What a day! We visited Machu Picchu today and it was amazing…. More details and photos of our day hopefully tomorrow!
Yesterday we travelled from Puno to Cusco, as you’ve already read in our “Bus has broken down…” section of the blog. It was a 9 1/2 hour bus trip, that included several stops along the way. We first visited Pukara. Pukara is the name of the town where the first sign of civilized culture was discovered in the Peruvian Altiplano. We visited an archeological museum that contained ruins dating back from 4,000 bc. We also visited a church and walked around the town square at Pukara. Below are some pictures from the church.
Our next stop was La Raya. La Raya is the highest pass on the route, and where we saw several snow tipped peaks, heards of alpacas and vicunas, and walked through a roadside market place that was set up with different families selling goods.
We then stopped for a great buffet lunch in one of the small towns along our route. While we ate, we were serenaded by a band of 5. It was great music and great food! Below is a picture of Madeleine and April.
Third on our list of stops was Raqchi. Raqchi held Inca ruins. Specifically, it held the temple dedicated to one of the supreme gods of the Incas. The temple was built out of sundried mud-brick walls and stone. We were able to walk through the remains of terraces, bridges, warehouses, and residential cottages.
Below April was having a laughing attack 
The last stop along the way was Andahuaylillas. This church is considered the “Sistine Chapel of the Americas.” The church was beautiful, inside and out! There were paintings and murals lining the walls and ceiling, and several pieces within the church were lined in gold.
Here are a few other photos from our time in Sillustani:
The one thing that still amazes me, is you see all this rock (large rock at that) that they built churches and ruins with, but when you look at the country side, you don’t see much rock little or large. So where in the heck did they gather this stuff from?? The incas either carried it a long, long way or they gathered all of the rock from the country side leaving none behind….. 🙂
We enjoy looking at your pictures and hearing about your day each evening before I go to bed and dad goes to work. You are seeing so many neat sights and it sounds like you’re having a wonderful time! We send our love from Ollie.
Mom & Dad