Río Anallaimayo

We are currently on the bus ride to Puno and despite the urge to sleep due to tiredness, the views are just too incredible to miss. As it's daytime, we opted for the non-VIP top floor seats (still ridiculously comfy) and I'm very glad we did because the views are amazing and it's nice not to have them interrupted by walls and bushes.

We have now reached over 3900m on the coach and we are just rolling through some beautiful land that is surrounded by the peaks of mountains. It is crazy to think how high we are and yet the land can be so flat between the peaks. So much so that the mountain peaks almost look like hills just jutting out from the ground. Most aren't very jagged looking peaks (you see the odd snowcapped one in the distance) and instead they look quite smooth with lots of folds, a bit like someone has thrown a blanket down. The ground is a beautiful sandy colour speckled with dark grey rocks with sandy grasses growing in-between. Every now and again you can spot little rivers and streams running through the landscape, catching the sunlight when it shines through the clouds. There are little farms dotted everywhere too, with cows and lamas grazing, and farmers working manually in the fields, ploughing with cows, donkeys and by hand. It is incredible just how little this place seems to be influenced by the materialism and industrialisation of most other places we are used to. The houses are simple, pretty run down and many don't even have windows, but clothes hanging on the line indicate they are lived in. It is interesting to see the different women dressed in their traditional clothes and hats, again either working in the field, tending to the cows, or in the towns, sat by their stalls or by the road, crafting fabrics and other such things. Some have babies slung on their back, others watch the kids play nearby.

Closer to Puno it seems more barren and vast. We pass small areas where the ground is charcoal black, smoking and sometimes on fire due to controlled fires by the farmers. We pass graveyards too, with highly decorated and sometimes colourful graves, which sit as mounds along the road side. The soundtracks of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Maduk, Munford and Sons and Oasis makes it all the better.

The one thing that makes me a little bit sad is to see yet more dogs wandering around, foraging from the litter by the side of the road, of which there can be a lot at times. However this seems to be the norm here and it is quite possible that they belong to, or at least get attention from, the locals. They let their children wander all over the place from what we have seen and so I can't imagine they would be too concerned for the dogs. Just another example of the very different attitudes here.

Richard said he learnt on his Colca Canyon tour that one reason for the Condors existence is the attitude of the local people towards them. They are less economically driven than neighbouring countries and still see Condors as almost God-like and worth protecting. Alongside this he said the local people are also very supportive of one another, all helping each other with the crops with the mindset that it will be to everyone's benefit one day...so long as the farmer supplies the beer. It may not be the case everywhere but we have seen this a lot where we have been, shops left unattended for the neighbours to watch over, kids playing all over the place but with the knowledge someone's eye will be on them. Nothing like the world we know at home.

Anyway...not too long to go now, hopefully just over half an hour, so I'm going to get back to enjoying the views.

Another update after seeing something else so different from our world. We just passed an area where a small river appeared to split out into lots of little streams that created a wide paddling area which, after passing an empty looking town, it would seem played host to most of the people. So many people and so much colour, all gathered and washing clothes etc. in the water, with more colourful garments draped over the banks and walls around the edge to dry. It seemed like a very communal event from appearances.

We just stopped a little way from Puno at a place called Juliaca. A very undeveloped city that seems to be trying to develop further, but which looks a lot like a dust town at the minute, with mostly bare brick buildings and dusty streets. It is a very half done place by the looks of it, with just random houses or flats that show modern signs. A few people got off here to do homestays, which might be interesting, more so I think if you speak the language. I didn't think I would want to be here purely as a tourist.Read more