Today was a massive travel day, from Cusco to a city called Puno, on the shores of Lake Titicaca. Terry and I were trying to remember which tv show from the 60’s or 70’s kept using Lake Titicaca as a running joke. Was it Get Smart?

Anyway, we had to leave the hotel before 5AM to catch a public bus for an 11 hour journey. It wasn’t 11 hours of uninterrupted driving. We had stops along the way.

We were making our way up into the Andes.

On the way to our first stop, Sally and Stephen got Claudio to race off the bus and bring back this still-warm bread with chocolate through it, to share with the bus.

Yesterday, Claudio collected 5 Sols (2AUD) from each person so we can take this sort of bread to the people on the floating islands on Lake Titicaca. They have no way of making it, so it’s a nice thing to do.
Sally and Stephen were curious to try some, and when they saw how big it was, they shared it with the whole bus.

It was delicious. I think it helped that the bread was still warm from the oven, as the chocolate was slightly gooey.

Our first stop was at one of the most beautiful churches I’ve ever seen. The Chapel of Andahuaylillas, a 17th-century church often called the “Sistine Chapel of the Andes” for its exquisite murals, intricate gold-leaf work and crazy Jesus lying in a coffin. (Maybe that last one was just me.)

This was the view of the main altar as you walk in. So far, so good.

But that Sistine Chapel of the Andes thing? I looked up.

How incredible is this?

While the rest of the group were gathered around today’s guide from the bus, I wandered around with my naughty phone. I really liked this ceiling.

He seems a bit nonchalant for the predicament he’s in.

This was in the arch above a door. It reminded me of the weaving patterns we’ve seen since coming here.

And here’s the weird Jesus I was referring to earlier.

This church had a fabulous gift shop, though. I bought my niece’s unborn baby a Christmas present here.

Then we were off to see an Incan temple a couple of hours down the road.

As we were driving, the bus guide told us that Peru has 3,500 kinds of potatoes… called papas.

Pope also called Papa.

He worked for nearly 30 years in Northern Peru, and has joint nationality with the US.

The Peruvians are very proud of him, and they say they now have 3,501 papas!

The walk up to the village was interesting. We passed by these huts, with evidence of both Inca and Spanish building. See how small the door is? The Inca built them small up in the mountains to keep the heat in.

These bulls were being walked to a big cattle market down the road.

You would expect to pay 8,000 Sol / 3,400AUD for the big bull.

5,000 Sol/ 2,100 AUD for the small one.

Alpaca? 800 Sol/ 340 AUD.

No wonder they like eating alpaca here.

When you have a shop or stall in Peru, it’s Bring Your Dog To Work Day everyday. How lovely.

This was the soundtrack of our shopping in this village while we were waiting for the bus guide to finish showing the Spanish speakers the temple first.

We rounded a corner and saw this. It was huge!

Raochi is the temple built for the runners and workers of the Inca trails. There were once 23,000 kms on the original Inca trails. Now there are 45 kms.

It was 12 m high.

Made from lava rocks, so the construction is different.

This temple was hugely important, as it was built for the god that oversees everything… the invisible god Wiracocha. He was the boss of everything.
Under him were the sun and moon, then beneath them all of the other gods.
This actually went some way towards answering the questions I had about why the Catholic Church is still so strong in Latin America today, 200 years after the Spanish and Portuguese were kicked out.

Both religions have the same basic structure. God, Jesus, the saints… it was a hierarchy that was familiar.

Corridor faces towards sunrise.

200 food storage huts. Food was distributed to the population during tough times. No one went hungry.

The first thing the Incas built when they added new tribes to their empire was food storage huts. The message was clear. You’re with now so you’ll never go hungry.

Here’s me at La Rays Pass, a mere 4,335 metres above sea level. Behind me is a glacier, to the right are many alpaca herds, and all around me are women selling their wares.

They didn’t sell anything to our bus, but they must sell stuff. They’re always knitting, producing more.

Our last stop of the day was a ceramic painting class. Seeing as how I have carryon, which means very few clothes with me, I elected to avoid paint anywhere near my clothes and go shopping instead.

I bought some bags for the girls, then some hats for the boys and a bracelet for Mum. Fortunately for the sake of my credit card, the class finished and we all headed off for the last couple of hours driving to the hotel.

Oh! I nearly forgot to tell you! Remember when Blogless Sandy and I were in Taiwan and there was a mother and son travelling together? They were the ones that made me decide to do the same thing with my kids.

Guess who I saw when I was leaving lunch, ready to get back on the bus? Well, she recognised me, to be fair. How funny that 3 months later, we bump into each other on a plateau in the middle of Peru, of all places!

Dad joke of the day: