Goodbye Cusco, Hello Puno

Off on our bus ride to Puno. Leaving the city of Cusco, the poverty was dramatic. Trash piles everywhere and especially along the river. I tried to take some pictures from the bus of the local people. They work so HARD. They do everything by hand. Farmers handpick corn, potatoes, most crops ALL by hand. Allison noticed a John Deer store boarded up. They cannot afford the machines and the fuel. The gas is around $5-6 a gallon.

Typical load to carry.

The backyard in a small village.

Plants usually have the roots still on them. 

 Kids playing in their back yard.

               Colonial monastery previously the Koricancha temple. An important temple devoted to the sun.

You can see small fields of corn, potatoes, and other plants. It would be difficult getting machinery in and out of the small plots. The river has a lot of rubbish in it.

When we stopped at the churches today, many of the locals sold their wares. At one site an older woman just sat on the sidewalk with her hand out "crying papa." (that is what I thought she was saying.)

These Quechua women look like they walked out of our social studies books.

The children between Cusco and Puna do not go to school. They could take a bus, but it is too many soles for their parents to pay. They also need the children to help with the cows, llamas and farm work. 

The land is quite spread out so the closest school would be in Juliaca. I'm guessing this could be a 2-7 hour drive depending where you lived. Here we take a picture of Alisha with a goat and a little boy for 

1 sole.