The sounds of Peru: whistles, esp traffic cops. Car alarms: people try to install their own and they are constantly going off, we've even heard them go off at the beep of a horn. Roosters. Dogs. People. And car horns. Whenever a car passes another car or a person, they honk just to let the other car know they are there.
It's hard to sleep because of the noise and because of how bright it is. Curtains don't do anything, if there are any. Last night a school group was practicing band with a gigantic drum, walking down our street at 9 pm. This morning the kids were lined up across the street at 5:30 am waiting to be let into school. But we beat the system this time: we were awake at 5:15 for our 6 am departure. We are having A LOT of early morning departures.....
Miquel took us along Colca Canyon on our way to Condor Pass. Colca Canyon is gorgious, and is actually deeper than the Grand Canyon. On our way, there was one village that blocked off the main road, forcing the tourist buses to pass through their village. They had dancing ladies and ladies with eagles and alpacas. Pictures came at a cost. Frankie had hers taken with an alpaca. Incredibly soft fur!
Then a stop at a small village called Maca, to see a church from the 1700's. Several stops along the way for the scenic views and picture taking. The road was dusty and bumpy and not paved. We went through a 400 meter tunnel which was so dusty that not even headlights helped. Our driver Angel thought it would be funny to turn the lights off halfway through the tunnel.
It took several hours to reach Condor Pass. There were tons of tour buses there, everyone hoping to see condors, and of course the mandatory vendors that we see everywhere we stop. We did see 3 condors flying around, and we watched them for awhile. Condors are the largest flying bird, with wingspans over 3 meters. There were also huge hummingbirds flying around.
On the way out of the canyon, we saw lots of cows and sheep and alpacas. We had to stop for a herd of cows and mules that were on the road, Miguel called it a "traffic jam". We made a banos (washroom) stop, and Anton and Pete got locked into their washroom because it only had a handle on the outside. The washrooms in general have been okay, pretty clean, most have toilet paper if you can recognize it. Sometimes it is in a container outside the washroom, sometimes in a container hanging on the wall so it looks like paper towels. As for the toilets, some of them have seats and some don't. The men have troughs instead of urinals.
We spent the day at elevations of 10,000 to 16,000 feet. For being so high in the mountains, the roads were all flat, it is called the altiplanos. We stopped at the same rest stop as yesterday to have lunch, but no dust devils today. Anton went to the washroom, and it seemed to be taking him an awfully long time, so Frankie went to check on him, and he was locked in again! This time with Miguel.
We spent the afternoon driving and napping, some of us had headaches from the altitude. We drove through a city called Juliaco. All the brick walls had campaign ads for president or congress, painted right on the brick. None of the buildings were finished in this city, including the university, because as long as the building isn't finished, you don't have to pay taxes. So no one in this city pays taxes.
We made an hour visit at the Chullpas de Sillustani, a burial ground combining Incan and pre-Incan cemetaries. The Incan ones were made from precisely cut stones, and the pre-Incan ones were piled rocks. But no mummies like at the other place.
Our hotel in Puno is very nice, but we won't be spending much time there. Although we did have to ask for another room because the first one they gave us was so full of cigarette smoke we couldn't breathe. The second room smelled better, but the light didn't work. However, they were very prompt about changing the bulb for us. Miguel and Angel left us here.
We went to La Choza de Oscar Restaurant, where they are very careful about trigo (wheat) in the food. There is a live show with dancing Andean girls and Andean music. The couple that sat down next to us were wearing Olympic gloves, they are from Winnepeg. We gave them our condolences.
We are spending the next 2 days on Lake Titicaca, tomorrow night is a homestay on one of the floating islands. We definitely won't be able to post our blog for a few days, we'll be back to blogging hopefully on Sunday night.
Sent from my BlackBerry.
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