What to see there
Cathedral of the City of Puno
Downtown. Visiting hours: Mon. – Fri. and Sun. 7:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M. and 3:00 P.M. – 6:00 P.M. Sat. 7:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M. and 3:00 P.M. – 7:00 P.M
The cathedral was built in the seventeenth century and the Peruvian architect Simon de Asto sculpted its façade. This Spanish Baroque church includes Andean elements that give the monument its mixed character.
Conde de Lemos Balcony
Intersection of Calles Deustua and Conde de Lemos. Visiting hours: Mon. – Fri. 8:30 A.M. – 4:00 P.M.
Built around 1668, it is said that Conde de Lemos was lodged in this house when he arrived to stamp out the rebellion. Today, it is the cultural complex of the National Culture Institute of the Department of Puno and it contains an art gallery.
Deustua Arch
Jiron Independencia, block 2
Constructed with cobblestones, it was erected by the people of Puno in memory of the patriots who fought for the independence of Peru.
Huajsapata Hill
4 blocks from the Main Square, west of the city
Huajsapata means “witness of my love”. It is a natural lookout dominating the city and Lake Titicaca. At the top, there is a monument to Manco Capac, founder of the Inca Empire. They say that there are caverns and subterranean pathways in the hill that connect Puno to the Koricancha Temple in the city of Cusco.
La Casa del Corregidor (Chief Magistrate’s House)
Jiron Deustua 576. Telephone: (051) 35-1921 / 35-3979. Visiting hours: Wed. – Fri. 10:00 A.M. – 10:00 P.M. Sat. 10:00 A.M. – 2:30 P.M. and 5:00 P.M. – 10:00 P.M.
It is a seventeenth century Colonial mansion where Puno art exhibitions take place. There is a coffee bar, a library, and an Internet and video club. Cultural activities are organized and information on rural tourism is also available there.
Kuntur Wasi Lookout
2 km / 1 mile from downtown Puno (10 minutes by car)
Kuntur Wasi means “house of the condor” and offers an unsurpassed view of Puno and Lake Titicaca. You must climb a large flight of steps to get there.
Puma Uta Lookout Park
3 km / 2 miles northwest of Puno (20 minutes by car)
The park features a puma shaped stone monument – symbol of the lookout since this animal is a guardian related to the protection of the Andes – built on a fountain that symbolizes Lake Titicaca. There are many recreational areas.
Bahia de los Incas Ecotourism Seawall
8 blocks from the Main Square, on the shores of Lake Titicaca
It is a pedestrian walkway offering a beautiful view of Lake Titicaca where you find the solar clocks and calendars called Sukankas or Intihuatanas. The pre-Inca cultures used them to determine where the ceremonial and sacrificial rituals were going to take place. They also used them to establish the territorial boundaries of the communities.
Yaravi Ship Museum
Avenida Sesquicentenario 610, Sector Huaje (Hotel Sonesta Posada del Inca Pier). Telephone: (051) 36-9329. Visiting hours: Mon. – Sun. 8:00 A.M. – 5:15 P.M.- Free admission
It is an iron ship built in Great Britain in the 1860’s that was transported from the Pacific coast to the High Plateau in pieces – 2766 in total. Inside, different accessories of the ship compartments are exhibited as well as documents, archives, historical maps, and models of that time.
Titicaca National Reserve
This Protected Natural Area was created in 1978 in order to preserve the natural resources characteristic of Lake Titicaca and the highland ecosystem. It covers an area of 36.180 hectares.
In the reserve, dozens of birds, fish, and amphibious species have been registered like flamingos or parihuanas, Andean geese, seagulls, Titicaca grebes, chullumpis, and Andean lapwings as well as numerous endangered species. You will find twelve varieties of aquatic plants representative of the lake flora, the most remarkable being the totora reeds and algae.
Lake Titicaca
10 blocks from the Main Square
This lake is very important in Andean mythology since, according to legend, Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo, children of the sun god and founders of the Inca Empire, emerged from its waters.
Peru and Bolivia share sovereignty over this navigable lake, the highest in the world (3810 masl / 12.497 fasl). It covers an area of 8559 km2 (3305 miles2), a maximum depth of 283 meters (928 feet), and the average water temperature varies from October to May between 9ºC (48ºF) and 11ºC (52ºF) and from June to September between -7ºC (19ºF) and -10ºC (14ºF). Moreover, the lake tempers the area since without its presence, there would not be life at that altitude.
On the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca, there are several islands; the natural islands include Amantani, Taquile, Soto, and Anapia, and the artificial islands are the ones that the Uros people have built, each one offering different attractions. Along the shores of the lake, totora reeds grow where different birds and fish like the carachis, ispis, bogas, umantos, suches (an endanger specie), silverfish, and trout call home. All these species are native of the area and are prized for their high nutritional value.
Floating Islands of the Uros
5 km / 3 miles west of the Puno harbor (20 minutes by boat)
The Uros Islands (3810 masl / 12.497 fasl) number around 20 and are located in the Bay of Puno. Three to ten Uro-Aymaras families live on each one. They roof their houses with totora reed carpets, although some families have replaced their traditional roofs by metal ones. The largest Islands are Tupiri, Santa María, Tribuna, Toranipata, Chumi, Paraiso, Kapi, Titino, Tinajero, and Negrone.
The Uros call themselves Kotsuña, “the lake people”, and their origins go back to eras before the Incas. They hunt wild birds and maintain traditional fishing methods, especially those used for the carachi and the silverfish. The men are skillful handlers of the totora reed boats, and the women are expert knitters.
The characteristic cold and dry weather of the region is tempered in this area thanks to the constantly evaporating water of the large lake.
Amantani Island
36 km / 22 miles northeast of the Puno harbor (3 hours and 30 minutes by boat)
Located at 3187 masl (10.453 fasl), Amantani covers some 9 km2 (3.5 miles2). The flora is characterized by the presence of bushes like the muña, the kantuta, the sage, the tola and the patamuña. Eight communities live on the island and make their living from growing potatoes, corn, oca, quinoa, lima beans, and green peas, and their most representative handcrafts are textiles and stone carvings.
Among its natural attractions, there are two lookouts on the highest part offering a view of the entire lake, some pre-Hispanic remains, ceremonial centers and a mummy cemetery.
Taquile Island
35 km / 22 miles east of the Puno port (3 hours by boat)
Its approximate size is of 6 km2 (2 miles2) and the altitude between the port and the town varies slightly from 3810 to 3950 masl (12.497 to 12.956 fasl). The maximum temperature there is 23ºC (66ºF), and the minimum is 7ºC (37ºF).
Pre-Inca vestiges are found in the highest part of the island. During the Colonial period and up to the first years of the twentieth century, it was used as a political prison, until the island became property of the Taquile people in 1970.
The town of the same name, Taquile, is characterized by its friendly inhabitants, who maintain their customs and traditional clothing. They distinguish themselves by their detailed, fine, and colorful textiles with symmetrical decorations and symbols that reflect their way of life, customs, and Andean beliefs.
Chucuito
18 km / 11 miles south of Puno (15 minutes by car)
It is also known as the Royal Treasury City because it used to be the tax collection center during the Colonial era. It features a main square and the Renaissance churches of Santo Domingo (sixteenth century) and La Asuncion (seventeenth century).
Cutimbo Archeological Complex
The turnoff to the complex is located near kilometer marker 17 of the Puno-Moquegua Highway, south of Puno (20 minutes by car).
It is a pre-Hispanic cemetery that belonged to the Lupaca and Colla Lordships. Although there is evidence of 8000 years old rock-art, the main structures date from 1100 A.D. to 1450 A.D. There are also Inca archeological remnants. The chullpas or pucullos, large fortified burial towers, overlook the landscape.
Sillustani Archeological Complex
34 km /21 miles north of Puno (35 minutes by car)
This complex stands on the shore of Lake Umayo. It is famous for its chullpas, large circular fortified burial towers for the main leaders of the early villages of the Collao plateau. Some are 12 meters high (39 feet), and remarkable for their shape, thinner at the base and wider at the top. Close to the archeological complex is the site museum where different pieces from the Colla, Tiahuanuaco, and Inca cultures are preserved.
Llachon
74 km / 46 miles northeast of Puno, on the shores of Lake Titicaca (2 hours by car)
This community of around 1300 inhabitants still maintains its customs and native cultural manifestations, and its main activities are farming, cattle breeding, fishing, and handicraft. Llachon can be reached by motorboat from Puno harbor and from the Islands of Taquile and Amantani or by land from Puno or Juliaca. The place offers experimental tourism, “living tourism”, allowing visitors to stay with families of the community.
Distances From the city of Puno to the following cities:
- Juli (Province of Chucuito) 79 km (49 miles) / 1 hour and 20 minutes
- Ilave (Province of El Collao) 54 km (34 miles) / 1 hour
- Huancane (Province of Huancane) 99 km (62 miles) / 2 hours and 30 minutes
- Lampa (Province of Lampa) 80 km (50 miles) / 1 hour and 30 minutes
- Ayaviri (Province of Melgar) 137 km (85 miles) / 2 hours and 45 minutes
- Moho (Province of Moho) 138 km (86 miles) / 3 hours
- Putina (Province of San Antonio de Putina) 124 km (77 miles) / 3 hours and 30 minutes
- Juliaca (Province of San Roman) 44 km (27 miles) / 45 minutes
- Sandia (Province of Sandia) 272 km (169 miles) / 9 hours
- Yunguyo (Province of Yunguyo) 128 km (80 miles) / 2 hours and 30 minutes
- Azangaro (Province of Azangaro) 148 km (92 miles) / 2 hours and 15 minutes
- Macuzani (Province of Carabaya) 255 km (158 miles) / 7 hours)
The People of the Islands of the Sun and the Moon
The Island of the Sun is divided into three communities: Yumani, Challa, and Challapampa. It is difficult to know precisely how many people live full time on the island, as many families now own houses and businesses in La Paz, Bolivia's thriving and modern capital city, and in Copacabana, the beautiful Inca and Colonial town on the lake shore two to three hours away by boat. The latest census indicates a few thousand people live or own property on the island.
For years, the Island of the Sun was controlled by two haciendas. The 1950's revolutionary reforms that swept across Bolivia redistributed the land to the farmers who actually worked it. Today, all land on the island is privately or communally. You can see one well preserved hacienda house in Yumani and the remains of the other in the plaza of Challapampa.
The Island of Moon is considerably smaller than that of the Sun. It currently supports between thirty and forty individuals. The island was, until about thirty years ago, used as a prison for political prisoners. Today, portions of the island are owned by the villagers and other parts by the national government.
The people who live on the islands speak the Aymara language. Aymara is also the name of their ethnic group. They are the descendants of people who have lived on the islands for thousands of years. While the islands are famous as places where the Inca built major shrines to the Sun and the Moon, the people who live on them are not descendant from the Quechua-speaking Inca peoples, but are related to the aboriginal inhabitants who occupied the high Bolivian plateau (the altiplano) when the Inca conquered the Titicaca.
The principal economic activities of the islanders today is farming and fishing, a lifestyle that has predominated throughout most of history. Visitors will see innumerable stone terraces on the islands. Although difficult to date, it can be presumed that most of the terraces were in use in Inca times, and many may even predate the Inca. Traditional crops are still grown on these terraces, including various types of potatoes, corn, and quinoa (a grain indigenous to the Andean highlands). Many of the terraces may appear to be abandon, but they are not. The fallow system of the islands requires that the land rest 8 to 12 years between planting cycles.
Besides farming most households earn an important part of their income by fishing. The two most important commercial fish from the lake are trout and pejerey. These fish are sold to venders in Copacabana and La Paz. A number of islanders also own motorboats and run transport businesses from Copacabana to ports on the islands. In the last several years, the economy of Bolivia has stabilized dramatically and grown, and there has been a concomitant increase in tourism. Several hostels have opened on the Island of the Sun, and there is a brisk tourist industry emerging in the region.
A visit to these islands in the late 20th century may be the last opportunity to appreciate their unique ecological beauty. The islands have no electricity or roads. There are no motorized vehicles of any kind. As a result, the landscape has been untouched by modern heavy construction. This situation will not continue, of course, as Bolivia is rapidly developing an industrial infrastructure. The residents want the best for themselves and their children and are actively seeking electrification of the Island of the Sun. As tourism grows, the number of people who visit these islands increase. The best time to see the islands in their entirety is now. |
