The drive today is to be a long one, so we had a quick breakfast at the hotel and then headed out. The route took us through the main square we saw a lot of police assembled at the base of the cathedral…apparently getting marching orders for the day.
The drive was through relatively mountainous areas and the scenery is very lovely. We seemed to be following a river for much of the route.
We occasionally saw vendors along the road waving bags or their wares to try to attract buyers.
We also some farmers in the distance using oxen to plow their fields. Much in the farmland in Peru is so mountainous that it cannot be worked with modern farm equipment…so it is manual labor and oxen.
Our first stop was at Pikillaqta, an archaeological site that we were supposed to visit on our first day in Cusco but that we cancelled. Pikillaqta is a village of th Wari people, a pre-Inca culture. of a massive pre-Inca. It was apparently used for ceremonies and was never completed before it was abandoned. It was a huge site that covered almost 62 acres.
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More Pikillaqta
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After another hour or so we stopped in the
small village of Andahuaylillas to visit the Church of San Pedro the Apostle,
considered to be the Sistine Chapel of the Andes…and it was in fact very
beautiful. It was built in the 16th
century in the Andean Baroque style.
That means it is very ornate and has a few Inca/Andean features…like
pictures of Madonna’s with robes that looked the shape of a mounded
mountain. Or guinea pigs as food at the
last supper.
The next stop was at the Raqch’i Inca archaeological site. The square at the entrance had a number of vendors and a pretty little church.
The Raqch’i ruins look quite different from most of the Inca ruins we have seen. This is the site of the Temple of Wiracocha. The huge temple has the typical foundation made of large Inca stones but the upper levels are made of adobe. It was also so wide that there were two rows of pillars on either side of the main wall…also of stone with adobe above. Parts of the adobe of the main wall remain but only the stones of the pillars are still intact.
The other areas of the site included a double row of living quarters that are oriented so that on solstice the sun shines directly down the alleyway between the houses.
Adjacent to the living quarters there were 152 round quilqas in parallel lines. These were storehouses for storage of grain, pottery, cloth and such. These structures are unique in that they are round. All other Inca structures have squared corners.
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More Raqchi
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Stairs built into the side of a wall.
After driving some more we stopped for lunch. Apparently, the restaurant is geared for large crowds, having three large dining rooms. However, due to the pandemic we and one other group were the only ones there.
Then it was off again through more mountains.
with occasional small churches along the road.
We also saw people huddled on top of a thermal vent.
And just beyond we passed a spa with large thermal pools.
There were a couple of bathroom breaks and a stop for a viewpoint where there were more vendors...
and lots of alpaca and llamas, mostly in the distance.
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More Drive to Puno
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Other than that it was a very long drive. The itinerary indicated it would be a 9-hour
drive. It was almost 12. We are both beat.
We are staying at a lovely Casa Andina again…right
on Lake Titicaca. Unfortunately, it is
dark so we can’t see it. We had dinner
and went right to be.
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