Day 139 of international places giving smiles – Remembering remote villages of Peru
20th July 2013…Our adventurous Rao family decide to go where probably no Indian tourists would have gone before…on a day long bus tour from Cusco to Puno to explore the remote villages of Peru.
Our first stop was at a village whose name I couldn’t even pronounce Andahuaylillas for a visit to its beautiful chapel. At the ancient St. Pauls Cathedral by the Jesuits…the ostentatious decorative paintings on its internal walls and ceilings have got it nicknamed as the Sistine Chapel of South America.
It was nice stop to visit the attractions this beautiful route has to offer. Our next stop was at Raqchi, At this archeaologically excavated complex we walked through the ruins of the ancient temple of the God of Gods…Wirococha! Here the walls and narrow streets stand out against the ravages of time and we wonder how it must have been in the ancient ages. We also explored the old residential areas and looked at the round shaped granaries that were used for storage in ancient times
Then it’s lunch time at a place called Sicuami where we got to touch colourful llamas and listened to foot tapping live Spanish music.
We then had the opportunity to see the view at La Raya, natural border between Cusco and Puno. This was also the coldest and the highest point in our tour where we got a panoramic view of mountains around us. The local vendors seemed comfortable selling their wares at an altitude where we could barely breathe
Before our final destination we visit the in site the Pucara Museum. Its important find is that of an ancient man holding human head in his hand probably after as a token of sacrifice to the ancient Gods? The largest relic of the museum depicted the importance of snakes in their lives, another similarity between ancient Indians and Peruvians.
We got a chance to get a pair of the local classic bull shaped ceramics as a souvenir. Ceramics and pottery is still an art continued by local people who try to conserve the name of Peru’s first southerly civilization of 1600 years BC
We kept driving amongst acres and acres of boring flat red mud landscapes. We were told that as we neared the border of Peru and Bolivia, there is a lot of smuggling of cheaper goods from across the border which are sold for higher price at a profit…that explained the innumerable petrol pumps we saw on the way, wondering how petrol could be illegally brought across the border?
It was nice day to visit non-touristy, non famous places and see the country of Peru in its native village beauty.
So which place made you smile today?
Be grateful for the places that make you smile!
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