November 18, 2010

We managed to get some school work done in the morning. It was needed after a week full of tourism. Hélène went shopping while I played the strict schoolmaster.

We made our way to the airport around noon. It´s really strange to be driven through the center of a city and then suddenly, around the next corner, you arrive at the airport.

Our flight from Cusco to Juliaca was of the short kind. Flight time was 30 minutes. We got some great views of south-eastern Peru. This high mountain plateau is incredibly dry. I couldn´t make out a single green area.

Our plane was another Airbus A319:

The airport in Juliaca is at an altitude of 3825 meters (12550 feet).

We were greeted in the luggage hall by these guys:

We were supposed to have been driven from Juliaca airport to Puno using the main road, which takes about an hour. Unfortunately there were demonstrations today.  A group of protesters demanding a paved road to a remote part of the jungle had blocked the main road. The representative from the travel agency explained to us that she thought the demonstrations were for a good cause. The jungle area had impressive Inca ruins and would probably prosper from tourism if only the government would fund a road. She added that this was probably the only way to get the government to listen.

We had to take a large detour and were driven on gravel roads through the country side for 2 hours to reach Puno. We got to see the real rural Peru. It was very clear that this is a very poor country. It has been the same in all places we have been in Peru. The colonial centers and Inca ruins have been taken very good care of. Everything else is poor, chaotic and dirty. Around us were scattered farms and herds of animals: sheep, cows (very skinny), alpacas and lamas. Here people use traditional farming methods. I couldn´t see a single tractor or other farming machine. Even now in November (equivalent to northern hemisphere May) it freezes during the night. Agriculture season will soon start. The growing season is from late November to March only. We were told that people only live off agriculture here. This must be a hard place to survive.

There are lots of rocks in the soil here. As in Norway, they use rocks to make fences marking limits of patches of land. Notice how many there are and how small each farmers patch is in this picture:

As we approached Puno we could see that the protesters had tried to block this road also. The police had chased them away earlier in the day and had done the minimal work necessary to make it possible to pass.

In Puno we stopped at a market to buy some gifts for our hosts tomorrow. Here is one of the stalls:

We are now at a hotel at the shores of lake Titicaca, If I turn my head 90 degrees I can see lights reflecting in the lake. Tomorrow will be very interesting. We are going to stay with a family of the Uros people. They live on man-made islands in lake Titicaca. We will stay with them for 2 nights.

Eriik

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