The drive from Cusco to Lake Titicaca follows the rivers and valleys of the Altiplano at around 4000 m. We planned to take several days for the distance of 600 km.
The first night we just stopped 100 m from the main road in the grassy field of a small farm. We had asked permission and just went strait to bed. The following morning we were greeted by the boys and girls walking to school and the numerous men and women taking their one, two or three cows or small flock of sheep to the field. The lady who had allowed us to camp came along and gave us a small goats cheese as a present - she did not speak any Spanish and so conversation had to be with hands and feet. When we finally got away Kate came up with a surprise visit to the local Sunday market which was supposed to be fabulous. It turned out to just a few stands with local produce. We enjoyed the sunny morning and drove on.
After a few hours of driving we came to the biggest town between Cusco and Lake Titicaca: Ayuviri. Our hopes for a lunch in a restaurant were a little bit optimistic. Yes, there were several restaurants on the central square, but they offered the local one dish menu that sounded horrible "Escabeche con su pancito" and tasted even worse. After picking the rice from the plates, eating the soup and having a gaseosa we made it quickly out of the restaurant having payed a total of 4 US$ for all of us.
The first night we just stopped 100 m from the main road in the grassy field of a small farm. We had asked permission and just went strait to bed. The following morning we were greeted by the boys and girls walking to school and the numerous men and women taking their one, two or three cows or small flock of sheep to the field. The lady who had allowed us to camp came along and gave us a small goats cheese as a present - she did not speak any Spanish and so conversation had to be with hands and feet. When we finally got away Kate came up with a surprise visit to the local Sunday market which was supposed to be fabulous. It turned out to just a few stands with local produce. We enjoyed the sunny morning and drove on.
After a few hours of driving we came to the biggest town between Cusco and Lake Titicaca: Ayuviri. Our hopes for a lunch in a restaurant were a little bit optimistic. Yes, there were several restaurants on the central square, but they offered the local one dish menu that sounded horrible "Escabeche con su pancito" and tasted even worse. After picking the rice from the plates, eating the soup and having a gaseosa we made it quickly out of the restaurant having payed a total of 4 US$ for all of us.
We decided not to go much further but rather find a nice camping spot off the road. We saw a small track going off the mainroad and followed it. The good track in the beginning started to turn more challenging after a few kilometers with small rivers to cross, deep ruts remaining from the muddy sommer months and bigger and bigger stones without us having spotted a suitable spot yet. Even though we had made it already more the 15 km into the valley there were still farms spread across the valley not allowing to find a "wild" spot. At the end we asked a girl herding sheep and she indicated we could stay next to the school building at the end of the valley without any problem. It was a beautiful place but obviously not with a lot of solitude.
For the next 24 hours we must have been visited by every person living in a distance of 10 km of the school. Everybody was very friendly but very curious too about the reasons for our staying here and where we came from and so on.
The best part of our staying was visiting the school next morning. There were three classes for children aged 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12. The classrooms consisted of a small room, with broken windows no heating (at night the temperature fell below zero) and 8 to 10 benches with chairs. The materials for teaching were spares. We were introduced by the teachers to each of the classes and the girls presented their travel books (books they had been drawing and writing about the different parts of the journey).
For the next 24 hours we must have been visited by every person living in a distance of 10 km of the school. Everybody was very friendly but very curious too about the reasons for our staying here and where we came from and so on.
The best part of our staying was visiting the school next morning. There were three classes for children aged 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12. The classrooms consisted of a small room, with broken windows no heating (at night the temperature fell below zero) and 8 to 10 benches with chairs. The materials for teaching were spares. We were introduced by the teachers to each of the classes and the girls presented their travel books (books they had been drawing and writing about the different parts of the journey).
Subsequently, we continued on the road to lake Titikaka. Just before we got back on the mainroad (after crossing some challenging waterways and piles of stones) we picked up the teacher of the school who was hitchhiking back to his town - just 50 kilometers!
We had decided to visit the pre-Inka tombs at Sillustani which features several more or less well preserved 12 meter high and 7 meter wide stone cylinders. Those contain the burial chambers. The site has a stunning view over lakes and the Altiplano highlands. The last tourists were just leaving and so we had the site almost to ourselves and decided to camp just at the foot of the site.
We had decided to visit the pre-Inka tombs at Sillustani which features several more or less well preserved 12 meter high and 7 meter wide stone cylinders. Those contain the burial chambers. The site has a stunning view over lakes and the Altiplano highlands. The last tourists were just leaving and so we had the site almost to ourselves and decided to camp just at the foot of the site.
Kate’s account:
The school where we parked was built just below a rocky hill (500 meter) which Stefan could not resist. Shortly after we parked he put on his running gear and went off. It seemed like only half an hour when he radioed us from the top and we rushed out with our binoculars to spot him, waving from the summit, from where he reported a small shrine and a fantastic view.
The school where we parked was built just below a rocky hill (500 meter) which Stefan could not resist. Shortly after we parked he put on his running gear and went off. It seemed like only half an hour when he radioed us from the top and we rushed out with our binoculars to spot him, waving from the summit, from where he reported a small shrine and a fantastic view.
The following day we went on to Puno on lake Titikaka where we had another encounter with the police. Having got used to circumventing swiftly obstacles on the road, I overtook a brass band walking on one side of a dual carriage way on the opposite side which was separated by a strip of plants. With this successful manover behind me we approached a crossroad surveyed by a policeman in his little oversite stand. I tried to pretend of not having noticed any wrong doing and approached the policeman to ask for direction. He then asked us to pull to the side and came along to "discuss" our offense. To justify the price tag - around 65 US$ - he
pointed out the offense in a little booklet filled with all possible traffic offenses. We started to argue and he found another description in his booklet that seemed to be close to what we have done. After pointing it out to us he noticed the ridicul fine attached - only 10 US$ - and returned looking for another one. In the end we settled on a fine for 35 US$ and he started to fill in a slip. When I asked him to sign it and put his name on it too he got very worried and asked us to wait and walked off to his apparently senior colleague. After a short discussion - he obviously got worried we would be able to go to the police office and point out the fine while he thought of pocketing the money - his senior colleague came back to us and reprimanded us "heavily" and then allowed us to drive off without paying anything!
