun to the Kalasasaya ceremonial site

  Plaza de las cabesas

  Another gateway on Kalasasaya

Carved  Monolyth intricately decorated

  The "loudspeaker" carved into the rock to mimic the ear canal.   It projects the voice so that everyone in the plaza can hear the speaker, but it can also be used to listen to what people are saying in the plaza.   Amazing !

The trip back to La Paz was a long one due to the traffic in El Alto, but it did provide a few more photo ops.

  Vendors who sell their wares nearby set up tents to use during the day

  Some of the more modern buildings in El Alto

  Statue of Che Guevara

Rest of my Bolivian itinerary:     (May not have internet access at some of these locations)

Oct 27, Thursday + Oct 28, Friday = no room at the Hotel Rosario so it’s a good time to do a 2-day overnight excursion to Copacabana, on the shores of Lake Titicaca ( 3,811m (12,500 ft) above sea level, making it the highest commercially navigable lake in the world)   and visit Sun Island (cradle of the Andean Civilization), Pilkokaina (the  Sun Temple), Sacred Staircase – God I hope it’s not too high of a climb) and the town of Yumani.   Late return to Hotel Rosario in La Paz on Friday.  (Possibly no internet)

Oct 29, Saturday = Full day excursion to Coroico.   Private car will take me across La Cumbre pass (4,650 M) down to the level of the rain forests, via an extremely scenic mountain road (4 hours with stops along the way) and view green hillsides, cliffs, rivers, waterfalls, tunnels, bridges and lush vegetation.  Will reach the Yungas valley (1,700M) the sub-tropical region and a chance to visit coca, coffee, banana and citric plantations near Coroico.   Opportunity for a swim as well, if time allows.  Back to La Paz late in the evening.

Oct 30, Sunday =  Morning City Tour, including a visit to the Valle de la Luna.    Early evening flight to Santa Cruz, which is located in the lowest elevations of Bolivia

Oct 31, Monday = Side trip to Samaipata (archaeological site) and Amboro National Park (flora & fauna reserve + waterfalls and caves).   Samaipata contains a fort , the last ones used by the Incas in this region.   There is a huge stone sculpture carved out of a single block of stone, and covered in zoomorphic figures.

Nov 1, Tuesday = Time to visit Santa Cruz before catching a late flight to Sucre.

Nov 2, Wednesday = Full day City tour of Sucre, but it is also a national holiday so the travel agent has to ensure that places will be opened that day

Nov 3, Thursday = Morning visit to Dinosaur Tracks.  There are more than 100 tracks, made about 65 to70 million years ago, and they are located only about 4 km from Sucre. 

Bus ride to Potosi in late afternoon or early evening.

Nov 4, Friday = City tour of Potosi

Nov 5, Saturday = Visit of a privately owned colonial mine, wearing protective gear and everything !

Late night bus ride to Uyuni for a 3-day excursion.   Nov 6, 7, 8 = definitely no internet,  I have to rent a sleeping bag, and there are communal dorms on all three nights !   Absolutely no luxuries on this one.

Visit the Uyuni Salt Lake, Cochani, Fish Island, Lookout of Ollague Volcano, coloured lagoons, geysers of the morning sun.

Nov 8, Tuesday = end of 3-day excursion.  Car ride from Bolivia to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile.   From there I take a bus to Calama and catch a flight to Santiago de Chile.  

Oct 24, Monday & Oct 25, Tuesday

Oct 25, Tuesday       

Early breakfast, packed, checked out of hotel, and headed to the Cuzco airport for my 10:30 flight to La Paz Bolivia.    10:30 came and went; no sign of our aircraft and no officials in the “international” flight zone to answer any questions.    At 11 am someone finally showed up, but instead of making a general announcement so that everyone could hear, he just went from one small group to the next, by passing a lot of people.   When he got close to the section I was sitting in I got up to listen in on what he was saying; the only thing I caught was that our plane was still sitting in La Paz and they had no idea when it would arrive in Cuzco.   It took them another ½ hour to marshal us back out of the international area and up to the second floor where we could purchase something to eat and drink.    I had started talking to a Peruvian lady from Lima (mineralogist or chemist, but definitely working for the mines) who was heading to Bolivia for a mining conference.   She is  somehow involved in the health issues of the miners, who aren’t necessarily provided with the proper equipment so that they don’t breath in all the crap that’s floating around in the mines (mineral and chemical dust).   Anyway, she joined me at my table at the restaurant and we continued our chat over lattes and croissants.     Whenever I talk about conversations I’ve had since I started travelling, apart from three times when I’ve met people who spoke English, every other conversation is in Spanish.   I’m living, breathing and dreaming in Spanish these days, even talking to myself in Spanish when I’m pissed off !   It’s really quite funny because I don’t know any Spanish swear words.    On TV, if the program is in English and there are Spanish subtitles, all the swear words or bad words are translated as “maldita”,  a very mild expletive.

Sorry, I got sidetracked, back to the airport;  the plane ended up being 3 hours late.  Only explanation was that the winds were extremely strong in La Paz and were hindering take offs.    If it was mechanical, they would not have told us, and we probably would not want to know.    I had a window seat and was able to catch glimpses of Lake Titicaca, both on the Peruvian and Bolivian side.  

As we approached La Paz, the scenery was of a vast flat high arid plain.   We started to see some of the urban sprawl and then I could see the terrain dropping off drastically into a big valley where most of La Paz is situated.    Very craggy mountain sides all around and just as I was thinking “Sh___ we have to land at the bottom of this valley !”  the plane did a complete circle and came back towards the high area, where we just cleared the houses and landed about 1 mile past the rim of the valley.   And there are beautiful snow covered mountain ranges visible from the city.  Two of them are Mount Chacaltaya and Cordillera Real.  La Paz is located at an elevation of 3,650 m (11,975 ft), making it the world’s highest "de facto" capital city, or administrative capital.  (The city of Sucre is actually its official Capital.)

The high part of the city is appropriately called El Alto, and the lower part simply “La Paz”.   The drive down the escarpment was quite spectacular , completing a huge U from one side of the upper level down to the other side of the valley.    The hotel I am staying at is called Hotel Rosario, on Avenida Illampu  (I-yampoo).  

  Hotel Rosario 3rd floor

  Hotel Rosario 2nd floor

  Patio at the back (2nd room will be the window to the right near the table)

 It used to be an old colonial mansion, which has now been converted to a hotel, with a more modern addition at the back providing the bulk of the rooms.    I’m lucky for these 2 first days since I’m in the old colonial portion.  Unfortunately I’m on the third floor, which is technically the fourth floor, with no elevator.     The hotel has a travel agency on site so before dinner I sat down with the young lady and plotted out what I would like to do while I’m here in Bolivia.   Wait till you see what she came up for me.   WOW !

  View from my window on the 4rth floor

   View from my window on the 4rth floor  with the mountain Illimani in the background

   Little decorative doll in my bathroom.  They are all over the hotel.  So cute.

The hotel has a great restaurant and since there does not seem to be a great selection nearby, I will avail myself of their delicious food while I am here.   Tonight I had some chicken (so safe when your body is rebelling) served with a soufflé of Quinoa (nice fluffy, buttery, with tiny bits of veggies no bigger than the quinoa grains) and some grilled veggies.   

   Sorry, I forgot to take a picture before I started eating

Went to bed intending to read, but went right to sleep instead.

Oct 24, Monday

Last day in Cuzco, and in Peru.    Spent the entire day in bed, reading and sleeping.  I could hear rain off and on throughout the day, as well as some thunder.    Really good day to finally stay  in bed and rest.  Although I was worried that I would not be able to sleep that night, I slept quite soundly. Hotel Rosario 3rd floor, which is actually the 4rth floor.

Oct 21, 22, 23

Oct 23, Sunday

Interesting quote from a book I’m reading (Michael Gruber: The Book of Air and Shadows): “There are three kinds of history. The first is what really happened, and that is forever lost.  The second is what most people thought happened, and we can recover that with assiduous effort. The third is what the people in power wanted the future to think happened, and that is 90 percent of the history in books.”      How true.   Archaeology and scientific research are now assisting is in trying to determine what really happened, but will we ever REALLY know?   Or will there always have to be conjecture involved?

I did not leave my room until about 1:30, still running a fever, but a few things I still wanted to see.  I made my way passed Plaza de Armas and Plaza Regacijo to Plaza San Francisco. 

It’s Sunday, but all the church doors were closed.  There were a lot of people in the Plaza cooking and eating food;  my stomach could not take the smells.  

I walked through the beautiful gates  towards Iglesia San Pedro and the Mercado Central.   Since it was Sunday there weren’t as many shop keepers here as there would be on week days, but again because of the smells, I came in one entrance and went out again at the next one. 

Took a different route back towards the main plaza.  There were not many tourists here, just the locals out for Sunday strolls.   There were dark clouds in the distance, but no rain in Cuzco.   I stopped to take a picture of the drawing on the mountain side and caught this shot.  WOW !    I could have tried to take this type of picture and never managed it.   

  Kids playing with whatever is at hand

Got back to the Palacio de la Justica with its beautiful murals and decided to try to find the inner archeological courtyards behind it.   Although the map I have shows there are ruins, there isn’t anything left.   I walked down Intikikllu to the back of the Iglesia de la Compania and decided to go in to visit the church.   I don’t usually take a guide for these church visits, just walk around on my own, but for some reason today I said yes.   The young man was quite knowledgeable: Church founded by Jesuits, destroyed by earthquakes and rebuilt a number of times.  The altars are all spectacular:  carved cedar, covered with plaster, and then with some type of red wash to make the gold gilding adhere to it.  Sorry no pictures allowed.  

  From the second floor window of La Colonia, looking down to la Plaza de Armas

I decided to have a late lunch/early supper and then headed back to the hotel with the medication I bought in a “Boteca” along the way:   Decongestant for my cold and non-aspirin something for the fever, aches and pains.  Hope this works.

Oct 22, Saturday

It was almost 1 pm by the time I got out today.   First order of business was to go back to the ScotiaBank ATM to get more Soles, then to the market to replenish my stash of Electrolight and Water bottles.   I would have liked to purchase some plain yogurt as well, but the small Mercados only carry the fruity watery kinds that are full of sugar.   I walked around a few of the streets trying to locate another Mercado and instead came across a pastry shop.  OH  OH  !   I must be feeling a little bit better because I could not resist purchasing a cinnamon roll and a chocolate croissant.  

Went back to my hotel to drop everything off and get ready for the 2pm Trolley Tour departure from the Plaza de Armas.  

These old wooden trolley cars do a circuit of the city from the Historical Centre up to the new parts of Cuzco and then go up to El Christo Blanco ( a huge statue of Christ that overlooks the city), drives by the archaeological site of Saqsayhuaman, and then returns to the Plaza.  It’s about 1 hour and 10 minutes.  Unfortunately, that’s the time it takes the driver to do the circuit, so he doesn’t make many stops, or slow down for picture taking, or ensure that the trolley is facing whatever the guide is describing to us.  “This is the statue of a famous Peruvian author…..”  as we drive past the back of the statue !   Ditto for the monument “Hatun Rimaqpampa”.  

 Can you see the nice monument ?  

                                                                                       Neither did I !

I did learn a few more details however:  The Palacio de Justicia was built in 1957, even though it looks like it was built during colonial times.  El Christo Blanco was erected in 1945.   The Iglesia de San Christobal was built in 1542.   Kind of a waste of 20 Soles.

I did catch a few good photos of the Saqsayhuaman archeological site as we drove by however

I was there 2 1/2 years ago, and was hoping to go back to visit again, but that's up a big question mark right now.  Cold and windy up there and with my cold, maybe not such a good idea.

Back to the hotel to check my e-mails and find out that my flight to La Paz Bolivia is on Tuesday Oct 25, not on Monday.   So much for my fogged up brain and this #%^&*% cold !    Luckily the hotel can extend my stay for an extra night and it will give me a bit more time to rest and recuperate.   I guess it’s all for the best.

Oct 21, Friday

Woke up again at 5 am, but this time I was alert enough to hear the church bells ringing. AHA ! Mystery solved. Had a leisurely breakfast downstairs and spent the morning lazing around in my room. This flu / cold / bug, whatever it is, is slightly better but the rest is doing me good. I plan on only doing 3 to 4 hours of visiting each day and rest the remainder of the time. Today I did quite a bit of walking around, starting with the hill behind my hotel, where the Museo Inka is located. It has the best collection of Inca art (according to their brochure). Sorry no photos allowed inside, only of the courtyard. It also has a great display of textile art. (Yvette: You would have loved the weaving.) There are 12 artists working at reviving this decorative art based on Inca weaving techniques. From there I walked up to Plaza Nazarénas and down to Hatun Rumiyoc where the famous Inca wall with the 12-sided huge Inca stone can be found.  

The wall actually continues almost into a square enclosure, but according to the tourist map, there is no indication of what this building, or wall enclosure, contained. One of my better maps shows the ancient Inca sites that were used by the Spanish to build other structures on top. The Iglesia de la Compania was built on top of the Palace of Inka Wayna Qhapaq (Amaru Kancha). The building across the street from my hotel, which wraps around a good part of the Plaza Mayor was built on top of the Palace Inka Roq’a (Qoraqora). Another large colonial style building on the Plaza used to be the Palace of Inca Pachakuteq (Qasana). And the Inca stone walls are clearly visible as the base of these colonial buildings. 

There are 7 others on my map, one of them is Saint Domingus Church build atop of the Temple of the Sun (Qorikancha).   I visited this site on my first visit and it is simply mind blowing architecturally;  a MUST SEE if you ever come to Cuzco.

From the street of the “Piedra de los 12 angulos”  I walked down to El Monasterio de Santa Catalina de Siena,  which used to be (and still is in use) a Convent.  

Same cloistered group as the one in Arequipa.  In fact, the nuns from Arequipa moved to Cuzco in 1601 due to the earthquake damage.   The building which stands now is the one rebuilt after the 1650 earthquake in Cuzco.   The “dormitorio” kind of reminded me of the one I had in boarding school at Mont St-Joseph in Ottawa in 1970-71:   Half walls, only big enough to contain a single bed, desk and chair and a very small closet space, with a curtain drawn across the opening.   How times have NOT changed in the religious world.   It was about 3 pm by then and I only wanted something light to eat since I had the dinner/show that evening.  I settled for a coffee and pastry at a local café, then made my way back to the hotel to rest and finish updating the e-pics for my blog.

  Statue near Santa Catalina

  Front of the Cathedral

The dinner show was at a restaurant not too far from my hotel “Don Antonio”. It is a set up for tourists and the place must seat at least 200 people and serves a delicious buffet. I selected mostly vegetable dishes but did have a bit of chicken stewed in a delicious berry sauce. They actually had Cui Stew, of which I normally would have had a small tasting, but I decided to pass up the opportunity because my stomach is still very upset. The show consisted of a variety of dancers displaying the changes in style and influence throughout history: Quechuan, Spanish, African, Caribbean, etc.  

There was also a band at the beginning of the show “Arcoiris” and I bought their CD since I can play it on my laptop every once in a while  (2 flautists, 2 guitarists, 1 drummer).   They played traditional Quechuan, Peruvian (El Condor Pasa), Spanish, modern and classical music (Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, Rossini’s William Tell Overture).  I arrived for dinner just before 8 and was back at my hotel just before 11 pm.

Oct 20, Thursday

Oct 20, Thursday

I’m awake at 5 am again!   And it’s pouring rain outside.   I only need to be at the train station by 10:25 so I should be sleeping in.  Stayed in bed and read then got up to pack the few things I had brought along.   The guide yesterday had spoken to us about a museum that we should try to see before leaving so I enquired at the front desk to see where it was located.  Maybe I could stop in on the way to the train station.   It’s at the bottom of the hill (hey that’s good so far) and from there a 35 minute walk up the same road that goes to Machu Pichu (FORGET IT !  No way José! )    So I walked downhill all the way to the train station taking a few pictures of Aguas Calientes on the way.

  View from my hotel window

  View downstream of Rio Aguas Calientes

   City streets

City streets

  Market area

Did I mention it was still raining?   Train left on time and I was feeling well enough to take some pictures along the way.   I had a window seat this time, and on the side of the train that ran beside the river.

  Rio Vilcanota becomes Rio Urubamba somewhere along the way.

 Meeting a train going to Aguas Calientes, as ours goes to Ollantaytambo

 Hikers along the Inka trail.  It's a 4 day hike from Olllantaytambo to Aguas Calientes.

 10 foot bolder in the river beautifully carved by the raging waters

 Village along the way

 Schenery on the other side of the river

Upon arrival at Ollantaytambo, I was met by Ricardo, another nice young man from the travel agency.  He would be my private driver for the remainder of the day and take me to see two private sites that are not on the usual tourist circuit because of their remoteness:   Moray and Maras.

The road was more of an unpaved circuitous one lane route, but the views were spectacular. 

 We crossed this bridge with the car after the tourists finished crossing by foot.

 View of the calm river from the bridge

 Our one lane road

 Made it up the mountain.  Can you see the bridge I crossed earlier?  It's about in the middle of this picture.

We made it to Moray, a very ancient site used by the Incas for two purposes:  one to grow a number of different crops on each of the levels.   The deeper the level, the warmer the climate.   The higher levels were used for plants that required colder climates.  The site was used for ceremonial purposes where people from what is now Ecuador, Northern Peru, Bolivia and the coastal regions would meet annually (if I understood correctly, the entire day was in Spanish) to exchange goods and perform religious ceremonies to Pacha Mama  (Mother Earth) and other deities.  The entire circle has incredible acoustics.

 Can you see the people on the terraces?  Some are tourists and some are workers.

 Ceremonial area.  You can also see the "stairs" (and I use the term lightely) to go from one terrace to the other.

There are two older circles on the other side, but both could not be excavated.   When they tried to do so, and lifted some of the stones, noxious gases were released and the person died.   So they gave up.

The middle of the circle is said to have great powers.  People sit there and try to feel the energy coming up from the earth.

We then continued on to Maras which wasn't too far away, but still along that one lane road.

 Burro patiently waiting for its owner to return.  Fields in the background have been plowed and are ready for planting.

 High mountain region early in spring. 

 Down to low lying delta valleys already green with crops.

  Arriving at Maras

We arrived at Maras, which is an ancient salt making area that is still in use today.  Each of the ponds is owned privately and is passed on from generation to generation.   Ricardo explained that most of the owners had other businesses as well:  farmers, people from Cuzco or other local communities.  

 Amazing site with all these man-made ponds

They usually only have to come and tend their ponds one day per week, usually Sunday, which explains why there were only a few workers on site.   There is only one little saline stream flowing out of the mountain into the site, about 8 to 10 inches wide, and this tiny little stream feeds all of the ponds.

     This is it.  Tiny little stream.

  Canal from the stream to the ponds.

 Man working his pond.  You can see four different coloured mounds of salt behind him. He is raking the pond to mound up more salt, let it drain again, and he will add it to the appropriate coloured mounds.

They let the pond fill up with water, close off the water supply, and let the pond evaporate naturally (sun and very dry air.  Usually takes about 1 month.)   As the water evaporates, they come back to tamp down the salt in the water.   Once almost all the water has evaporated, they can start collecting the salt and place it in mounds beside their ponds to further dry.   It is then graded by colour.  1rst grade is white and meant for human consumption.   2^nd grade is slightly brownish and is used for animals.   3^rd grade is used for medicinal purposes.  (No idea why he has a fourth mound, but there must be a reason)  The salt is bagged by the owners and they have to carry the bags up to the top of the site where their donkeys/asses are waiting to carry the bags away.   I was told that the owner would need about 3 donkeys per pond to carry these loads.  The guy driving me did not know how far they had to take the salt, or where they sold it to be further cleansed and processed.

From there we made our way back to Cuzco, taking with us one lady who had come to tend her pond.  Ricardo explained that she needed a ride, and asked if I would mind if she came in the car with us.  Of course I said yes.   No idea how old she was, but probably much younger than she looked.   Usually she has to take a bus from Cuzco to a small town near Maras (no idea how much that would cost her) and then try to get a ride to the salt ponds.  After her work is done for the day, she needs to do the same thing in reverse.   It took us about 1 ½ hours by car;  it would probably take her at least 3 or 4 hours each way otherwise.   She was so appreciative, she could not stop thanking me and even offered to give me a bag of dried fruit and nuts.  I thanked her warmly, explained that I had stomach problems, and only accepted one piece of dried banana.    After we dropped her off in Cuzco, Ricardo explained that these people are very poor, and barely manage to make ends meet.

People here work hard, manual labour, the way our grandparents (or great grand-parents for you younger people) did when they had to work the land and eke out a living with whatever means they had.   We are so blessed in Canada and the USA.   We complain needlessly about the small little things that  should not matter in the big scope of things.

 Drive back to Cusco

 Shepherd with his herd of cows, burros and sheep

 High mountain valleys

Back at the hotel for a nice hot shower.  Definitely feeling better, and I noticed in the mirror that most of my wrinkles are gone! I think I’m going to keep electrolytes in my regular diet.  Sorted out my clothes, most of which will be sent to the lavanderia tomorrow morning  ($4 / kilo).

I rechecked the flights to La Paz, Bolivia and although I was able to reserve a seat on Monday’s flight, I could not pay on line, I had to go to their offices (within 3 hours) to pay.    So I got dressed and went down to the lobby to find out how far these offices were.   I had the address and the lady at the front desk showed me where it was located on the map, just across from Qoricancha (or the Church of Santo Domingo, which was built on top of the Inca Ceremonial site by the Spanish).  Close enough to walk, so off I went. 

Got to the offices of AeroSur and paid for my flight.  As I was walking back to my hotel I decided I should again try to have a bite to eat since breakfast was long gone.  I needed something light and something safe.   I spotted a restaurant on Avenida del Sol called Fusion;  that sounded like a possibility so I went up to the 2^nd floor to check out their menu.   Looked good.  It was only 6 pm so I was the only person in the restaurant;  people here eat late.   I ordered trout, served with mashed sweet potatoes with an extraordinary salad (their words, not mine).    It was delicious.   Three small pools of sweet potatoes, each with a small piece of trout, covered with these fancy spears of veggies and shredded lettuce.  No idea what the sauce was, no teriyaki and not soya, but delicious.

Back to the hotel to watch TV, read, drink more Electrolight    and SLEEP !     

Don’t plan on doing too much during the next three days, just walking around and seeing the sights.   I’m going to a Dinner Show Friday night.   Won’t be updating my blog again until Sunday.