John Edward Cooper’s Notes

DAY 8: Puno to Cusco B/L
This morning you will travel from Puno to Cusco and be able to appreciate the surrounding valleys’ wonderful landscapes en route. The journey includes a stop at La Raya pass, 4,300 metres above sea level, from where you will be able to take in some amazing vistas of the Andean snow-capped mountains. You will also stop at the Raqchi ruins, known as the Temple of the God Wiracocha, and Andahuaylillas village where there is a beautiful church from the 17th century. Enjoy lunch at a local restaurant before arriving in Cusco and transferring to your hotel.

Again there was an early start (7.00am), but today we had breakfast so were up ca.5am.… We went down to check out and go for breakfast ca.6.15am. I… had juice, corn flakes, bread and jam, and coffee. Janet thought the coffee was “disgusting”. “At 7.00am off we went,” she wrote. “Sunny and clear, but a bit parky.” It became agreeably hot later. “En route we went through Juliaca… It was horrendous. How do people live in all this squalor?!” At a junction there was a mêlée of traffic on the half-made, unmarked road. All the dwellings and other buildings that we passed were jerry-built and squalid. (Juliaca is the provincial capital, though; we only passed through the outskirts; and we mostly found the suburbs of cities in Perú to be similar.)


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 08:14:02
Views from the coach: half-made road in Juliaca


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 08:17:36
Views from the coach: Juliaca, a squalid dump of a place, what we saw of it

I scribbled, “Flat plain — Andean plateau — with distant mountains. These closed in later on the left, and even later on the right. Opened out again in a broad river valley.” I also wrote, “Crumbling adobe walls”, but can’t remember to what it referred.


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 08:27:52
Views from the coach


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 08:29:38
Views from the coach


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 08:31:26
Views from the coach


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 08:35:22
Views from the coach


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 08:40:00
Views from the coach


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 08:44:50
Views from the coach


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 08:46:12
Views from the coach


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 08:59:56
Views from the coach


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 09:01:16
Views from the coach

Janet continued: “After a while we had a loo break. Boris had raved about the coffee [sold at this place] so I risked it — [John] too — and it was good. I enjoyed it — and realised that it was the first hot drink I’d had since our flight from Heathrow!”


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 09:23:00
A coffee-stop


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 10:03:22
Views from the coach


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 10:10:16
Views from the coach


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 10:11:16
Views from the coach


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 10:31:58
Views from the coach


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 10:32:22
Views from the coach


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 10:52:24
Views from the coach

“A bit later,” Janet wrote, “we stopped for a photo-shoot of snow-capped mountains, etc. So beautiful. Still a clear day: it was lovely and hot and sunny all day.” This was on the pass through the La Raya mountain range, on the border of the Puno Region, which we were leaving, and the Cusco Region, which we were entering. There were people selling wares, and a woman in local costume inviting people to photograph each other next to her llama.

A couple of months later, I found the location on Google Street View:

Google Maps reference -14.482636,-70.989275
Co-ordinates S 14° 28' 57.5", W 70° 59' 21.4"


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 11:11:24
Photo-stop on the La Raya Pass


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 11:11:34
Photo-stop on the La Raya Pass


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 11:12:52
Photo-stop on the La Raya Pass


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 11:14:06
Photo-stop on the La Raya Pass


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 11:15:26
Photo-stop on the La Raya Pass: ”4,335 m” = 14,223 ft


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 11:21:12
Photo-stop on the La Raya Pass: view from our seat on the coach a little before the journey was resumed


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 11:38:52
Views from the coach


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 11:43:32
Views from the coach

We stopped at a smart new restaurant for a serve-yourself buffet lunch. There was a small band playing, similar to the one in Chivay on 15 February 2015 — four men this time, not three. They played “El Condor Pasa” as well (but then again, didn’t everybody!?). One of them came round with CDs, but we didn’t buy one. Although my cough was persistent and my appetite was off, I managed to eat something. Our party was seated in a bay window which overlooked the Cusco-to-Puno railway; and, indeed, a train passed while we were there, but I missed photographing it.

The restaurant was, I discovered on Google Maps in April 2015, in a town called Marangani; and it was evidently a new building, because in Google Street View, with an image dated August 2013, it was still under construction.

Google Maps reference -14.354802,-71.168678
Co-ordinates S 14° 21' 17.3" W 71° 10' 7.2"


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 11:53:20
Restaurant: band (left); buffet table (almost hidden from view, right)


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 11:53:46
Restaurant: our party in the bay window


Photo from Wikipedia of the Cusco-to-Puno railway


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 12:32:28
View southeast from outside the restaurant

Next stop was at the “Parque arqueologico Raqchi”, as the sign before the turn-off to the right said. Janet wrote: “Our next stop was the Inca ruins at Raqchi, a very interesting site. In the village, there was the most amazing-looking church, 300 years old, very rustic-looking. Boris told us about [the site], then we had free time (not enough, really).” The most prominent structure on the Raqchi site was the Temple of Wiracocha.


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 13:27:02
Church


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 13:27:02 (detail)
Church


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 13:31:16
Raqchi archaeological site: Temple of Wiracocha
The dual-pitched roofs atop the structures are modern, to protect from the weather the adobe beneath.


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 14:02:38
Sign at the entrance


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 13:31:56
Raqchi archaeological site: Temple of Wiracocha
Boris tells us about the site and the temple.


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 13:37:42
Raqchi archaeological site: Temple of Wiracocha


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 13:43:08
Raqchi archaeological site: Temple of Wiracocha
“This structure consists of a central adobe wall some 18 to 20 meters in height with an andesite base” — Wikipedia.


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 13:43:22
Raqchi archaeological site: Temple of Wiracocha


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 13:46:18
Raqchi archaeological site: Temple of Wiracocha
“It is flanked on each side by a row of eleven columns” — Wikipedia. One can be seen to the right.


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 13:46:36
Raqchi archaeological site


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 13:47:04
Raqchi archaeological site


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 13:47:54
Raqchi archaeological site


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 13:48:50
Raqchi archaeological site


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 13:48:50 (detail)
Raqchi archaeological site: church (left) and temple of Wiracocha (right)


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 13:49:08
Raqchi archaeological site


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 13:49:50
Raqchi archaeological site


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 13:50:02
Raqchi archaeological site


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 13:50:46
Raqchi archaeological site


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 13:51:46
Raqchi archaeological site


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 13:55:18
Raqchi archaeological site


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 13:55:56
Raqchi archaeological site


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 13:56:18
Raqchi archaeological site


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 13:57:24
Raqchi archaeological site


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 13:58:20
Raqchi archaeological site


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 14:00:34
Raqchi archaeological site

“On our way back to the coach,” Janet wrote, “I bought some silver (probably) dangly red-stone earrings for [the equivalent of] £3.75.”


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 14:06:12
Raqchi archaeological site: vendors’ stalls


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 14:19:20
Raqchi archaeological site: working farms all around

I scribbled: “Very broad valley for the most part, and high green mountains.” I observed: “[Women] washing clothes in the stream.” I wrote of the river that accompanied us, that it was “one of the sources of the Amazon.” Boris mentioned this, when he commented from time to time. “[There were] round mountains, all green to the top, [and] even some pointed ones the same.” Janet’s equivalent statement was: “Then on our merry way through lush green valleys, with high green mountains (how bizarre: green right to the tops!). A river (the source of the Amazon). A railway line. All very, very beautiful.”[i]

[i] This upstream part of the Urubamba River is called the Willkanuta, and is one of the headwaters of the Amazon. The Cusco-to-Puno railway line has already been noted. I don’t suppose it was intended to be included in the “all” of “all very, very beautiful”.

Wednesday 18 February 2015, 14:49:06
Views from the coach


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 14:49:54
Views from the coach


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 14:57:52
Views from the coach: Willkanuta River


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 14:58:24
Views from the coach: Willkanuta River


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 15:18:08
Views from the coach


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 15:20:58
Views from the coach

My notes went on to say that we “left the river and railway and started to climb; but [we] just crossed a tributary, turned back, and descended.” Two fragmentary further notes say, “[We] lost [the] railway and river”, and, “[The] railway and river [are] now on the right side.”


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 15:30:56
Views from the coach

A couple of months later, I was able to locate this last scene using Google Street View:

Google Maps reference -13.686853,-71.609745
Co-ordinates S 13° 41' 12.7" W 71° 36' 35.1"

It was near a small town called Urcos. Shortly afterwards we crossed the river by a red-painted steel truss-bridge, and just beyond that we entered Urcos. On a hilltop to the left, visible over the buildings, there was a white statue of Christ with arms outstretched, reminiscent of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 15:32:58
Views from the coach: statue of Christ outside Urcos




Google Maps reference -13.683017,-71.622276
Co-ordinates S 13° 40' 58.9" W 71° 37' 20.2"


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 15:34:22
Views from the coach: passing the plaza in Urcos

We stopped at a small town, Andahuaylillas, where there was a baroque church dedicated to Saint Peter the Apostle. “Then we went inside,” Janet wrote, “and I was absolutely awestruck. It was the most stunningly beautiful building I’ve ever seen.… I was overwhelmed.…” Photography was not allowed inside, but we were given a CD-ROM containing photos of inter alia this church.


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 15:48:12
Andahuaylillas: the church “San Pedro Apóstol”, seen from the plaza


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 15:48:26
Andahuaylillas: also seen from the same location


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 15:49:32
San Pedro Apóstol, Andahuaylillas, “…was built by Jesuits in the sixteenth century over a pre-Columbian huaca, or ceremonial space. The construction of the current temple started in 1570 with the creation of a small chapel corresponding to the existing apse and sanctuary; the nave and façade were completed in 1606” — World Monuments Fund website.


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 15:49:32 (detail)
San Pedro Apóstol, Andahuaylillas


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 15:49:32 (detail)
San Pedro Apóstol, Andahuaylillas


San Pedro Apóstol, Andahuaylillas (images from the CD-ROM)


San Pedro Apóstol, Andahuaylillas (images from the CD-ROM)


San Pedro Apóstol, Andahuaylillas (images from the CD-ROM)
One of many paintings of St. Peter and others. This one shows Peter healing the crippled beggar at the gate Beautiful of the Temple in Jerusalem.


San Pedro Apóstol, Andahuaylillas (images from the CD-ROM)


San Pedro Apóstol, Andahuaylillas (images from the CD-ROM)


San Pedro Apóstol, Andahuaylillas (images from the CD-ROM)


San Pedro Apóstol, Andahuaylillas (images from the CD-ROM)


San Pedro Apóstol, Andahuaylillas (images from the CD-ROM)


San Pedro Apóstol, Andahuaylillas (images from the CD-ROM)


San Pedro Apóstol, Andahuaylillas (images from the CD-ROM)


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 16:12:24
San Pedro Apóstol, Andahuaylillas: after departure through a side exit


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 16:18:50
Andahuaylillas: plaza

We boarded the coach and proceeded on the final leg of the journey to Cusco. We passed what Boris called “the Royal gate to Cusco” to the left of the road, and then some pre-Inca ruins on a hilltop.


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 16:36:16
Rumiqullqa archaeological site (Wikipedia article)


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 16:36:32
Rumiqullqa archaeological site (Wikipedia article)


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 16:36:38
Rumiqullqa archaeological site (Wikipedia article)


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 16:40:10
Pre-Inca ruins


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 16:40:34
Pre-Inca ruins

Because of city traffic regulations we had to transfer to a smaller vehicle before we got to the historic centre of Cusco.


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 17:01:38
Heavy traffic


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 17:16:56
Aboard the smaller vehicle


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 17:26:24
Aboard the smaller vehicle

Much of the outskirts of Cusco were, as one might expect by now, quite ramshackle and slummy.


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 17:27:58
Outskirts of Cusco


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 17:33:04
Outskirts of Cusco


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 17:34:54
To the “Centro Historico”

Even though we’d changed vehicles, that one dropped us several blocks from the hotel, with a street to cross at a small square, a right turn, and several hundred yards more to walk, till we got to our destination. I was having to breathe very deeply — as coughing permitted.


Wednesday 18 February 2015, 17:42:54
“Is it much further?”

“It was ca.6pm,” Janet wrote. “We found our room, dumped our stuff, then headed out. It was darkish.” We walked a couple of blocks to the Plaza de Armas. We tried an ATM on one corner but it wouldn’t serve us. We needed to find a convenience store or supermarket, and walked along the side of the Plaza that we were on. Janet asked a man, who just happened to be standing outside what we didn’t realise was the Tourist Information office; so all he had to do was direct us inside. A helpful clerk at the desk gave us a little map; she wrote “Gato” on it, and indicated to us the direction. It was only a few blocks away; but rather than walk and try to find it ourselves, we hailed a taxi. We gave the map to the driver — so he had one eye on the road and the other on this map as he hared along! He stopped to ask a street-corner vendor directions. And not long afterwards we found ourselves outside Gato’s Market.

Janet was disappointed: she wanted bananas, but they didn’t have any. We bought a small loaf, a packet of sliced Edam cheese for Janet and one of sliced cured ham for me, a bottle of Inca-Kola for me and one of Coke Zero for Janet — only 18.40 Nuevos Soles (=£4). We hailed a taxi from there to the hotel. The driver seemed to go round in circles; I’m not sure whether we passed the little square twice — the one near where we’d got off the second coach earlier. And the driver wasn’t going to give change from the 10 Soles note for the 6.40 fare at first. Back in the hotel room, Janet unpacked necessary items, then had a shower. I transferred the 82 photos from the camera to the WD Elements HDD (19:20–19:23); I looked through them, and rotated a few that needed it (19:28–19:31). We ate and drank, then Janet did diary update but there was no comfortable location for the computer for me to do the same.… I removed two extremely heavy blankets from my bed and just had the sheet over me. Janet… herself came to bed at 9.50pm. As she wrote in her journal: “…we’ve been up since 5am. We’re tired.”

[Thursday 19 February 2015]
[2015]