Puno is a city in southeastern Peru, located on the shore of Titicaca lake, the world's highest navigable lake, at 3,860 m (12,421 ft) above sea level. Puno was the territory of the Tiahuanacos (800 A.D. – 1200 A.D.) who were the highest cultural expression of the Aymara people that established themselves in what is today Peru and Bolivia. The Incas took over these lands in the fifteenth century, and the Spanish, attracted by the mining industry developed there, left an important Colonial legacy throughout the entire area.
Today, the city of Puno is the folklore capital of Peru and the site of the Feast of the Virgen de la Candelaria. In the outskirts, you can visit the spectacular Sillustani Tombs, a complex of impressive burial towers built by the Kollas, Juli, famous for its beautiful Colonial churches, Lampa with its vice royal church built between 1675 and 1685, Llachon, a community that still maintains its centuries old customs and cultural expressions, and Pucara, known for its pre-Inca pottery and for the “toritos de Pucara” that the artisans of today create from clay.
The lake contains many islands whose inhabitants continue to live as their ancestors have in custom and tradition. The Uros island is an example; this people group lives on “floating islands” that they have artificially made entirely of totora reeds, and they navigate in their traditional boats also made out of totora reeds. Taquile, Suasi, and Amantani are knows for their kindness of their residents, their ancestral skill in weaving, their pre-Columbian constructions, and lovely landscape. The Titicaca National Reserve (36,180 hectares) protects extensive stretches of totora reeds and various species of flora and fauna. |