Inka on singinwhale

Choquequirao

Fri, 09 Jun 2023 21:40:25 +0000

Choquequirao (Sometimes also written as Choquekiraw) is an Inka city ruin that was discovered in the 80s. Since a couple of years they have been clearing the ruins of the jungle that overtook the ruins when it was abandoned. It is believed that almost 2000 people lived there in its glory days.

I did a guided tour with only a small group of 2 other people plus the guide. The other 2 were a couple from London in their 30s.

Cusco

Sun, 04 Jun 2023 03:51:02 +0000

Lead-up to Inti Raimi

When I arrived in Cusco it was the beginning of the lead-up to Inti Raimi (Quechua Inti: Sun, Raimi: Festival), the festival of the sun around the solstice. Even before the festival on the 24th of June, every day there is marches and celebration in the town square of Cusco where the different departments and institutions of Cusco present themselves and their tradition. Sadly I had to leave Cusco just before the solstice but I would have loved to see the actual show at saksay huaman.

Isla del Sol

Mon, 29 May 2023 17:55:22 +0000

From La Paz I drove north to Copacabana to take a boat to Isla del Sol which is supposedly where the first Inka king was born. I did not make it there the same day so I stayed for the night on the shores of lake Titicaca.

It was a bit overcast but you could see the high (>6000m) mountains of the Andes in the distance.

The next day I had to take a barge over the bay to get to Copacabana. Anyone taking this way to Peru also has to go via the barges. On both shores there is a huge amount of ferries waiting for passengers so the bandwidth on the bay is very high and there is no waiting lines.

Humahuaca

Sun, 14 May 2023 20:29:12 +0000

On my way to Humahuaca there was a police checkpoint. I had not noticed that one of my headlights had failed and so the police officer wanted to give me a fine. Or rather, he said that technically he would be supposed to give me a fine *wink* *wink*. After my parking ticket situation I really was not into getting another ticket so I went with the suggestion and gave him US$20.