Treasures of Peru--Part Two

Leaving Machu Picchu, we traveled by train through the Sacred Valley to Cuzco, where we enjoyed the city and surrounding countryside. In the Cuzco area it was not unusual to see street signs such as this: We were at the city square on Sunday morning when the weekly parade took place. It seemed that nearly everyone that lived in Cuzco was in the parade or on the square to watch!

This street vendor was especially amusing!

Our tour had arranged for us to have lunch at a private home. Our host was a prosecuting attorney at the local courts. We "enjoyed" grilled guinea pig for an appetizer--I still can't believe I ate it!

The high altitude (10,900 feet) in Cuzco makes for good business. Lots of remedies for high altitude sickness (in tourists) were available for a price---including a large can of pressurized oxygen that one would just sort of squirt into your mouth and quickly inhale!

Girls on parade! The people in Cuzco seem to love to parade around their city.

Indigenous ladies weaving at a co-op in Cuzco. All were using back-strap looms, sitting on the floor and wearing their village hats.

Couple plowing in the country. The lady led the animals and the man wangled the wooden plow.

This lady sold me a nifty little Inca-style jug that you can pour water into the bottom, turn it over, and then pour it out of the mouth of the puma on the jug! (Come see me and I'll give you a demonstration!). The women often seemed to wear hats that would usually be for men in the USA---this style as well as bowler hats. The men usually wore knitted hats or baseball caps.

I was surprised with a beautiful and delicious cake at lunch on my birthday!

We drove over the Abra La Raya Pass-the highest point of our trip at 14,014 feet on our way to Lake Titticaca, the largest lake in South America and the largest navigable lake in the world.

Our beautiful and elegant hotel at the lake was on an island, which came equipped with llamas and alpacas that loved to come to the hotel grounds and feast on the grass and flowers. The doorman would rush out waving a white cloth at them and shouting. They would just calmly move to another patch of green munchies!

We visited the people of Los Uros, a group of floating islands made of totora, the reed that grows abundantly around the lake. They make boats out of the reeds that looked suitable for Cleopatra. After having a bit of a cruise around the lake, I decided the reeds make better boats than islands, for walking on the islands had a sort of mushy feel.

One of the islands with houses, bundles of green reeds drying on the right, and a resident carrying a bundle of green reeds. The Los Uros people built the islands to get away from the Spanish and have continued living on them ever since.

We also visited Isle Taquile, a real dirt island, which is famous for its weavings. Some of the men entertained us after lunch with a dance. The little lady in the above picture is over 100 years old. They were very colorful people.

The local market in Puno, on the shore of Lake Titticaca, was a treasure-trove of vegetables. Peru has hundreds of varieties of potatoes, and in spite of the altitude, grows endless types of grains, squash, and other veggies. I would love to shop here every week! We could not take pictures of the people as they fear having a photo taken takes away part of their soul.

A final view of the beautiful lake...

We visited this small farm near the lake. Note that the buildings are thatched and built of mud bricks or local stones. It was very neat and well-cared for, though primitive.

The farm owner with her trusty wooden hoe. Other than the machetes we saw in the jungle, all the tools in rural Peru still seem to be made of wood.

Freeze-dried potatoes on the farm. The people of the Andes learned long ago how to preserve potatoes for use during their harsh winters. They lay them out on the ground to freeze, and then stomp on them to flatten them a bit and allow them to continue to freeze night after night until they are dry. They can be re-hydrated by cooking. The US military learned to make our potato flakes from the Peruvians during World War II.

Thanks for dropping by---Part Three: The Amazon will show up in a few days!