goodbye Cuzco

We arrived in Puno this evening after a long day on the bus. We left Cuzco at 7:30 a.m. and arrived in Puno at 5:30. But the bus stopped at all kinds of interesting places along the way.

We visited the ruins of Raqchi.

a 15th century church

Also a museum in a small village called Pukara.

And we had a delicious buffet lunch where we were entertained by Andean musicians.

We also made a quick stop at the point of highest elevation on the trip...4,300 meters.

Everywhere we stopped there were women in elaborate costumes selling artesanias.

At lunch we tried our first taste of alpaca, which I thought tasted OK. It tasted like slightly gamey meat. But I felt a little guilty afterwards because after lunch we went into the attached courtyard of the restaurant where a bunch of indigenous women were selling their wares. They also had three baby alpacas and llamas for tourists to admire. They are the cutest animals ever! So sweet and gentle. They ate straw right out of our hands.

I wanted to sleep on the trip because I had insomnia last night and didn't sleep a wink. But the scenery was so interesting that both Carmen and I stayed glued to the window all the way. There were miles and miles and golden grass covered plains, dotted with brown adobe huts and men and women herding animals...mostly sheep, cows and alpacas. The peaks of the Andes in the background framed the scenes dramatically.

Carmen and I took about a million pictures, as usual. In fact, I am nearing crisis mode because all 12 gigs of my memory cards are full. My new SLR camera pics (the good pics) are going to have to be posted later because the file sizes are large and proving to be difficult to work with on the outdated computers they have here.

We have reservation for the day after tomorrow for a tour of the Lake Titicaca islands, including a homestay with an family on Isla Amantani. I am going to shop for more warm clothes tomorrow because the nights here dip below freezing. And there is no heating. There are plenty of beautiful and warm alpaca sweaters, scarves and mittens to be bought.

Time for bed.