Remember your primary school geography?

What? Where and when did you go to school? Yes it was a long...long...time ago. In fact the teacher...yes we did have a teacher and not digital you tube learning ha!...used chalk to write on the blackboard. And...and...and we had been drummed into our classroom...lining up in a single line and marching to the beat...it was at least ten years after WWII...having repeated like parrots our commitment to Australia and the Queen of England. Waste of time would you say? Yes I agree. Time Australia became a Republic but.....
So what has that to do with your present travel topic? Well I am of that age where I can't stop thinking back...to...hearing about Lake Titikaka! The largest and highest fresh water lake in the world! And...and...all of a sudden I am there. Amazing!!

On the shores of Lake Titikaka...in our hotel...and about to climb into a boat to spend some time (well, a day) on an island...with a family who spent time every year in New York, would you believe, attempting to interest New Yorkers in buying their craftwork and visiting them in their isolated existence. We had been invited for lunch and prepared ourselves for anything.

Yes lunch had been a minimalist experience. As had been their existence on this island. No running water...a visit to a spring would satisfy their need...an extensive display of handicrafts to tempt us...yet a solar panel and TV antenna...round and of an impressive size...led us to believe that their isolation was not as extensive as we had been led to believe... not to mention the solid brick house in which they lived.



Although I took photos of our lunch I wondered if .... would five different sorts of wrinkled small potatoes and chunks of cheese impress? No nor did some flour spread on concrete ... one of the brothers holding a flat stone and attempting to imitate a scene of cracking wheat to impress the tourists. But bigger and much better things were to come...on the island home of our guide. Here we couldn't believe our eyes! Things I had never heard of or imagined came our way in PUNO... see the next BLOG!

But Macchu Picchu isn't all!

Of course not! There is much more to see in Peru. Each day filled with new sights thus keeping our interest alive.

More climbing? Of course! Signs of amazing steppes planned for agriculture and designs resulting in more than adequate irrigation? Yes!

But surprise...surprise a salt mine showing that tourism is not the only income producer.

And walking through these valleys we became enchanted with our surroundings...long enough to want to take off my boots...give my cramping toes a rest...and sit to enjoy a marvelous picnic
 arranged by the guide and his staff. The children seen working on the salt mine were quickly forgotten.

Top of the world to you!!

Yes where we are does feel like that. In fact we stayed two days just so we could see Machu Pichu in all its weathers. Plus we had great ideas about climbing the smaller Pichu but then after all the walking and climbing of stairs on the first day taking shots of the incoming weather seemed to satisfy us. You've seen the early morning image before I can't resist showing it again. The heavy cloud pattern coming together with rather extreme cold. Luckily the climbing and walking soon warmed us up.

 These images show areas used for sacrifices in order to appease the GODS...the mountains being the GODS...and thus often showing shaping of the slabs of stone in their image. But how the shaping was achieved without modern-day equipment has remained a puzzle. Then again time was on their side as was the supply of labour.

The fascination of this secure and hidden area
came with the size of each slab and rock....how on earth were they brought to this site so high in the sky? The answer has come to some and they figured that to have built anything at such heights the building must have been started from the bottom up. Not bad logic! And so the most recent explorations have begun much lower down. Low enough to find signs of further stony
excavations.

Friends were everywhere...and not all paying tourists either. The Alpacas were not going to be put off finding their breakfast simply because I was pointing my camera. And then nor were the local lizards put out by my interest.




The north gate proved a good place for contemplation...perhaps prayer...or meditation or
perhaps a few days exploration down to the river and the tourist village.






The southern exit however... the fascination of the intricacy of stone works... was regarded as unsafe for the enquiring tourist and was blocked off in case of some intrepid discovery by a nosy tourist.
Click on the images to enlarge.

Time to move on! Again?

Yes we are still in Colca Canyon but now we are being driven along the dirt roads and the dust.....oh la la!!

 But the scenery is the reward...still mountains everywhere but we can see that agriculture has taken over from the tourist trade. And the long history of the Incas show their understanding of preparing difficult sites along with skillful drainage resulting in success.

Obviously the roads have been simply cut through the mountains and hillsides to provide access. The dust soon settles to reveal greens and browns of the agricultural valleys. We are on the way to Machu Pichu...and not before time. Our legs are demanding some action and we will get it. But before we do move out of the luxury of our car we are held up by much traffic as floods have destroyed the road and mostly the railway access. A tourist sales point meets us and before we know it we are on one of the buses to the top of this ancient mountain range.

So who sees what I see?

OK so Peru is fascinating but does anyone ever stop long enough to notice the growths on the rocks or the patterns these moss or lichens make? I do. I love the colours especially and as I traipsed behind our guide I stopped long enough to stop staring at the mountains. My camera and I couldn't help but take pictures. See what you think.

 Well this is not moss or lichen but it stopped me long enough to admire the colour and its origin. And it left me way behind the stroll our guide had planned for us as the picture shows.

And here are the colours...and patterns. I felt sorry for the ones in front because for all they could see they missed the most beautiful part of nature. Not something Mr. and Mrs, average tourist would look for...agreed?
Fungus it may be but there is beauty in its
negativity. So if Colca Canyon is for you don't forget to look for these beautiful rocks on the path along the mountain top.

One never stops learning!

And reading is the door or one of the doors if left open will lead us in. I hadn't read either of these books before this. And I thought with all the publisher's promotion the book

could only be a dead loss. Alright I'll buy the original 'To Kill a Mocking Bird'. Why not? Perhaps 'Go Set a Watchman' shouldn't be read without the reading of the first book. And in a way I was right. Both books were like peas in a pod. In fact the reference to the first book 'To Kill a Mockingbird' by those whose comments were based on literary experience often irritated me. And the many referrals to incidents in the youth of the main character bored me in the second book. In my mind I had been there and done that. I had, more than I expected, learnt to identify with "Scout" and "Jem" so why did I have to re-visit their childhood? I didn't like "Scout" all grown up. I loved her speaking as a child and much younger than her brother. Perhaps her attempt as a 'Tom Boy' and her resistance to act as a lady rang a bell with me. I too behaved and dressed like a boy in a family of five girls and no father. But then the philosophy behind the issues struck. And I realised what a magnificently intelligent writer Harper Lee was and still is, if the rumour of her third book comes to be true, then let me be the first to buy it. But Harper Lee has been quoted as saying that she would never write or publish another after her first. Let's hope she''ll change her mind! What's more her interests are listed as reading, watching politicians and keeping to herself! She is now in her eighties. And she is pressing my buttons. Her interests are my interests and I haven't even reached the seventies.

But my travelling BLOG must go on...!

Where were we? Oh yes! The top of the mountains to you!! In this case it was the amazing mountain range of South America...the ANDES. But on on and we find ourselves  in the Colca Valley.








And while the Spanish is difficult to decipher we understand what is most important...the black and white birds known for their enormous wingspan.

Family is all important in the morning sun as at all times.
The male birds dressed formally in their strange looking caps.

And is it my imagination or not but does one of these figures dressed as a women have signs of a mustache and beard?
Of course items are for sale for the tourist. Click on the images to enlarge.