As the twelfth day started at 6am our adventure was drawing closer to it’s end. This day was one of those travelling days where we’d be on the road pretty much all day, but getting to see sights along the way. The first place we stopped was a small village just outside Cusco called Andahuaylillas where we looked around an old church. Whilst there was also looked around a sort of museum of the local area, but it didn’t last long and we were soon back on the road again.

Between Andahuaylillas and our next stop the bus did stop briefly to pick up some local bread which tasted quite sweet. When we finally did stop it was at a pre-Inca settlement called Raqchi which was later improved upon by the Incas. The settlement at Raqchi was once a temple of Viracocha (also spelt as Wiracocha in some places), the creator of civilisation in Inca mythology. At this site there is a high wall, and various smaller walls and granaries surviving.

After leaving we drove to the highest point on the road to Puno, Abras la Raya which was approximately 4,335 metres (1,321 feet) above sea level. The view from this stop was equally as amazing as the many views we’d already seen on this trip. In the distance there were glacial mountains, and between us and them was the railway that ran to Machu Picchu.

After this we made on further stop before Puno at a place called Puca Pucara. It was here where there was the only church we had permission to take photographs inside of though it was a bit rundown.

Eventually we reached Puno and it didn’t look a very nice place even though it had a good view of Lake Titicaca. We probably thought this because of how long we’d been travelling for. The hotel, Casona Plaza looked very nice inside although it had no view of the lake and was noisy; at least it was somewhere to stay until we were ready to go out onto the lake the next day.