T Minus One Day Until Inca Trail

Near Lake Titicaca are the pre-Incan ruins of Sillustani. These are Chullpas, or funeral towers. They are shaped like an upside down inkwell, some with carvings on them. They are on a high, very windy plain above a large lake. They are very well built, having withstood earthquakes for well over 500 years. Unfortunately, they don´t do so well with lightning. 70 years ago, the largest of these chulpas was hit by a large lightning bolt and half of the tower tumbled to the ground...



We arrived in Cusco last night after a 9 hour bus ride from Puno. Actually, the bus ride was only 5 hours, but we stopped at some amazing ruins along the way. No blown tires on this trip (Amy wrote in a previous blog about our adventure bus ride from Arequipa to Puno where the tire blew. It exploded so hard that the metal of the bus bent over 90 degrees out from the bus!).

The best part of yesterday´s bus ride was seeing Raqchi, an amazing complex of Inca ruins. There is actually an adobe wall, about 60 meters long and 15 meters high, that was the central wall a temple, that is still in great shape. It is about 500 years old...



There is also a beautiful church here that looks like one of those little model churches you can buy all over Peru...



Cusco is a little wild, a lot of people here. So much for low season. We are looking forward to tomorrow, however, where we will start our Inca Trail trek. Four days and three nights over some amazing countryside. 50 kilometers in all, over a couple of passes that are over 4000 meters. But the end of the journey will take us to one of the world´s greatest sights, Machu Picchu.