Sunday, November 07, 2004
Flight to San Francisco
Only after several lines, and fees ($28.40/person just to exit Peru), we make it onto the Delta flight back to the US. We change planes in Atlanta. More lines. Slept or read my way through the flights.
Glad to be back at SFO! A few more lines and a quick ride back home. Neil will have to take the long BART route back to Oakland. I'm heading straight to Menlo Park! Good to be home. It's been a fascinating and exhausting week! Great trip!
Glad to be back at SFO! A few more lines and a quick ride back home. Neil will have to take the long BART route back to Oakland. I'm heading straight to Menlo Park! Good to be home. It's been a fascinating and exhausting week! Great trip!
Saturday, November 06, 2004
Back in Lima
Yay! Let's drink lot's and lot's of beer before getting on a plane for 10 hours!
From left to right: Eric, Lorin, (Jay hiding), Todd, Phil, Paul, John, Chris.
Flight to Lima
We make it to the airport in Juliaca near Puno. However, are flight back to Lima is seriously delayed. We're flying on Lan Peru. I still have about 40 Soles to get rid of before leaving Peru. Not much to buy in the airport, though.
Me and Milagros's Grandmother
I'm sitting with the oldest member of the household here--Milagros's grandmother.
Good luck symbols
The two bulls and the cross again on the top of the roof for good luck.
John and Milagros
John and Milagros sitting in one of the tiny rooms in the house.
Me and Milagros
Farm house near Sullistani
We've been invited to look around at a farm house near Sullistani. Fascinating.
Nearby Vicuna
3 Soles Haircut
Neil got a haircut for 3 soles (that's less than a dollar). Can you tell?
Behind Neil, to the left, is an island on Lake Umayo which acts as a Vicuna reserve. Vicuna are related to Alpaca, but possess the finest, and most expensive, animal fiber in the world. They are endangered due mostly to poaching and illegal Vicuna meat black markets.
A Wild Guinea Pig
If you look very closely in the center of this picture, you may be able to make out the wild Guinea pig looking at us. Look closely, it's camouflaged well. It's quite a bit smaller than the domesticated Cuy we've seen locally.
Inca Chullpa Construction
The cylinder is wider at the top than at the base. However, the structure is still very stable--the Inca have hollowed out the stones at the top to move the stones' center of gravity--the stones lean inwards.
Sillistani village on Lake Umayo
The villagers bring cattle down to the lake to graze. It is just before the rainy season, so the water level is low. The cows wade out into the lake an graze on all the algae in the water. Sea-cows.
Chullpas
These round tombs are called Chullpas. These are older Colla tribe (pre-Inca) tombs.
Sillustani
Sillustani is the town name on Lake Umayo. It's known for it's pre-Inca and Inca stone tombs. Mummies (mummified in the fetal position) were placed in round, stone tombs. Each has a tiny door facing east. The one in this picture is an Inca tomb. Only nobility were buried in such a tomb.
Lake Umayo
Home of the pre-Inca Colla tribes. Later conquered by Inca. We're real high up, now. It's over 13,000 ft. in elevation. The Colla figured out how to best farm in this environment. They create these raised beds (or camel backs) with irrigation channels in between. This allows for good irrigation, without flooding and also the moisture maintains an stable temperature for the crops--nothing freezes.
The Inca caught on to this technology when they conquered the area. Unfortunately, some of this farming knowledge was lost in Peru when the Inca were conquered.
Friday, November 05, 2004
Palacio de Justicia
Local highschools show off dances
Puno Day Parade
This was fortunate. We returned to Puno to find the local highschools having a series of parades with local dances. I think this was in celebration of "Puno Day" or something like that.
Still not back down yet.
More steps down. We passed a Taquille man on the way up lugging a 50 lb. sack and hiking the whole way bare-footed.
Once we get to the boat, we have a three hour boat ride back to Puno ahead of us.
Ah, the way back down to the boat.
A woman walking up the steps with a child bundled under her arm.
Jenny and Neil on Taquile
Taquile Village
At least 500 steps up from the water's edge, you reach the Taquile village.
Two boys on Taquile
Me and a Taquile girl.
A local girl runs out to greet us on the way up. I was so excited to see her. Mostly because it was a great excuse to stop and catch my breath! It is very high (12, 820 ft.) and dry here.
Taquile Island
After another two hours in the motor boat, we finally arrive at Taquile Island.
A woman herds sheep along the island coast.
We have to climb and climb to get up to the island's main square.
That's Bolivia in the distance. Half of Lake Titicaca belongs to Peru and the other half belongs to Bolivia. The Peruvians claim to have the titi side, while the Bolivians have the caca side.
Black eagles roam the islands
Wild eagles (black eagles) just hang out watching the show--waiting for a fish handout I suppose.
