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We caught Tourismo Mer bus in the morning at 7:30am - a bit of lay in in comparison with our usual setting off times. Best thing about this journey was that the bus travel will be interrupted by 5 stops. This meant that we can travel and see new places at the same time. First we drove through the villages that we have seen before with Crees, such as Oropesa, the national capital of bread el pan. The guide picked up there a big flat round loaf and we all shared it on the bus.
First official stop was a village of Andahuaylillas at 3122m a.s.l. and a visit to a baroque church Iglesia de San Pedro. I am not a church person even when it comes to sightseeing but this one was interesting. Usual baroque over the top decorations, massive wooden altars and painting frames in 22 carat gold leaf. Main decorations of the church were: murals (not frescos - difference is as I have learnt that murals are painted once the plaster is dry, whereas frescos when the plaster is dry), paintings and gold leaf altars. The ceiling was constructed out of cedar beams, all completely covered in colourful decorations, some showing Moorish influence. The Moorish influence comes from Arabic influence in Spain. The altars had definitely european style that was brough by the Spanish. The oldest still functioning organs were split into two parts and brough from Germany - no wonder they still work!
The altars has mirrors around them for illumination purpose ONLY as emphasized byt the guide. That made me wonder if it was really for that purpose... Need to check. The church replaced a local temple when Spaniards took over this area and tried to introduce their own faith.
Now it was back to the bus. Coca tea was served and we were climbing up in altitude again. Next stop: Raqchi with temple for God Wiracocha, pilgrimage centre build by Incas at 3450m a.s.l. The complex also had some residential buildings.
The temple was build using Inca stone technique at the bottom section, then lighter brick adobe (sand, clay, water and organic material) and roof was of timber construction with thatch. I sneaked into one of the back gardens of the residential section and TOUCHED A SHEEP!!! This is something I have been dreaming of and it finally, after years of disappointment and multiple trials with English timid sheet, came true! Sadly the SD card that this encounter have been recorded on played up and managed to erase pictures from the whole day.. Typical... Now: next stop and lunch time!
The tourist restaurant we stopped at had it all: Peruvian band, stools with all-alpaca products: blankets, hats, scarfs and gloves, salesmen dressed in traditional outfits, lamas llamas grazing grass on the adjacent outdoor field (poor animals, tied to the ground by a short string, being teased by the turists just to get a picture with them), little local girl to pose with alpaca for tips, but most of all typical peruvian food in the buffet. So we head lama llama meat (apparently it has no cholesterol), roasted chicken pollo, sweet potatoes, quinoa soup, beetroot, carrots, cucumber and tomatoes, celery and apple salad, avocado (of course), something resembling potatoes and brocolli cakes. And for dessert: jelly, bananas, toffee or chocolate pudding similar to Polish budyń. I am finding a lot of similarities with Polish cousine!
Next stop was La Raya Pass at 4335m a.s.l., highest point on our bus route. It had a colourful market and Peruvian women in traditional colourful skirts, cardigans and boller hats holding baby alpacas posing to pictures for an appropriate tip propina. But most of all for me the highlight was to see the peaks covered with snow or glacier. Suprisingly still holding on despite being so close to the scorching temperatures at the pass. Andes are absolutely stunning, this longest continental mountain range is spreading over 7000km long, 200-700km wide and across seven South America contries: Venezuela, Columbia, Equador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. Pale yellow grasslands over hills turning into light brown peaks, then black blue mountains with white snow and ice caps, all topped with deep blue sky and snow white clouds :). Magnificent !!! The landscape is scattered with red brown clay brick houses with either straw or more posh silver corrugated metal roofs, these reflecting the sun.
Last stop: Pukara at 3575m a.s.l. famous for its ceramics production. This is where the ceramic bulls so often seen in Peru on the houses' roofs, come from. They are an amulet for good luck and always paired up guarding houses from its roofs.
A quick visit to a museum and a scan over the market stalls resulted in a few more pictures and two clay mini bulls + a ceramic olive bowl.
Next stop: Puno - the destination town at the Lake Titicaca at 3810m a.s.l. Our next day tour and tonights accommodation seems sorted, only thing we need to do today is to hunt some food, preferably from the lake :)
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