Deane's Motorcycle Trip In SOUTH AMERICA
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Deane's Motorcycle Trip In SOUTH AMERICA |
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April 19, 20 - Cuzco, Peru 255 miles, Puno to Cuzco (Cusco)* |
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I thought that Peru was supposed to be beautiful. - AND IT IS!!! (*It's interesting that on English-language maps, this city is spelled Cuzco, but on signs in Peru, it is spelled Cusco. Speaking of signs, Peru has excellent road signs, unlike the other countries we've visited.) Today as we started out from Puno, we headed back into the dry mountains again, but with long valleys which had grazing land ringed by mountains. There were more cattle grazing than we have seen anywhere else on this trip. Also there were more and larger fields of crops than we had seen yet. The fields still looked to be planted and harvested by hand, but were larger than the ones further south. All the while, we were approaching a pass of 13,400 ft. in elevation. We saw two large herds of Llamas in two fields. From a guide we had in La Paz, I learned that as a rule of thumb, the larger Llamas are found more in Argentina, the somewhat smaller Guanacos are found more in Bolivia, and the smaller yet Vicunas are found more in Peru. I think we've seen some of each, but can't be sure. As we rode up toward the pass, we began to see snow-topped mountains. I believe some of this this is the result of early snows this fall, because we are approaching winter here in the Southern Hemisphere.
We have also seen the deciduous trees just starting to change their colors, so winter is coming here in South America. When we got to the top of the pass, this little old Andean lady asked if I wanted to take her picture, and I did. She wears the typical "Bowler" hat, with the front brim turned down, and the very colorful blanket over her shoulder with whatever her load is for the day. Her green and white striped bag was hand knitted, as were her sweaters.
We have been told that the people in this region often are shy and don't want their pictures taken, so while I had this opportunity, I took the picture. (Of course she wanted a "donation ", so I gave here a generous sum.) Once over this 13,000 ft. pass, the color of the hills and fields changed dramatically. Everything became GREEN. It was a remarkable change, with the mountains still rugged, but having green grasses and bushes, although no trees yet. This must be a very significant mountain range crossing, with a significant weather pattern change. As we descended, it became obvious that living was much better there. The homes were much larger, with many having two stories, and either tile roofs or sheet metal roofs. Also, it became obvious that adobe bricks were the building blocks of choice here, most of the time with stucco over the adobe bricks, rather than the homes built entirely of rocks further south. Their fields were still relatively small, but had much more lush crops. Lots of corn, still green and not quite ready for picking. It looked like most families had a few cows, maybe a couple of pigs, and maybe a flock of sheep. Along with this, the surrounding high mountains were beautifully green, with some trees appearing. It was also interesting that on these very steep mountains, many small fields were planted. This made very pretty patterns, but it was hard to see how they might till the fields. When we got to Cusco, we found that it was another city built on very steep hills. Our hotel had to be reached from very steep cobblestone streets. Riding on cobblestones with motorcycles is really scary, let alone going up or down steep streets on them!! We had a wonderful tour on our second day here, arranged by MotoDiscovery, with a very knowledgeable Cusco tour guide. We took a bus (really first-class bus), first to an Inca site overlooking present day Cusco. Its Inca name is "SAGSAYWAMAN". What fantastic work on the large stones fitted together with precision! Then our tour bus took us from Cusco, through many small towns, to the site of another very important Inca town and "headquarters". It is near the present town of "Urubamba", on the "Urubamba River". and its Inca name is "OLLANTAYTAMBO" We climbed up many stone steps to the religious center, built from very large stones, some maybe 8 ft. by 10 ft. by 4 ft., quarried from a distant quarry, across the river, and hauled up a very high mountain. It's hard to see how those people could accomplish such feats. Of course, the Spanish conquerors ravaged the Inca buildings and used some of the stones to build their own towns.
While there, we saw some women, and the daughter of one, in very colorful clothes different from what we had seen so far.
Tomorrow we are off to the fabled "Machu Picchu", with the same excellent tour guide, so we'll see what that brings. |
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