The Trip to Puno...Lake Titicaca!

Somehow everyone I talked to, about going to Lake Titicaca, had to first snigger...*wonder why*:-P

So the official Wharton trek was limited till Machu Pichu but a bunch of us felt that if we went back without a visit to the famous lake Titicaca, the Peru trip would forever remain incomplete. Lake Titicaca was a place I had only visited in my school Geography books - the highest navigable lake in the world, with floating islands and indigenous, non-Inca tribals living on those islands, cut off from normal land life. There was no way I was going to miss that. So I organized a little side trip and got company from a few other intrepid batchmates and partners and off we went to Puno!

Getting to Puno posed a bit of a challenge. There is a train that runs twice a week from Cusco to Puno and the route is supposed to be very lovely. Unfortunately, the day we were supposed to leave from Cusco wasnt the day the train ran. So we booked ourselves on a bus which was to take 10 hours to get to Puno from Cusco. None of us was exactly looking forward to the 10-hour journey across Peru, but as all Peruvian mini-trips, little did we know what what in store!

The trip turned out to be the most beautiful bus journey I've ever been on, cutting across the Andean mountains and some of the most beautiful landscape I've ever seen, stopping by prehistoric tourist spots and a restaurant with lovely Peruvian music consisting of Banjos, guitars, Pan flutes (multifluted little thing from which emanates the most heavenly music ever!) and little drums.

The 16th Century Andahuaylillas church. They call it the Sistine chapel of Americas because of all the gold and paintings inside - pics werent allowed inside, unfortunately. I thought it was a bit too gaudy for my taste.

11 of us

The archaeological ruins of Raqchi - the temple of Wiracocha

More camera-friendly and super cute Llamas

Most Peruvian houses have this pair of stunned-looking bulls to bring prosperity and ward off evil

The postcard-ish landscapes on the way were...breathtakingly beautiful

With a beautiful interplay of shadow and light..

...and clouds

...and more shadows

So after a beautiful (and very comfortable, btw) 10 hour journey, we reached Puno. Our hotel was overlooking Titicaca and...there's a little plug due here for the Libertador hotels in Peru - you guys are AWESOME. Lovely hotels, wonderful service and great locations. Super costly, of course, you guys also played a large role in my bankruptcy exactly 2 months after spring break. And we all love your Jacuzzis:-D

So the next morning we took a boat to the closest group of floating islands - Uros. And by floating, I mean really floating. So these islands are made of reeds and are literally alive. The reed floor of the islands is about 3 -5ft thick, but is still squishy to walk on - as if you were walking on a water bed. The tribals live on these islands, have their own schools, fish and even grow their own stuff on the reed soil. Uros is a fairly commercialized island, well set up for tourists, but there are other islands which are still untouched and pristine. Since we only had a day in Titicaca and had to catch our flight back to NY the same night, we only had time for Uros. For people with more time, I highly recommend Amantani.

yeah..one tends to become a little poetic after a 10-hour bus journey. I would blame the high altitudes. Thats Lake Titicaca in the background. 'Titicaca ' literally means a Jaguar eating. If you look at the map of the lake, it does look like a Jaguar hunting a little rabbit

The view of the lake from my hotel window

Reaching Uros - on both sides are the floating reed passageways to the islands

Reed boats - very touristy

So these islands are tied to each other to prevent them from floating away - see that yellow rope in the water?

The happy lives that the tribals live...singing and dancing away in colorful costumes...:) Deevee living it up with one of the locals

On the uber-touristy reed boat - NT and SS trying their hands at rowing (I tried and sucked)

This little kid was the cutest ever!

umm...I just liked this pic from the boat, playing around with the DoF

Some of us tried a 'Reservoir Dogs' impression on the boat back

..Which soon turned to a Wharton bhangra jig


..at the temple of fertility..DeeVee still likes to think these were mushroom sculptures, lol!

At Lima, leaving for home...NT somehow had the heaviest baggage of all of us - we all suspect he was taking back some nubile young Peruvian lady back as a bride

Peru - Inca trail!!

Quick Update: So I was watching 'Motorcycle Diaries' the other day (psst: you HAVE to see this movie, if you haven't already!) and when they reach Machu Pichu, Ernesto says: 'How is it possible to feel nostalgia for a world I never knew?' I felt exactly the same when I was in Machu Pichu. It is an experience you cannot miss you on, for your life. And if you're with friends, all the more better:)

This was probably the highlight of our trip - the Inca Trail and Machu Pichu. I'd always wanted to be on it since I discovered I loved traveling so this was truly memorable.

The real Inca trail is 4 days long through the Andean mountains. In the interest of time..and since our group had 70 people with 70 different agendas and priorities, we did the short version - took a train till halfway and then hit the trail for a grueling, fast-paced trek. When we were starting, little did we know how beautiful it'd be and little did we know how brutal it'd be too!

By the time we saw Machu Pichu from the sun gate, it was already almost sunset - but the first view of Machu Pichu was by far worth it. And the second day exploring the ruins of Machu Pichu remains an awesome memory. There are about 3,000 tourists on Machu Pichu at any given day but the ruins are so mesmerizing that somehow you feel alone with your thoughts and imaginative reconstructions of how it must have been then.

Without further ado, here's Machu Pichu:

The begining of the Inca trail - it was straight out of an Indiana Jones Movie

We loved the Inca names...Chachabamba:-)

We did'nt know we had to cross 3 of those hills!

But the trail was lovely..

And the flowers were lovely...

With myriad colors


The trail was narrow


And hair-raising at times

With soothing waterfalls on the way..

Climbing this Inca cultivation and storage area made some of us almost pass out with exhaustion

But the rainbow was rejuvenating!

The first view of Machu Pichu from the Sun Gate


And the usual antics for pictures..

As usual, the view was amazing

So the site for Machu Pichu was selected based on its position relative to sacred landscape features. The mountains around are purported to be in alignment with key astronomical events


The terraced fields - Machu Pichu as a secret, hidden city even during the Spanish conquest could produce four times as much grain as required by the people living there

All those small pyramidal areas used to be residences for the nobilities

Been wanting to make a Picasa collage for a long time! So these birds are important in the Peruvian mythology...how, I'm not really sure..oops! I was focusing on getting a nice pic when they were explaining:(

So I've been working on taking pics of people when they're not aware...voyeurism?



FA, as usual, the king of jumps

generally..I just wanted to make sure I could do a macro shot manually without resorting to a programmed mode


One last view of the ruins at the end of a tiring day of exploring

Lunch...ummm...I kept clear of all the loins

Up next...pics from Puno and Lake Titicaca

ps: For a great 360 degree virtual tour around Machu Pichu, click here

Spring Break: Peru!!

Summer job search done with, most of us were raring to discover what coming back to school and Wharton really was about. Wharton was suddenly a changed place – people back in grunge from the smart formalwear, more smiles and relaxed faces and so many more activities to participate in. Either the workload was down or we had simply gotten used to the crazy academic schedules, but most of us definitely loved Sem 2.

Winters ended, spring arrived, the birds were out, leaves had color and people were generally of a sunnier disposition. It was also time for spring break and frenetic planning for what to do over the break started.

We have these student-led treks that go across the world during holidays and for me the toss-up was between Peru and Japan. Peru was obviously the winner, hands down – having lived in India, one always feels like Japan is next door compared to Peru. Plus I had always wanted to go to Machu Pichu!!

So Peru it was. About 70 students set out to explore Peru for 10 days. I wish I was writing my blog then because each day brought something new and exciting. The itinerary was supremely exhausting but amazing fun too! We covered most of Peru – Lima, Paracas, Cusco, Machu Pichu (of course!) and lake Titicaca were some of the highlights. Peru is an awesome country with beautiful scenery, amazing biodiversity, tonnes of history, beautiful music and warm people. In case anyone is interested, below is the super fun and super tiring itinerary we had across Peru

Day 1: Arrival in Lima, left for Paracas from airport.

Day 2: Boat to the Paracas islands

Day 3: Return to Lima, flight to Cusco in the mountains

Day 4: Cusco and around, getting accustomed to the altitude (Cusco is amongst the more beautiful small towns I’ve ever been to – strangely archaic with the most happening nightlife)

Day 5: Urubamba valley

Day 6: Trek to Machu Pichu (grueling 7 hour trek across the undulating hills – and we did the short version!!)

Day 7: Exploring the ruins of Machu Pichu

Day 8: Travel to Puno, Lake Titicaca, across the country (the most amazing landscapes and scenery I’ve seen in a long time)

Day 9: Take boat out on Lake Titicaca to Uros island (Titicaca has all these floating islands on which tribals live)

Day 10: Return to Lima, exploring Lima and departure

Writing about Peru is not going to be possible now, so I’ll just put up some pics here from the trip. Peru was a blast – everything I could have ever hoped for, was compressed into 10 days and happened. New friendships were forged, old ones were strengthened, the wanderlust taken care of for some time and amazing fun was had. I also went bankrupt shortly after the trip.

Paracas Islands - the Galapagos of Peru with the most amazing sea-life and biodiversity ever (apparently because of the unique combination of warm and cold currents in the sea)

Sea Lions - thousands of them, lounging around on guano-covered rocks

Penguins!! And I thought I had to go to Antarctica to see them (a venture to Antarctica goes every Dec from Wharton...unfortunately thats the only time I'll get in India:( so Antarctica is off the list)

Millions and millions of birds in Paracas, covering the island with guano - a valuable fertilizer

More lazy Sea Lions - they make an amazingly eerie sound - wish I had recorded that!

This is the nursing beach - thousands of pregnant sea-lions give birth to babies here!! I've never heard so much squealing in my life!

This was the cutest little monkey ever!

The Candelabra..a prehistoric carving in the rock believed by some to have been made by aliens who then populated the earth. Some others say that prehistoric men carved these out to signal to aliens...all a deep mystery!

A famous rock formation called Cathedral - half of it was destroyed in the 2005 earthquake

yeah...ummm..just jumping:) FA turned out to be the king of jumps in Peru though and SR was the queen of jump-shots

The hotel in Cusco - just about the prettiest hotel ever, till we saw our cottages in Urubamba!


So Cusco is this very pretty, very quaint little city up in the Andean mountains where you get used to the altitude before starting the Machu Pichu trek

The central square in Cusco...little did we know that the most happening nightclubs are all around this place!


Of Llamas that spat...


...And Alpacas that stank


of people..

..and monkeys...:)

Inca ruins in the Urubamba valley


These sticks were going to be really helpful on the Inca trail

Our cottages in Urubamba - amazingly pretty and super-luxurious

FA, the reincarnated 12th Inca posing with his face on the rain stick (this stick makes a beautiful noise like the rain, when you turn it upside down - used by the tribals to pray for rain)

Cohortmates @ Urubamba!

The bridge leading to our cottages

Up next...pics from the Inca trail and Machu Pichu!!