Traveling by Bus to Cusco

We got up this morning, grabbed some breakfast at the hotel and then headed to the bus station. Not only do you have to pay an airport tax on domestic flights but also end up paying a bus station tax when traveling by bus as well. We were catching a bus to Cusco from Puno, total time would be ten hours. However it made five stops along the way at interesting places worth checking out. The rest of the time it pretty much just looked like this.


Our bus driver was a master at grinding the clutch as we headed toward our first stop at Pukara. We would visit the museum and see impressive Pre-Inca and Inca stone carvings and ceramics, however photography was prohibited inside.


We then traveled to La Raya, this would be the highest elevation we would reach on this trip at 14,300 feet. Even though I had adjusted to Puno’s elevation I could again feel the effects of the increased elevation here.


And the surrounding mountains went even higher topping out around 18,000 feet. I’ll save that hike for another day.




A few hours later and we stopped for lunch in Sicuani. The lunch was good but after I finished I had that same feeling that it could later require some attention.






We were in a big bus that barley fit through the narrow roads and on the way out we clipped a low hanging electrical cable, killing power to someone’s home. We quickly left for Raqchi dragging the cable with us before anyone came out yelling. In Raqchi we visited the ruins of the Temple of Wiracocha. This once contained the largest single roof in the Inca Empire.











 








This was right next to a small village of farmers.


Complete with a church.




And local merchants.




After some exploration we headed to our last stop before our final destination of Cusco, stopping in Andahuaylillas to view the church. Again they did not allow any pictures to be taken inside.




Once we got to Cusco we located our hotel called, Samay Hotel. This place was great with a friendly staff, however it was about a ten minute walk to get to the main square. But they had clocks in the rooms which was a nice change. We checked in and then grabbed a beer at the hotel bar. The bartender was great, and while his English was not that great we were still able to communicate about important topics such as each other’s favorite beer. He also pointed out that the Cusquena bottle had the outline of a famous rock here in Cusco, which is also where it is brewed, that had twelve different angles carved in it by the Incas in order to get it to fit in the structure they were building. We would later see one with 32 angles which was pretty exciting for a computer geek like myself. Later he offered us a free Pisco Sour, the official drink of Peru. While Pisco is distilled from grapes I found it actually had a Tequila like taste and smell. However it’s not bad once they add the additional ingredients to make it a Pisco Sour. It was the perfect night cap.

VIDEO: Bus from Puno to Cusco