The Peru Diary Part 3 (Dec 21-23)

Puno, which is on the 'altiplano' is considered the cradle of Inca civilization. 

Puno:Plaza de Aramas

The Incas (who are sun worshipers) believe that the Sun is born each day from Lake Titicaca and as such the lake has revered status amongst the Incas.  The lake is famous for being the 'highest navigable' lake in the world and this moniker derives largely from a couple of British-built ships that patrolled the waters for a while.  One of those ships, the Yavari, is now a floating museum that is docked next to our hotel.
One of the unique features of Lake Titicaca are the floating islands - these are islands made of blocks of reeds (that grow in the shallower sections of the lake) and populated by an indigenous tribe.  They actually do float and are made by hand by tying together blocks of live reeds.  Every couple of weeks a fresh layer of reeds has to laid on the surface to account for the settling of the lower layers.

Floating Island on Lake Titicaca

We had booked ourselves on a 3-hour trip to one group of the floating islands, but during the night, both Malini and Arjun came down sick. Upset tummies, fever, and even a little vomiting. So they stayed back and just Abhi and I went with the rest of the group. The visit was quite interesting, if somewhat uneventful.  While some level of modernity has reached the islands (they have solar panels now), life is still very hard and didn't seem to be particularly comfortable. But they continue to pursue it, if only because it is the only way they know how.

How the islands are built

In the afternoon, we paid a visit to the Yavari, and got a tour of the boat. Then it was time for another visit to town - picked up our laundry and bought some groceries. Malini and Arjun had spent most of the day resting and were recovering.  Overall, Puno and Lake Titicaca were a bit anti-climatic: After the rural charms of the Colca valley, the hustle and bustle of Puno were a bit of a shock. The portion of the lake that we saw was not that spectacular either.  However, to be fair what we saw and traveled over was just a small inlet of the lake and we did not venture into the main body of water.  Malini and Arjun not being well didn't help either.

The following morning, we left early and reached the train station by 7.15am. We were going to embark on a 10-hour journey to Cusco.  The fare was a bit pricey and had been the subject of much debate during the planning process.  However, it couldn't have come at a better time: after the painful 6-hour bus journey to Puno and with Malini and Arjun still recovering, a nice long train journey turned out to be the perfect thing. And this was some journey - it went through some of the most spectacular scenery and we spent more than half the time in the viewing carriage at the back of the train.

The train (called the 'Andean Explorer') itself was a sort of Orient Express of Peru and we had excellent service throughout. Everybody had a great time and it wouldn't be a stretch to say that for the first time we were all enjoying ourselves. Highly recommended.

We were picked up from the train station (after a minor delay) by our Cusco hotel guys and we arrived to find a rather interesting building. Its location couldn't be faulted (walking distance to the main square and some very nice views), but its internal layout was rather strange - to get to our rooms, we had to climb several sets of stairs - first up, then down and then up again.  The building was old, but rooms were decent enough.  We went out for dinner (had our first Indian tourist encounter in Peru), but returning was a challenge - getting back to the hotel required a hike up a steep hill, not to mention all the climbing that we had to do once we got to the hotel.

Courtyard of Hotel Corihuasi, Cusco

The next day we had arranged for a city tour, but in the middle of the night I woke up with some discomfort in my stomach and then proceeded to spend the next 3 hours either throwing up or on the toilet. By the morning things had settled down, but we decided to skip the tour (Murthys and RD went) and spent the day indoors. It wasn't too bad of a place to spend the day since there was a nice closed courtyard just outside that the boys could play in. I spent most of the day in bed and ate very little.
The next day we were planning to head to Machu Picchu - and I was just glad that I had recovered enough to make the trip.  After all, you don't want to spend 13 days in Peru and not visit Machu Picchu.