21th Oct - Tour to Puno

Instead of just getting the bus to Puno at lake titcaca which takes hours we got a tour which stops along the way at some historic and interesting sites.
The first was a church known as the Sistine Chapel of South America cos its painted all over. Unfortunately it`s in a bit of a state and in desperate need of repair but they are trying slowly. This church is another example of the excesses of the Catholica churchs arrival in South America. More gold alters all stolen from the Incas of course.
We then stopped at Racqui a sites used before and by the Incas. It`s really impressive as all the buildings are up to 3 meters tall and a lot of it is still standing. Much of the walls are adobe so are in a less pristine state than the stone walls but you can use your imagination - I had Brad Pitt in the middle of it all - Oh my imagination.
We stopped to see some llamas, alpacas and other wierd and wonderful cameloids local to the area. They are really soft and fluffy and I could easily have taken one home but for the shortage of suitcase space.
We had a buffet lunch in a wee off road town which wasn´t as impressive as the buffet we declined the other day - but enough to keep us from starving.
We stopped to take photos of the snow capped peaks of the Andies at the highest pass on the bus journey at 4700m above sea level. Thankfully we only got on and off the bus and didn`t do any exercise otherwise we would have been knackered.
Then onto Puccara a once massive Pre Inca site on the expansive altiplano. We didn`t go into the actual site cos it really is a ruin but were taken around the museum which has some sculptures and objects from the site. Many of the statues were of decapitated bodies cos the Puccarans chopped off their enemies and sometimes own peoples heads as an offereing to the gods. Archieologists now also think they eat them as well - nice. The most interesting bojects for me were massive sculptures in relief which looked very like the Pictish stone carvings found in the north of Scotland - amazing thousands of miles away they came up with the same designs.
Before arriving in Puno, which is a horrid little town and only reason for stopping is to get to Lake Titicaca, we went threw Juliaca which made Puno look like a lovely resort - I wouldn`t want to stay there for all the the in China.
We had dinner in a wee cafe desperate to get out of the hostel for a few hours as we think we are the only people staying in it, the way the guy offered us nearly every room in the place before we decided on one.