THE Bus Ride

I can’t resist dedicating an entire post to the 7 hour bus ride from Puno to Cuzco. I should have known when the ticket was so cheap that we would be stopping in EVERY small pueblo, village, town, etc. along the way and that arriving punctually wouldn’t really be of concern to the driver. The first few stops were fine since by then the bus wasn’t full and I was still interested in seeing life on a Saturday morning in small town Peru. After about an hour, when I finally thought we were cruising, a self-proclaimed healer got on the bus and proceeded to give us a 30-min lecture about how dangerous our current eating habits are, how probable it is that we will all get diabetes, and how ginseng will save all our lives. It didn’t help that he screamed the entire speech so that everyone could hear and that I happened to be right next to him. But he finally got off after convincing five people to buy his ginseng and I thought we were home free to Cuzco…. until a woman selling a chicken dish got on. Now, it’s very common for food vendors to get on buses here, sell their goods, and get off quickly to pursue the next bus, but this woman actually brought a small electric stove with her to prepare the food ON THE BUS. Luckily we could open the windows…. she then finished up and I tried to concentrate on my music. We still had about 4 hours left at this point and more people kept getting on the bus even though it was already clearly over capacity (this bus company apparently lets as many people on as can fit standing up in the aisle). So really I was just glad I had a seat! At hour five a woman gets on with a crate of live chickens and then at hour six a guy with a small lamb that he lets run up and down the aisle for the last part of the trip. Needless to say I can only laugh at this point and hope that the Cuzco bus terminal appears in front of us as quickly as possible…. I definitely learned to expect the unexpected but was EXTREMELY happy when we finally arrived and swore that on the return trip I would choose a different bus company.

Peru - Part 1

I started off in Tacna which is a duty-free border town where there is LOTS of movement. I was extremely tired after traveling so I stayed in the bus terminal and observed the action all day before my next bus was to leave for Puno. I had no idea that so many people come from all over Peru to buy both food and household goods in this small town. When I left the city that night we had to stop at a city checkpoint and wait for an entire hour while everyone’s goods were inspected, then it was off to Puno! Land of Lake Titicaca and some dear friends I know from working at Concordia Language Villages… I arrived at 6 am after a very cold bus ride through the Andes and I was excited to see Sol and Enrique there waiting for me. At this point I was at an altitude of around 12,000 ft. and I could definitely feel a difference in the air, not to mention that I was quickly whisked away to Enrique and Ursula’s house at the top of hill. The view of the town and Lake Titicaca was breathtaking but I was very out of breath by the time I reached their kitchen.

I spent that day exploring the town and taking in the fresh Puneñan air. With Enrique we trekked up to an overlook of the city where he explained a bit of its history and showed me where he had gone to school, worked, etc. Puno really is a small city tucked between the lake and the Andes, from the overlook I could see the entire thing! From there we went to his family’s restaurant Mojsa in the main plaza where he, his sister Ursula, and Sol currently work. Puno has recently become a hot tourist spot because of its easy access to the lake so Mojsa is busy from noon onwards everyday. It was fun to see my Concordia friends in their element and finally get a better understanding of their lives… not to mention I loved tasting the delicious dishes that Enrique had created. Sol is helping the restaurant develop an NGO that works with local farmers to give them fair prices for their goods that they will in turn use to invest in the future of their small pueblos. For the rest of the day I checked into my hostel, walked to the port, went to Mass at the Cathedral, and of course got a taste for the night life.

The next day I took off at 7 am for Lake Titicaca and visited the floating islands of Uros and the larger island of Taquille. Thirty two floating reed islands make up the Uros community, with a population of around 3,000 Aymara peoples. I have never seen anything like it and it was fascinating to know how the islands are constructed and how daily life is organized. They are only a 15 minute boat ride from bustling Puno but seem a world away. They’re constructed by cutting reed grass from its roots and then anchoring multiple blocks of the roots together to form a small island. The already cut reed grass is then spread in many layers over these blocks to form a kind of carpet. The only problem is that the islands are constantly sinking so three times a month new reed grass must be cut and dried to add additional layers to the island. And every few months the islands are completely reconstructed in a new, but close by, location so houses must be rebuilt and families moved. These Aymara peoples currently make their living from tourism and modern technology is beginning to creep into island life, I was surprised to see a TV in one of the reed huts on one of the islands. And it will be interesting to see what the future holds for the Uros as many of the youth now travel to Puno and start lives there. After traveling by reed boat around the Uros community, I was off on a 2 hour ferry ride to Taquille where we explored the island and had some great views of the lake (and a delicious meal of Titicaca trout!)

I was exhausted after such a full day and needed to rest up for the next day’s journey to Cuzco. Thanks Sol, Enrique, and Ursula for such wonderful hospitality!

Return to the Blog...

Well, I’m back! To all my readers who have continued to check the page these two months, I thank you. And to those who have let me know that they read, I really appreciate it and I apologize for the overly long break…. Needless to say I have lots to share! Winter vacation started on June 27^th and therefore so did my adventures. Here in San Juan both students and professors really love vacation and the academic system works such that the semester ends, everyone has two to three weeks of vacation time, and then they take final exams. The good thing though is that if you complete your classes with an average of 8 (out of 10) or above, you can be considered exempt from final exams… which means I didn’t have any exams :)

So I decided to venture out of San Juan a little to get to know the region. First stop, Viña del Mar, Chile where coincidentally an old friend from high school in Greensboro was participating in a math conference. Since I lived close to there in 2003 I offered to show her around for the weekend before starting the looooong journey up to Peru. It was COLD but we walked the entire city, ate yummy empanadas, and – my personal favorite – rode the new train that connects the coastal cities with the smaller towns in the interior. I remember that they had just opened the train as I was leaving my study abroad experience so it was interesting to see how it operates. It’s beautiful! Fast, efficient and extremely clean… Chile has definitely progressed since I lived there. Unfortunately their pickpockets have also progressed in their ingenuity and I was their victim in the Santiago metro station. Luckily I didn’t lose anything and my friend was able to lend me some cash to get to Peru, thanks Michelle!

I then boarded a bus to Peru, a 30-hour bus ride. Although it sounds like horrible experience, I really do enjoy traveling by bus and I don’t mind the long rides because you really do get to know the country that way. And the great thing about traveling by bus in Chile is that much of the ride is along the coast which is spectacularly beautiful, especially at sunset. Too bad I had no camera then! I arrived at the Peru-Chile border around noon and then took a boarder taxi (a 1950s Cadillac) to cross into Peru, a much more informal crossing than any I have experienced. The Peruvian adventure was just getting started!