Quick visit to Bolivia

From Lake Titicaca we took a bus to La Paz. The spectacular bus ride from Puno to La Paz takes about five hours. The road follows the coastline of Titicaca and it is very beautiful indeed. Blue sky, blue water, mountains around.

We crossed the border on foot.

The bus was loaded to a scary looking flatboat on the way to La Paz. The load capacity was so low that passengers had to use another boat to cross the canal.

Snow topped mountains.

Above La Paz. It is big.

Valle de la Luna. Incredible formations of earth.

Turbaanimies

By time and a lot of water these high pillars have been formed.

The heavy hailstorm was so local that we could follow its movements from above.

This witch doctor is taking a nap.

The witch market had a cure and medicine for all sorts of issues.

Also the variety of offering figures was impressive.

But the real REAL offerings were creepy, alpaca and llama fetuses. Hanging from the ceiling, piled in the shelf.

Sunset colored the city.

Some remains of Tiwanaku temple.

This stone block was and still is a efficient loudspeaker.

Its secret was that the microphone hole through it was carved to same form as human ear. You spoke to one end and the hole amplified the sound so it reached the whole village.

Heads.

Small detail in a fence.

The supplier and retailers.

On Saturdays the streets of center became a big market. This was half past five in the morning.

Puno and Lago Titicaca

From Cuzco we took a bus to Puno. The Peruvian tourist buses are generally cheap, comfortable and quite reliable. The bus stopped many times and allowed passengers to marvel many pre-Inca, Inca and colonial monuments and there was even a guide explaining things. That way the long trip didn’t feel boring at all.

This structure is a part of the Wiracocha temple in Raqchi. And the beautiful flowers.

Lamas, my friends.

Puno is a bleak city, but the location is excellent. The fantastic Lake Titicaca glimmers right in front of it. Many tourists explore the lake and have Puno as their base. From there it is very easy to arrange any kind of tour. We arranged a two day tour straight away and went to the lake.

Floating Uros islands were our first etape on Lake Titicaca. The history of those strange floating heaps of canes is interesting.

A basic stove in Uros islands, fire is a serious problem in the islands as the cane burns easily and the islands are made of it. 

This is the Rolls Royce of Uros, made for carrying tourists. The cane boats locals normally use for fishing are smaller. Tourism is the main source of income in Uros as tourism increases and fish population decreases.

From Uros our trip continued to Isla Amantani where we spend some time with local community. There we spend a night in a village president’s house because there were no hotels.

The main plaza de armas of the island. Even the smallest villages have a handsome plaza. This was quite lifeless though.

Our host served us typical Titicacan food that is quinoa soup and omelet with fresh cheese.

Kids playing on the plaza.

After the chilly Cuzco weather the ladies enjoyed the warmth of the Titicacan sun.

On the island in between every community there was built these arches to show the limits.

We walked up to the hill to see the mountain peak temples of Pachamama, Mother Earth, 4100m.s.l. (in the pic) and Pachatata, Father Earth. The first just a bit higher than the other.

We found a windless spot to see the big landscape and the beautiful sunset. It is incredible how big the lake actually is.

From Isla Amantani we took again a boat to another island,Taquile, we wandered up the hill to the main village and around. There we had a brief about the village’s culture and headdresses. It opened our eyes! Straight from the type or the position of your woolen hat, pipo, the others can tell if you are a local authority, are you married, single or if you have sutinaa, something going on. Also the men never shake hands when they meet, they swap coca leaves, not hand to hand but to their little coca bags which they carry always on their hips.   

Small cemetery.

Mama, Esko and Pärnäsen Mari taking a break.

Local married men.

One of these boats took us back to Puno across the big, impressive Lago Titicaca.

Cuzco and around

As the country is wide, we decided to make it easy and take a flight from Lima to Cuzco. Karma we left in Lima to a guarded parking lot. For our misfortune the area of Cuzco had been attacked by heavy rains which probably you heard about. Machu Picchu was closed and many tourists were trapped behind floods and broken roads. The helicopters were flying constantly between Cuzco and Aguas Calientes, bringing them back to town. The rural areas by the rivers were in catastrophic state. All the churches and other charity organizations were gathering water, clothes, food and of course money for the people. Not for the tourists but for the local people who had lost their homes.  It was sad to see. 

Some small villages were completely destroyed.

The Cuzco town itself was beautiful with its small cobblestone alleys and indigenous people with their donkeys and alpacas.

Plaza de Armas in Cuzco. Full of tourists and indigenous people selling craftwork and coca products.

Drinking a delicious morning juice in Cuzco market hall.

Interesting, though very touristy, indigenous dance performance that we went to see one night.

One of towns plazas gave us good laughs as its name was Kusipata, Pot of piss in Finnish, hahaha! In quechua language it meant plaza of happiness.

As we were tourists we tried to see other ruins and places around although Machu Picchu was closed. We took an exhausting 4 hours tour to see most of the surroundings destinations, including Saqsaywaman, Q’enqo, Pukapukara, Tambomachay and more. It was incredible to see the stone work so precise. And the structures have lasted for ages and the destruction of the Spaniards.

Saqsaywaman

Saqsaywaman

Ikuisen nuoruuden vesi

Lima and family

From Huanchaco we head to Lima to pick up Iitu’s folks and godmother. We were going to travel with them next three weeks. Lima is a huge city with more than eight million inhabitants. The hotel where we were supposed to meet Iitu’s family was right in the downtown. The traffic jam started 12 km before the Lima district, but finally it only took us two hours to get to the downtown with Karma. The traffic was crazy but we had one advantage, the Karma was already so full of dents and scratch that the possible hit with other cars didn’t matter, so we took it easy.

First dinner with the family and godmother. Every day we enjoyed delicious Peruvian food. They fed us very well.

The hotel  Gran Bolivar we stayed at was a historical sight itself, built in 1928. It was nearly at its original state, waiting for the renovation.  It was way above what we had gotten used to so we enjoyed with full hearts. We had a living room, bedroom, walk-in closet and a huge bathroom. Luxury!

In Lima we stayed for four days, walking around and admiring its beautiful buildings and getting to know its life. 

The old town was specially known for its carved wooden balconies. 

The “new” town, Miraflores, located in the seaside cliffs, was more modern, full of shops and restaurants.  

One night we went to this fountain park. Sounds bit stupid but it actually was quite impressive.

Wandering around the fountain park, Esko filming as usual.

It was Sunday and the park was packed, when many Limeños entertained their families by bringing the in to the park. In a city which habitats around 8 million people it’s not so easy to get out of town for the holidays. 

Many parks were full of these Cow parade cows spreading the joy of art. Here Pixa and Mari marvel some of them. I guess the parks are an important air-hole for city people. I felt the pressure of millions of people around so when we decided to move on to Cuzco it felt good.

Beautiful Plaza San Martin at night

There are plenty of nice waves in front of the city and the water quality was better than expected.