Prepared by Aaron and Justin
We began our day with an early wake-up call at 6:00 AM. After breakfast, everyone prepared for a long bus ride to our hotel near the city of Punto, about 400 kilometers away from Cusco. Without any stops, it wouldn’t have been too long of a drive, but we stopped at several places. The first stop was at San Pedro de Andahuayillas, a famous chapel also known as “The Sistine Chapel of the Americas”.
There we saw evidence of the first influence of Catholicism in Incan history, where the only criteria to go to heaven is to believe in God. The Incans blended their culture with Catholicism, as we saw in paintings where there were llamas instead of horses. One of the most striking of the chapel was its altar, which was covered in golden flakes. We took a quick group picture and then got back on the bus. The next stop was at the town of Raqchi, which had the ruins of an ancient Incan temple. In addition to the temple, we saw the Incan way of storing food. This was necessary because this temple was at high elevation, meaning that they only had one harvest a year, so they had to find some way to eat when it wasn’t the harvest season. They did this by erecting storage rooms, which had a roof created by mixing alpaca hair, human hair, straw, and cactus juice and stone walls. The door was very narrow, allowing the room to be kept at a cool temperature and keeping bugs out, allowing these storage rooms to be effective.
Once again we got back on the bus, but this time we only drove for about 10 minutes to an all-you-can-eat buffet. It had a mix of foods, but the desserts were exquisite, especially the tres leches cake, made by mixing three types of milk, and the rice pudding. After lunch, we traveled to the highest point accessible by car, called La Raya, over 14,000 feet above sea level. From there, you could see snow-capped mountains, something we had not seen yet in Peru. A few pictures later, we were back on the bus to complete our long trip to Punto, with a few rest stops for the bathroom. To pass the time, many people played cards, slept, or studied for tests. On our trip, we passed through Juliaca, a chaotic city whose economy was based on illegal manufacturing of products and cocaine trade. We saw multiple fires on the street and many unfinished houses, making us feel relieved when we left the town.
At around 7:15 PM, we finally arrived at our hotel, many of us weary and tired due to the high elevation of the hotel and the long bus ride. However, our long travel was rewarded with a relaxed stay at the Taypikala Hotel Lago. There were many accommodations for the students to enjoy, such as a ping-pong table, good food for dinner, comfortable beds, and a astounding view outside their windows. The students went to sleep early in preparation for the beginning of the service part of trip tomorrow at the floating islands. Should be exciting!
There we saw evidence of the first influence of Catholicism in Incan history, where the only criteria to go to heaven is to believe in God. The Incans blended their culture with Catholicism, as we saw in paintings where there were llamas instead of horses. One of the most striking of the chapel was its altar, which was covered in golden flakes. We took a quick group picture and then got back on the bus. The next stop was at the town of Raqchi, which had the ruins of an ancient Incan temple. In addition to the temple, we saw the Incan way of storing food. This was necessary because this temple was at high elevation, meaning that they only had one harvest a year, so they had to find some way to eat when it wasn’t the harvest season. They did this by erecting storage rooms, which had a roof created by mixing alpaca hair, human hair, straw, and cactus juice and stone walls. The door was very narrow, allowing the room to be kept at a cool temperature and keeping bugs out, allowing these storage rooms to be effective.
Once again we got back on the bus, but this time we only drove for about 10 minutes to an all-you-can-eat buffet. It had a mix of foods, but the desserts were exquisite, especially the tres leches cake, made by mixing three types of milk, and the rice pudding. After lunch, we traveled to the highest point accessible by car, called La Raya, over 14,000 feet above sea level. From there, you could see snow-capped mountains, something we had not seen yet in Peru. A few pictures later, we were back on the bus to complete our long trip to Punto, with a few rest stops for the bathroom. To pass the time, many people played cards, slept, or studied for tests. On our trip, we passed through Juliaca, a chaotic city whose economy was based on illegal manufacturing of products and cocaine trade. We saw multiple fires on the street and many unfinished houses, making us feel relieved when we left the town.
At around 7:15 PM, we finally arrived at our hotel, many of us weary and tired due to the high elevation of the hotel and the long bus ride. However, our long travel was rewarded with a relaxed stay at the Taypikala Hotel Lago. There were many accommodations for the students to enjoy, such as a ping-pong table, good food for dinner, comfortable beds, and a astounding view outside their windows. The students went to sleep early in preparation for the beginning of the service part of trip tomorrow at the floating islands. Should be exciting!
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