© InternetToday we were heading to Puno, home to Lake Titicaca, the highest freshwater lake in South America. The drive from Cusco to Puno normally takes six hours. We opted for a tour coach, complete with a guide and onboard attendant, a selection of drinks, and lunch. With stops at four sights along the way, the entire trip would take more than eight hours. After leaving our larger bags at the hotel, we set off on our full-day journey by road.
© Richard HuangSitting in a spacious coach and watching bustling markets and hurried pedestrians through the window is also an easy, efficient—and slightly lazy—way to get a feel for local life.
© Richard Huang
© Richard Huang
© Richard HuangWhat was there to look at? Quite a lot, actually. Take the colors of people’s clothing, for example. Locals are particularly fond of red, blue, and green. Why? Because they represent the colors of the earth, the sky, and vegetation.
© Richard HuangCompared with the local palette, Westerners’ clothing came in a much wider variety of colors.
© Richard HuangOur first stop was Andahuaylillas, home to the Church of San Pedro, built in the sixteenth century.
© InternetThe church is unassuming from the outside, but within, its gilded Baroque decoration and murals are dazzlingly ornate. Known as the “Sistine Chapel of the Americas,” it drew gasps of admiration from everyone who entered—perhaps because the contrast between exterior and interior was so striking. Photography was not allowed inside, so I had to find an image of the interior online.
© Richard HuangOur second stop was Raqchi, where the church was much smaller.
© Richard HuangOutside the church was a market selling handicrafts.
© Richard HuangBut neither the church nor the market was the main attraction here. That was the Inca site known as the Temple of Wiracocha. This ruined wall, about twenty meters high and flanked by eleven columns on either side, formed part of the temple. Unlike the stonework we had seen at other Inca sites, the upper section was built of adobe. Experts therefore believe it dates from the early period of Inca civilization.
The temple was dedicated to Viracocha, the creator god of Inca culture. When the world was still emerging from chaos, Viracocha made the sun and moon rise from Lake Titicaca and bring light to the world. He then fashioned humans and animals from clay, creating all living things. In China, this god became Nüwa; in Europe, Yahweh.
© Richard HuangThis was our guide, a thoroughly kind man who gave fluent explanations in both English and Spanish. The illustration he is holding shows how the Temple of Wiracocha originally looked. It had the largest single-span roof in the Inca Empire.
© Richard HuangAround the temple were twelve residential compounds, once occupied by nobles and priests. More than a hundred storehouses stood to the east, used for storing grain. These piles of stone are all that remain of them.
© Richard HuangThis woman worked at the archaeological site. Her job was to protect the ruined temple from further damage. After failing to repel the Spanish invasion, the Incas destroyed the temple themselves rather than allow outsiders to desecrate their god.
© Richard HuangThe coach stopped in Sicuani, at an elevation of 3,540 meters, for a break and lunch. The buffet was served at a restaurant operated by the tour company, and both the food and the surroundings were quite good. Trains occasionally passed beyond the broad floor-to-ceiling windows.
© Richard HuangOur next stop was La Raya, the highest point of the day’s journey at 4,335 meters. The guide gave us a few minutes to take photographs. The snowcapped mountain behind us was Apu Chimbuya, sacred to the local people. Its meltwater feeds the Urubamba River below Machu Picchu before flowing on toward the Amazon rainforest, known as the lungs of the Earth. It is the longest headwater of the Amazon and a source of fresh water for Cusco.
© Richard HuangOur final stop was Pucará, at an elevation of 3,879 meters. Its unusually shaped church, the Iglesia de Santa Isabel de Pucará, was closed. The main reason for stopping here was to visit a small ceramics museum illustrating the lives of the Indigenous peoples of the Andes two thousand years ago, with particular emphasis on their pottery-making skills.
© Richard HuangImages of bulls were everywhere in this pottery town. The story goes that local people originally revered other totems, but after the Spanish arrived, they introduced bullfighting. When that culture merged with the local pottery tradition, it gave rise to the ceramic rooftop bull known as the Torito de Pucará. Today, whenever townspeople finish building a house, they place several bulls on the roof to pray for peace and protection.
© Richard HuangBefore reaching our destination, we also passed through the city of Juliaca. Our guide said we would not be getting off the coach, but that the city was still worth mentioning: it is the largest commercial center in southern Peru. Goods here are extremely cheap because its proximity to the border has made it a distribution hub for contraband.
© Richard HuangDespite spending eight hours traveling more than six hundred kilometers at high altitude, we did not feel tired. The journey had offered one fascinating sight after another, opening our eyes at every turn. By evening, we reached Puno, a city nestled against the hills and overlooking the water. The lake before us was Lake Titicaca, which we would explore the next day.