Travel Day

Today we traveled from Cuzco to Puno in the south of Peru near the Bolivian border.

We hopped in the bus around 8;30 this morning and headed off. After about 40 minutes we stopped off at a beautiful church that was in the process of being restored. It was one of the oldest in the region and dated back to the Spanish conquest. We tagged along with another tour and got the scoop on the place. The highlight was Christ on the cross near the altar. He looked almost black. We were told the Spanish made Christ to look darker than most other depictions because they were trying to trick the Incans a bit. If the locals felt Christ was one of their own then they would find it easier to worship him.

Over the years they say he has gotten even darker and there are several theories but the one that most of the locals believe is that he loves the Peruvians so much he is taking on their color.

The whole trip to Puno took about 8 hours and it was an experience. First of all, once you get into the country (which is beautiful) the roads tend to deteriorate. Our driver was all over the road -- I think he spent at least half of the time on the wrong side of the road -- trying to avoid the potholes. It was like he was a LeMans driver going through chicanes the whole day. It got so funny that at one point we were all holding up our hands as if we were on a roller coaster at Six Flags.

Secondly, I think the exhaust pipe was somehow funneled back into the bus. We had the windows open and still you couldn´t help but suck in fumes the whole day. At first I thought it was just the other cars and trucks on the road but when we got out in the country and there weren´t many other vehicles around I realized we were slowly being poisoned by carbon monoxide from our own bus.

Apparently, Bolivian contraband is a big thing around these parts because we got pulled over twice at checkpoints. Our driver got out and talked with the cops and everything was ok, but that didn´t stop the cops from pulling over several other trucks and as we pulled out the first checkpoint we were told by our driver that they found contraband including cookies on one of the stopped trucks. C´mon, cookies!? These must be some pretty badass smugglers to be attempting a checkpoint crossing with a truckload of Chips Ahoy!

We passed through the only city in the area that has an airport and I gotta tell you it was disgusting. I think the name was Juliaca or something like that and our guide believes it´s the dirtiest city in Peru. There was garbage lining the middle of the road and most of the houses were not even finished. We were told that for some reason the people in this city don´t pay taxes and because of that the government doesn´t have the money to fix what needs fixing. Meanwhile, the biggest industry is, you guessed it, contraband. Everything from DVDs to gasoline is brought in from Bolivia where they are much cheaper and sold here for a profit. The city is a dump but the people are making decent money. Unfortunately we have to come back here to fly to Lima in a couple of days.

We arrived in Puno and got a glimpse at Lake Titicaca as we rolled into town. There was a green ring around the shore and our guide said that until recently the sewage was getting into the lake and causing this green stuff. They have fixed the sewage issue and are in the process of cleaning the damage that´s been done. Hopefully we won´t encounter too much of it when we head out on the lake tomorrow.

Well, I´d better get going because we are going to grab dinner soon.

More tomorrow.

B

P.S. The whole time I´ve been typing this the guy at this Internet cafe has been playing 80´s hair bands. I´ve heard some Scorpions and now it´s Europe with "The Final Countdown". Classic.