Our schedule alloted not more than half a day in Puno, just enough for the tourism-worn floating villages and villagers on Lake Titicaca.
Infernal clouds hovering over Puno
Most Peruvian women maintain the same body proportions for all their live...
You don't have to be Jesus to walk over water on Lake Titicaca...
The only pity we felt, quite surprisingly, was that we couldn't stay longer in the city of Puno itself than for a quick stroll through the center and a dinner in one of the restaurants. Because our choice of the latter was extraordinarily lucky: The live music was stunning and the guinea-pig exceptionally tasty ;) ! So even though we initially had plans to skip Puno in favour of another Peruvian city like Arequipa, our goodbye was a rather hurried and reluctant one when we had to leave for the bus to Cuzco while the band was still playing and the dancers on fire.
The dancers were struggling hard for just a handful of tourists
No more squieking for you, little fella
The bus ride to Cuzco was keeping the series of strange incidents on our South American bus rides alive, when an infuriated woman whose luggage was obviously somehow displaced by the agency, was banging at the bus with a big wooden bench. But they didn't pay too much attention at her and kept rushing on to Cuzco...
Despite the majority of tourists come to Cuzco in order to see Machu Picchu, this city is not like Aguas Calientes (the last train stop before MP) a mere transit zone, but rather an excellent supporting act, which in some aspects manages to outperform the main act. Our hostal was a bit far from scratch, but top quality and top views from up on the hillside. The city itself with its almost cuddly streets, cheap but classy restaurants is radiating atmosphere.
A pageant on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the University of Cuzco
San Francuzco
Culture, History and Basketball
From Cusco we took a shared taxi with some guys to a village with the tacky name of Ollantaytambo, a fortress which lies a bit closer to Machu Picchu in the Inka Valley, in order to save some money by reducing the immensely expensive train ride to Aguas Calientes to a minimum. (Unfortunately we didn't have the time to do one of the hikes to MP, which take several days). At the end we saved about 5 disappointing dollars by that, but we gained another interesting experience by sharing the taxi and the train ride with two funny Brazilians, who were still heavily drunk from the night before.
The train to Aguas Calientes: More $/h than km/h
Over Aguas Calientes I will put the cloak of silence. There is nothing more to say than that the best time filler, while we were waiting for the next days' visit to Machu Picchu, was playing cards and drinking with the Austro-German-Swiss-Connection...
Nevertheless, the next morning we got up at 3:45 to climb the ancient Inka stairway up to Machu Picchu, to be at the gate before it opens and the tourist masses are being carted there in busloads. But somehow we got lost on the pitch-black early morning hours and didn't manage to be the first at the gate. But after some adept positioning tactics at the ticket booth we were the first in MP this day!
The eerie way up over the Inca stairway
What can I say about Machu Picchu? There are two kind of people on this world: the ones who have seen Machu Picchu, and the others... ;) I don't know if I was more impressed by the almost palpable air of history, or by surrounding mountains whose steep slopes enclose MP like a prison wall.
As we were the first up there we got one of the only 200 tickets for Huaynapicchu, the peak neighboring and rising high above MP. We had luck with the weather: The early-morning fog quickly dispersed and the sun painted the grassy ruins and the surrounding jungle in lively green nuances. But as it is still a lot smaller than Angkor Wat (though equally impressive), it can be easily seen in one day, and so we headed back to Cusco the same afternoon.
Macho and his Bitchu
Lost in Space
The Inca bridge - Paso prohibido. Not that I would have liked to walk it...
Nowadays' inhabitants of MP
On top of Huaynapicchu. No idea who the guy posing with us is.
On top of the world
Due to a lack of time (and Mojo, to be honest) we couldn't do the detour to the canyons of Arequipa, but rather went on directly to Lima. Lima is not a beautiful city (not at all!) but it is tachycardia pure. I actually liked it: Its smelly, noisy and dirty - like some of my best friends...
We lived in an apartment of an elderly pair of sisters, which, together with the Nippes figures, old clocks and Maria statues, made it fell like a retirement mansion on the countryside - wouldn't it have been in the 14th floor of a huge apartment building overlooking Lima.
Views from our window
So it may seem strange that our only activity in Lima apart from shopping, dining and a bit of sightseeing was Paragliding, which didn't even get us as high up as the flat we were living in. But the setting over the cliffs beneath the line of posh hotels at the promenade was unique.
Painful equipment check
And off we go. Up there is just complete silence and relaxation. (Or would have been, if my pilot wasn´t chatting away on his cellphone...)
Preparing for the landing...
Finally, it was time to say goodbye. Goodbye to South America, to our long-time travelmates from AUT/GER/SUI - and to Stevie. At least a rehearsal of the real goodbye one day later in Havana, Cuba, because we were booked on different flights to the stopover in Panama. Altough the check-in-procedure at the airport was quite a hassle and involved several calls to the STA Travel helpdesk, we could finally board our planes and meet again in Panama.
Placid Puno at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephan_mittas/sets/72157616234249276/
Cosy Cuzco at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephan_mittas/sets/72157617212731699/
Lively Lima at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephan_mittas/sets/72157617213179089/
And too Muchu of Picchu at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephan_mittas/sets/72157616272054854/
