Route of the Sun Tour from Puno to Cusco with Lunch

Pucara Lithic Museum

The first stop is the small town of Pucara, about an hour and a half north of Puno on the high plains. Long before the Incas, the Pucara culture flourished here, building ceremonial centres and carving stone monoliths with felines, fish, serpents and human figures. The Lithic Museum displays some of the finest of these sculptures, including the famous figure known as the beheader, and your guide explains how this culture influenced later Andean peoples around Lake Titicaca.

Pucara is also known across Peru for its ceramic bulls, the toritos de Pucara, which families place in pairs on their rooftops to bring protection and good fortune. You will see them for sale around the square and on houses all along the road to Cusco. The visit lasts about 40 minutes, a pleasant first stretch of the legs after the early departure.

La Raya pass, the roof of the route

Climbing steadily across the altiplano, the bus reaches La Raya pass at about 4,335 metres, the highest point of the journey and the border between the Puno and Cusco regions. This is also a great divide of waters: streams on one side flow towards Lake Titicaca, while those on the other start the long journey of the Vilcanota River towards the Amazon. Snow-capped peaks and glaciers rise just above the road.

Herds of alpacas and llamas often graze on the wide grassland, and local women sell alpaca textiles beside the small chapel at the viewpoint. The stop lasts about 15 minutes, enough for photos in the thin, cold air; move slowly and enjoy the view. The bus carries oxygen for anyone who feels the altitude, and the road then begins its long descent into the green valley of the Vilcanota.

Sicuani and the Vilcanota valley

After the pass the landscape changes quickly. Farm fields, eucalyptus groves and adobe villages appear as the road follows the Vilcanota River down into a broad, fertile valley. Around the market town of Sicuani the bus stops for a buffet lunch, a welcome break in the middle of the journey.

The buffet usually offers Andean dishes such as quinoa soup, roasted potatoes, corn, rice, salads, chicken and other local specialities, with vegetarian choices on the table and fruit for dessert. Lunch lasts about an hour. This part of the Route of the Sun follows the line of the ancient Inca road that linked Cusco with the Lake Titicaca basin, and your guide points out traces of old trade routes and terraces as you continue towards Raqchi. Snacks, tea and coffee on the bus keep you comfortable between the stops.

Raqchi and the Temple of Wiracocha

Raqchi is one of the most impressive Inca sites outside Cusco. Its centrepiece is the Temple of Wiracocha, dedicated to the Andean creator god: a single central wall about 92 metres long and around 14 metres high, built with a base of finely fitted stone and an upper part of adobe. Rows of round stone columns once supported a vast roof, making it one of the largest roofed buildings of the Inca world.

Around the temple you walk among the remains of houses, ritual fountains and long rows of circular storehouses, called qolqas, where the Incas kept grain and supplies for travellers and soldiers. The site sits below an old volcano, and the dark lava fields add to the drama. The visit lasts about an hour, and the villagers of Raqchi sell their pottery near the entrance. Raqchi entrance tickets are paid in cash on arrival.

Andahuaylillas, the Sistine Chapel of the Americas

The last stop, about an hour before Cusco, is the village of Andahuaylillas and its church of San Pedro Apostol. Plain and whitewashed on the outside, the church built in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries hides one of the richest interiors in South America: walls covered with murals, gilded altars, paintings of the Cusco School and a ceiling painted with delicate patterns. This splendour has earned it the nickname Sistine Chapel of the Americas.

Look out for the two painted organs in the choir loft, among the oldest in the continent, and the mural near the entrance showing the paths to heaven and hell. Photography inside is usually not allowed, so take time simply to look. The visit lasts about 40 minutes, and then the bus covers the final stretch to Cusco, where you arrive in the late afternoon.