Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Puno to Cusco

After our enjoyable adventures in Puno and on Lake Titicaca, we got up early and took a tour bus from Puno to Cusco. It was an all day drive across the magnificent Altiplano with breathtaking views of the snowcapped Andes. We stopped at several places along the way and had a wonderful buffet lunch - roasted guinea pig or alpaca anyone? And it was a great way see some of southern Peru's varied landscape...

Early morning in Juliaca and the stores are starting to open...

The locals are enjoying their breakfast at the local market place...

Plenty of fresh fruit for sale - even at this high altitude...

Our first stop was the colorful town of Pucara...





Then we climbed up to the highest elevation of the road 
and got out to enjoy the scenery...


Wherever a tour bus stops, you'll find local crafts for sale...


After lunch we continued on to the village of Raqui 
where we toured the unusual ruins of "Wiracocha"...





There is lots of farming around this area...

And lots of coco leaves for sale...

The usual sweaters and ponchos...

Typical landscape...

One last stop before we arrived in Cusco: 
the charming colonial village of Andahuaylillas...


At last: late afternoon in Cusco...

The bus ride took about ten hours, but it was money worth spent and we got to see so many fascinating places along the way. Definitely a better alternative to flying. Coming up soon...the picturesque town of Cusco.

4 comments:

chrome3d said...

Quite amazing bright colours up there. That was a fun journey and it was fun to tag along!

diane b said...

Beautiful colours in your photos. thanks for the virtual tour.

Girl Tornado said...

Lovely photos, and interesting ruins. Enjoyed the trip along with you! :)

Ebie said...

Linnea, Imam reading your posts from the current to the oldest, so I wound up here. I could only suggest to do a photo book, to chronicle your trip. Everything is so breath taking. Climbing to the top must be an accomplishment! It reminds me of one of Indiana Jones movie settings.