Wednesday 2 May 2012

Day 32 - Puno to Cusco, Peru (19 April 2012)

Day 32 - Puno to Cusco, Peru (19 April 2012)

We get up at 5.30 today as we are getting picked up at 6.45 to catch the Inka Express to Cusco.  The trip will take us 9 hours.  I am still feeling sick today.  We depart Puno at 7am.  We drive for around a hour and we arrive at Juliaca which has a population of 220,000.  This city is strange because it is not what you would expect to see of a city of this size.  The main road is dirt and because of the rainy season, it is turned into a mud pit!  We were warned that there can sometimes be a hold up driving through this city because of the roads and traffic.  I now see why.  We carry on and head to Pucara which is our first stop.  We stop at the museum here and we see old artefacts from the Inkan times.  We also see the church next door.  We then jump back into the bus and see head to La Raya which is the point where it changes from the Puno region to the Cusco region.  This is also the highest point of the road at 4,318 metres above sea level.  We then drove for a further 30 minutes to Sicuani for our lunch.  We have a buffet lunch included in our bus ticket.  The lunch was huge.  We had two soups to choose from for starters.  We had about eight mains to choose from and five deserts.  Plus tea and coffee.  The lunch was really yummy.  I tried the Alpaca and it was really good, probably shouldnt be experimenting with my food at the moment but it turned out ok.  We then drive to Raqchi to see the holy temple that was built in 1535.  There are ruins left and they are huge!  The middle wall is 15 metres high and 90 metres long!  This use to be the most sacred place for the Inkas to worship. I really enjoyed these ruins and got me thinking about the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu which we were about to start in 4 days.  Exciting times!  We then drive two hours to Andahuaylillas to visit the church that is decorated in 24 carat gold.  There is even gold in the ceiling.  There is not one part of this church that isn’t decorated.  It is very over the top.  We then drove two hours to Cusco!  We are staying at the Walkoninn for 65 Soles per night (NZ 32.50).  This hostel is really nice and very close to the centre of town.  We have been warned by our travel guide that the prices in Cusco are higher than anywhere else in Peru.  Still not a bad price for the accomodation that we received.  We head into town for some dinner.  The main centre of this city is beautiful.  In the main square there is a 500 year old Cathedral and on the other corner there is a 400 year old Temple.  At night they light up and look fantastic.  We head out for dinner and share a pizza for 22 Soles (NZ 11).  We also make a doctors appointment for the next day on our way home.  The medical centre is on the same street as the hostal and the doctor speaks English!!!! Things are looking up (hopefully...)

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