We decided to visit the ruined funerary towers at Sillustani today. It looked like the easiest way was to go on a tour so we headed out after breakfast to book one. The tour left at 1400 so we spent the morning walking around the centre of Puno (not that that took long!), stopping for drinks and having a look in the cathedral, which was surprisingly spartan, before wandering back to the hotel to do more research on the Galapagos Islands. The number of boats, itineraries, durations etc all make it a bit confusing plus we are attempting to get a last minute deal. We headed out for lunch at a nice little cafe we'd seen in Casa del Corregidol just off the plaza before being picked up back to the hotel for our tour. The drive to Sillustani took us back towards Juliaca (luckily not all the way) before heading south and to the site which is set on rolling hills on the Lago Umayo peninsular. The ancient Colla people buried their nobility in the impressive chullpas, made of massive blocks and reaching heights of up to 12m. We had a walk around the site, learnt about the sun and moon temples and took in the views over Lago Umayo. Whilst it was an interesting site, Machu Picchu has set such high expectations which it didn't live up to. Still we were glad we'd visited it. On the way back we stopped at an altiplano home. Clearly designed for tourists, visits do hopefully support the local community. We saw how they lived as subsistence farmers, watched how they weaved on their hand held looms and also tasted some of their typical food. We noticed the two rooms of their house didn't get electricity so it must be cold and dark for 12 hours every day all year round; we were surprised therefore they only had 2 children! Back in Puno we decided to go to Mojsa for dinner again after having such a good meal a couple of days ago. We had a table overlooking the plaza and enjoyed our last meal in Puno (Simon is developing a real taste for Alpaca which he says tastes like Venison and similarly doesn't have any cholesterol either) before heading back to the hotel.
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| The largest funerary tower at the site with the chullpas visible inside |
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| Lago Umayo |
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| More towers |
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| And more probably from a slightly earlier period |
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| Lago Umayo |
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| 'Enjoying' a llama kiss |
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| The protectors of the homestead |
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| The entrance to the home |
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