After Lake Titicaca, our next destination was Cusco, Peru.  Instead of flying, we decided to take a tourist bus, called Wonder Peru, along the Inca Sun Route. It's called the Sun Route because, from the perspective fo the Incas who lived in this region, the sun would rise by Lake Titicaca and set in Cusco.  It's a 10 hour bus ride which goes by quickly due to numerous stops to see Inca ruins along the way.  

First Stop: Pukara
Pukara, which means fortress of spirit ,was a pre-Incan community from 300 BC.  They were among the first civilizations to build the 3 level stepped pyramids that are common in Inca culture.  According to our guides, this is what the steps mean:

Another important animal to the people of Pukara was the otorongo or jaguar. The otorongo would regularly eat their most valuable animal -  llamas. So they made the otorongo a god and prayed to it regularly in hopes it would leave their animals alone. 

Sacrifice & Cannibalism in Pukara:
They had many different gods - most with very long names I can't remember. One god that was very important was Pachamama or Mother Earth, often represented by the moon.  The people of Pukara regularly made animal or human sacrifices to Pachamama. They usually sacrificed their best alpaca, llama or the most beautiful maiden in the village. This was their way of thanking the Mother Earth. They also thought that by sacrificing only the best animals and most beautiful maidens they would please Pachamama and she would bring them good weather and harvest in return. 

The people of Pukara were cannibals. They would eat their enemies because they thought it would make them stronger and give them more power. We saw many ancient statues depicting the executioner holding a knife in one hand behind his back and the enemy's head in the other hand, in front of his body. 

Astronomy:
The people of Pukara also used a bowl of water as a mirror to map out the stars in stone. We saw a typical bowl they used for astronomy as well as some of the early carvings of the stars. They used these carvings as maps to help them find their way to different parts of the sacred valley. The Incas adopted this method, and we learned later at Machu Picchu how important astronomy was to this culture. 

Pottery:
These people were excellent potters. In fact, we saw many original pieces still in tact and they were quite beautiful. These people would make  clay llamas - one male and one female - and place them on top of their roofs for good luck. When the Spanish conquered this land, they introduced bulls to the natives and soon the clay llamas became clay bulls. Now you can see 2 clay bulls on top of most homes in the Cusco region. 

After visiting Pukara, we stopped at Raya Pass which is about 4,300 meters (14,000 feet) above sea level. The highest point during our time in Peru. Here are a few pictures from Las Rayas:

We then stopped in a small town for a buffet dinner. After dinner we sat outside in the sun near a couple of alpacas.  Chris walked near the dark alpaca and the alpaca got very defensive, stood up immediately and glared at Chris, threatening to charge. I quickly snapped a picture and then Chris ran over to the other side of the lawn!

After lunch we stopped in Raqchi to see the ruins of the temple of Wiracocha. It was built by the Inca king Wiracocha to honor the Superior God of the Invisible. 

Last, but definitely not least, was a church built by Jesuits in the town of Andahuayalillas. The church is called San Pedro Apostol de Andahuayalillas and it's been called the Sistine Chapel of the Americas due to it's  excessively decorated interior. The inside of the church is impressive. Every inch of the church is covered in frescoes, gilded symbols and medallions, mirrors,  giant gold frames of renaissance style oil paintings, gold statues of Saint Paul, Saint Peter, and Virgin Mary.   It is certainly a feast for the eyes. 

Aside from the art, this church is interesting because you can see how the Jesuits incorporated the traditional Inca religious symbols into the Catholic church to make it easier for the natives to convert.  Here are a couple examples:

The church was build over an Inca temple and the floors are the original floors of the Inca temple. This is very common in Peru. When the Spanish came they burned down the native temples and erected churches in their own style to replace them. 

In this church they have a giant gold sun hanging above the altar and they also have an Inca cross on the ceiling of the church. A sun is not something ou normally see in a Catholic church and you definitely don't see Inca crosses! However the Jesuits were clever, and knew how important these symbols were to the natives so instead of denying them familiar symbols, they incorporated them into their religious practice. 

This church is not far from Cusco so many people come here to get married. 

We were not allowed to take pictures inside but you can see the interior via Google image search.  After 10 hours of sightseeing (and sleeping on the bus) we arrived in beautiful Cusco! 

Taquile is a beautiful island on Lake Titicaca and its residents have a very interesting culture. While Taquile is about 2 hours from Puno by boat and 1-2 hours from the Uros floating islands (depending on where they are), its culture couldn't be any more different. Here are a few examples:

Weddings:
In typical Peruvian culture, weddings are festive celebrations that last 3 days. Not unlike our weddings, the bride & groom are the center of attention and everyone parties in their honor. In Taquile, weddings last 8 days. Sounds awesome right? I wish my wedding lasted a full week! Well it's not so fun for the bride & groom. They must spend 3 days kneeling in meditation, not allowed to move while the rest of the village enjoys the festivities. Their parents sacrifice a sheep in their honor and give them the sheep's skin to kneel on. You'd think it's a kind gesture but it turns out to be the worst part.  The sheep skin is not cleaned so the tics crawl on to the couple's skin and bite them. They must endure this the entire 3 days without moving! 

The women here have beautiful shiny long black hair. However, when they get married they must cut it all off and use the hair to make a belt for their future husband. They mix their hair with alpaca hair and make a really beautiful belt that the husband wears for the rest of his life. The belt is very thick and sturdy and  is worn like a girdle so it supports his lower back. They also say it helps the kidneys and prostate so in essence the bride is making a belt to protect the health of her future husband. 

The couple must live together for 2 years before marriage to make sure they are choosing the right partner. It also gives them time to save up for the 8 day wedding because the bride and groom must pay for everything themselves. 

Women here wear about 30-40 skirts at one time. Most of them are really colorful but the top layer is always black (unlike the Uru people that wear such bright colors they look like traffic lights!). At a wedding, the bride and everyone in the wedding party wears all black. 

Clothing:
They say the clothes you wear make a statement about who you are.  That is definitely the case in Taquile! 

Hats: Everyone wears knitted hats. If your hat is red it means you are married. If it is red & white you are not married. If you wear a black hat, it means you are leader in the community. 

Pom-Poms: When the village has parties, women wear black head scarves with colorful pom-poms. They cover their entire face except for one eye. So how do you know who is who? You know by their pom-poms. Married women wear smaller pom-poms and single women looking for a husband wear one giant colorful pom-pom. 

Bags: Everyone in the village wears colorful knitted bags to hold their coca leaves. On an average day they just have one bag. However for big festivals, the men wear all their bags. The more bags a man wears, the more impressive he is to his fellow villagers. For example, if a man wears 30-40 bags, the villagers will say that his wife must work really hard to afford him so many bags. However if he only has10 bags, the villagers will say that his wife must be lazy. Notice that it's always the wife who does the work!

Knitting Men:
The island of Taquile is known for its knitwear. The men of the island do all the knitting - mainly belts, bags, sweaters and hats. They don't export them, although they do sell them to tourists that visit the island. Instead, they give them to each other as gifts. 

Alcatraz of Lake Titicaca:
Taquile was once the location of a prison for political prisoners. The government chose Taquile because  it was a secluded island making it difficult for prisoners to escape. One of Peru's presidents Luis Migues Sanchez Cerro was confined here before he became president (he was later assassinated). 

Our experience here was great. At first it was difficult because you have to hike up the hill to get to the main plaza. Normally this wouldn't bother me but the altitude made it difficult to move uphill at a reasonable pace.  At one point an elderly local man in beat up sandals carrying a huge load on his back zoomed by me.  Once we reached the plaza we had an amazing view of the lake & island! We then ate some lunch - quinoa soup and trout.  After lunch we hiked down the other side of the island which was a beautiful walk overlooking the lake. 

We took a full day trip on a boat on Lake Titicaca, visiting two fascinating islands one of which is called  Uros Floating Islands .

The Uros Islands are entire villages made of reeds that float around the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca. Everything is made from reeds - houses, boats, kitchens, towers, schools, churches. They even eat the fresh reeds which have the consistency of an apple (and are very good for your teeth). It's truly amazing! 

These days they use some modern products like nylon rope to tie the reeds together and empty plastic bottles to use as pontoons for their boats. But pretty much everything else comes from the lake.  Each family creates their own floating island by tying together the roots of the reeds and then piling dried reeds on top of the roots to create a floor.  They have to refresh the reeds twice a month as they start to get wet and rot. They anchor their island so they don't float over to the Bolivian side of the lake and so they can stick together in a community. A floating reed island could last as long as thirty years. When the island starts to rot for good, they build a new one and send the old one off to compost.  

They get everywhere by boat - either a simple canoe made of reeds called a balsas, a typical rowboat, or sometimes a speed boat.  They also build fancy balsas with dragon heads for tours of the lake. They call these boats their version of the Mercedes Benz:)

Since they drink the water from the lake around their home, they don't have bathrooms on their floating islands, otherwise they'd contaminate the drinking water.  When they have to use the bathroom, they must take a boat to the other side of the lake, about twenty minutes of rowing.  

They also use the boats to go on dates. Since there isn't much common space or privacy on the islands the boyfriend will pick up his girlfriend in a reed boat and they will picnic together on the lake. 

We flew from Lima to Juliaca, an industrial town about an hour away from Lake Titicaca. Upon first glance of Juiliaca I thought the town was abandoned because all the buildings were incomplete. Floors, walls, windows and roofs were missing from most homes, and all the roofs had several feet of rebar sticking up out of the concrete columns, as if they had been planning to build another level.  We later found out that the government charges more taxes for completed homes & buildings than for incomplete homes & buildings. Therefore, no one finishes construction in order to pay lower taxes. 

We took a bus to Puno, Peru which is the largest city on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca. Like Juliaca, Puno is not an attractive town, but its saving grace is the lake.  We stayed about 15 minutes outside of town.  The area had a nice view of the lake, was much quieter and less polluted. 

Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world at 12,500 feet above sea level.  I've never been this high above sea level so I was having a really hard time adjusting to the altitude. Chris felt fine but I suffered from a headache, shortness of breath and lack of energy for about a half day.  We later discovered that 1 in 4 people suffer from altitude sickness and based on what I read, I had a pretty mild case.   The people native to the Andes generally don't suffer because they are built a little differently. They have really large lungs, especially in relation to their bodies, so they can take in more oxygen than the rest of us.  

They also drink mate de coca, or a tea made of coca leaves, which helps alleviate symptoms of altitude sickness. I tried the tea but only drank a few sips, as I did not enjoy the earthy taste.   In addition to the headache and shortness of breath, the high altitude made me really sleepy. I napped during the day and fell asleep by 8pm in the evening. This worked out well since we had to be up really early in the morning to catch a boat out on the lake (more on this later).

Puno had interesting menu options including:

Frog Juice - This was by far the grossest food I've seen in Peru. The customer selects 2-3 frogs from an aquarium and they are thrown into a blender alive with a bunch of other ingredients. It's called Jugo de Rana and it's very popular with the locals. They say it gives you energy. 

Guinea Pig - There were 3 cages of cute guinea pigs outside of our hotel. I thought to myself - How cute! They have little pets. Not so much. People in the Andes love to eat guinea pig. You often see signs outside of restaurants with pictures of guinea pigs roasted on a spit. Sometimes the signs even feature a nice picture of a live guinea pig smiling at you.  They call the dish  Cuy. 

Alpaca - The alpaca is not just used for their wool, but also for their meat. A popular appetizer here is Alpaca carpaccio.  It is supposedly very healthy relative to other red meats.

Quinoa - It's in everything. They eat it with milk for breakfast, in a soup for lunch (really good!) and we even had shrimp encrusted in Quinoa for dinner. 

Potatoes - They have every kind of potato imaginable here. They say that the cultivated potato originated in the Andes mountains several thousand years BC. When the Spanish conquered the region, they brought potatoes back to Europe and introduced them to the rest of the world. 

Tons of Chicharones (fried Pig Skins) - We went to the central market to see what kind of food they sold. There was an entire sections dedicated to Chicharones.  5 foot BAGS full of them. 

Hey Mrs. Barbier's Class 2A! We have two questions for you:  1) What do you think Titicaca means? Hint: look at the shape of the lake here. Does it resemble an animal?  2)Would you try frog juice?

We spent 2 nights and one beautiful day in Lima, Peru.  We've heard that most people tend to skip Lima when they travel to Peru but we decided to check it out for a day.  And we are really glad we did!  We stayed in a neighborhood south of the city center called Barranco and spent the day walking along the malecon (cliffside walkway) and through Miraflores & Barranco. The coastline is stunning, especially at sunset.  Our hotel was one block in from the coast but if we were to come here again we'd look into renting an apartment along the cliffs - it's truly spectacular! 

We love the bohemian neighborhood called Barranco and wish we had more time to explore it. It's full of  beautiful old mansions (many of which have yet to be restored), art galleries, cafes, live music & restaurants. Apparently many of Peru's most famous writers, artists and photographers live and work here. 

When we arrived on Monday, many of the restaurants were closed. However, family owned Songoro Consongo was open and welcoming guests. It's located in a large building which is part restaurant and part private residence. The owner, Herman, welcomed us and explained that we were guests in his home and gave us a brief history of his family (he is the 3rd generation living in the house).  He walked us through the menu, telling us who cooks each dish and made some recommendations.  As the evening continued Herman played the piano while friends joined him playing the guitar or signing.  One patron asked if he could participate and so an impromptu band was formed.  They had also just recently hired a waiter from Cuba who had the most amazing voice. I wish I'd taken video of him singing because he was incredibly talented.  Overall it was a magical evening full of music, conversation and a home cooked Peruvian meal! 

By the way, if you are wondering about the title of this entry, we saw loads of people napping all over the city - on lawns, in cars, under trees, and along the malecon.  And I really like Queen. :-)

Here are some pictures of our day & night in lovely Lima:

Disclaimer - some of the following may be a bit scary for young children.  

On our third day in Cartagena, we visited a number of places in the old city including the Gold Museum and the church of  San Pedro Claver.  One place that stood out in a frightening way was the Palace of the Inquisition. 

We had a wonderful guide named Victor who is a history professor at one of the local universities. He began our tour with a brief history of the Inquisition in Europe.  In the old days, various monarchs throughout Europe used religion as a way to justify and maintain their control over their subjects.  I remember learning about the Spanish Inquisition which started in the 15th century but there were various Inquisitions, the first of which began in the 12th century in France and spread across Europe.   As the years passed and the Inquisition became more violent, it lost popularity among both commoners and princes. However, when Spain united through the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella - both Catholic monarchs - they were in desperate need of money.  At the time, many Jews lived in Spain and the King and Queen declared them to be the biggest enemy of the Catholic church because the Jews only considered Jesus Christ as another prophet, but denied him as their messiah.  The Spanish Jews were also successful merchants & businessmen.  So began the Spanish Inquisition.  Thus the Jews were expelled (or worse) from the country and Ferdinand and Isabella claimed their property and wealth.  The monarchs continued to use the Inquisition as an instrument of control and became extremely wealthy and powerful (Note: The Inquisition was not just against Jews but other religions including non-Catholic Christians).  

When America was discovered, Spain was the most powerful empire in Europe. They brought the Inquisition to the new world in 3 locations - Cartagena being one of them.  But in 1610, there were no other religions in Cartagena to persecute! Yes, there were natives but the Jesuits were there to convert them to Catholicism. So whom did they put on trial? Witches, of course.

Witches:
Our guide Victor told us that witchcraft did not originate in Colombia, it came from Europe. The Palace of the Inquisition was used for witch trials and forced confessions.  It was not unlike what happened in Salem, MA however more gruesome and violent. Here is how it supposedly went down:

-Someone accuses someone else of being a witch and reports it to the Inquisition. 

-The Inquisition hires someone to follow the alleged witch in order to gather proof of witchcraft. Proof could be as simple as having some dried leaves or grass in the house. 

-Next the accused is arrested and weighed (see picture below). There was a magic number that a person should weigh back then, based upon a certain ratio to their height.  If the accused's weight did not fall in that range, they were put on trial.  For example, if a woman was too light, then she was definitely a witch because that meant she could fly (obviously!).  If she was too heavy, then she was still likely a witch because she committed gluttony wich is one of the seven deadly sins.  If she weighed the right amount, they would still put her on trial because they had a lot of proof from the accuser and investigator. So while it was the first step in the process, it was completely pointless. If you were accused, you were going to trial. 

Confession (AKA Torture):
This is where it gets really gruesome. They forced the accused to confess using unimaginable instruments. After seeing these devices, it's clear that nobody could stand the pain inflicted by these methods for more than a few seconds which is why most immediately confessed and accused others of being witches.  Why did they torture these people?  They thought they would become closer to God through suffering. Here are some of the devices they used:

Once accused, it was very difficult to be released and even if you were released it was often worse than death because the entire town shunned you.   

So how do weddings fit into all this?

Well behind the Palace is a courtyard typical of most colonial Spanish homes. In this courtyard they have a guillotine and a gallows - both of which were NOT used at this Palace but were put in the museum courtyard for show.  They were not used during the Inquisition at this Palace because the Inquisition did not execute people - they only convicted people as witches.  The police were responsible for execution.  If the accused died during confession (ahem torture) it was deemed an accident. 

Anyway back to weddings.  Victor told us that this courtyard was a popular place for weddings these days. He said that the bride and groom take pictures on the fake gallows and with the guillotine.  I couldn't beleive it! I Googled it and sure enough there are pictures!

This city is full of whimsical, emotional, and playful artwork. I especially enjoyed the metal sculptures scattered around the old city. Here are a few of my favorites:

After a good night's sleep we started our second day in Cartagena with a delicious breakfast at our hotel including a giant arepa filled with egg and meat. We also enjoyed fresh kiwi juice and strong Colombian coffee. 

In the morning we walked to the marina to inquire about boat trips to Playa Blanca - a beach on a small island about 40 minutes away. At the time we weren't completely sure we wanted to spend and entire day on the beach so we held off on purchasing a ticket. It was a good thing we did because we decided not to go to the beach for a couple reasons: 1) We later read reviews of the beaches and most of them were not favorable. According to the reviews the beach is OK but you get hassled by vendors every second. 2) We just didn't have enough time - there was more to see in the city center! 

After the marina, we walked to Castillo de San Felipe de Burujas. In order to get there, you have to walk out of the old city and through a neighborhood called Getsemani which is a little sketchy. We walked down calle Media Luna which was full of hostels. At the Castillo, we hired a guide named Gustavo which was very helpful. His English was OK and he had a little stutter but he was very passionate about the fort's history and pointed out lots of small details that we would have otherwise missed.  Read more about our visit to the Castillo here. 

We cabbed it back to the hotel for a little siesta. We then hit up Cafe del Mar to watch the sunset. This place is touristy but so worth it. It's situated on top of the old wall and has a stunning view of the sun setting over the sea in one direction,  as well as a golden view of the old city in the other direction.  It's a great place to kick off the night. 

For dinner we tried La Cevicheria - a restaurant recommended to us by several people. We sat outside which was lovely for about 5 minutes, then the vendors came selling everything under the sun. Had we done it again we would have sat indoors.  The ceviche was very good and very traditional - mixed seafood in a ton of lime juice. However, we preferred the meal we had the night before at El Boliche because it was a little more interesting.  After dinner we strolled down to Plaza de la Aduana to listen to some salsa music at Donde Fidel.  This area is great for people watching! We read that people dance salsa in the plaza later at night but we couldn't stay awake and were back at the hotel by 10pm.

Yesterday we toured Cartagena's fortress of San Felipe de Burajas, named after King Philip the IV of Spain. This fortress was designed by the Spanish and is regarded as one of the strongest defense complexes built during colonial times.  The Spanish began building the fortress in 1536, then expanded it in 1657.  Cartagena quickly became a very wealthy port city which attracted many attacks from various enemies, so the Spanish invested a lot of resources to protect this city. 

The fortress was built on a giant hill so the guards could see intruders coming from miles away - by land or sea.  Enemies that attacked by water came through the bay because they were less likely to hit sand bars. Cartagena's first line of defense was a giant underwater chain that stretched from one side of the canal to the other. When they spotted an enemy ship approaching, they lifted the chain so the ships could not pass. 

When enemies attacked by land, they had to get by the fortress first. The fortress is massive - wide at the bottom and full of dark tunnels. There are many secret tunnels that soldiers used to escape from the fortress if necessary.  Some tunnels led to a dead end in order to confuse & capture the enemies. Each tunnel has small inlets off the side where soldiers could hide if the enemy was able to get past the canons & through the giant wall. The inlets were staggered so if the soldier attacked the enemy, they wouldn't hurt their fellow soldiers across the tunnel.  

It was a very impressive structure and we recommend visiting if you are ever in Cartagena!

Question for Mrs. Barbier's class 2A:  Who were the earliest enemies to attack colonial Cartagena?  Hint: They traveled by sea in search of gold, often burying the gold in hidden places throughout the Caribbean.

Googlers, this one is for you!  We street-viewed the Streetview car in Cartagena.  Upon spotting the car, I ran to it and took a picture. The driver saw me and drove by with a huge smile and waved at us. I think a lot of people were perplexed by the car judging by their confused expressions.  In a few months, we'll have to check street view in Plaza Santo Domingo, Cartagena to see if we made it into the picture!