April 25, 2000
Day 186 Puno and Sillustani
We decided yesterday to not head out for the floating islands and real islands in Lake Titicaca immediately. We both felt sick yesterday afternoon and spent most of the afternoon/ evening reading in bed. Lets take it easy today. So we drop off our laundry and book and afternoon tour to the buriel towers of Sillustami and a two day trip to Amantani and Taguile Island for tomorrow.
The trip to Sillustami starts at 2:30. We are picked up at our hotel by a minibus already carrying a group of westerners. The first 20 km give us a pretaste of tomorrow morning. We will leave here, there is a pretty big hill to get out of town. After about 30kms we turn off the main road and go for another 15 km to the site of the ruins. The chullpas or funeral towers are built on a peninsula in Lake Ayumara. The setting is beautiful, walking around we can see over the lake at distant mountains. While we explore the site thunderstorms build on the horizon, rain is threatening.
Our guide who speaks excellent English shows us around for about an hour, spending most of his time explaining pre-Inca and Inca history and the meaning of the Inca cross. The chullpas were built during the 15th century by people of the Colla tribe. The older ones are built out of rough rock, stacked together to form a tower with a domed chamber inside. A small tunnel allows access to the chamber, but no one alive should enter a funeral tower says out guide.
There are also some towers built during the Inca occupation. These are built from much larger, perfectly carved rock. They fit precisely on top of each other, forming a round tower that tapers out as it gets higher. It's amazing to see the quality of their measurements and precision in the carved surfaces. After the guided tour we have some time to wander around on our own, then the bus returns to Puno. We have already purchased our tour for tomorrow. For 35 soles we get a two day tour on Lake Titicaca.
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