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Peru Tourist Guide
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SOUTHERN PERU:
Puno: Titacaca See
Uros Floating Islands
Amantani Island (Titicaca)
Taquile Island (Titicaca)
Sillustani Gravetumbs
Puno
The city of legend
Puno is the capital of the same-named department and is located in the southeast part of Peru and directly at the Lake Titicaca, the highest situated navigable lake of the world.
Puno is situated on the Collao Plateau and offer its visitors wonderful pre-Hispanic monuments like the Sillustani funerary towers. Moreover you can spot colonial churches and a natural landscape which is covered with Ichu grasses whence you can enjoy the magnificent panorama of the Peruvian highland, the Altiplano.
This area seemed like a melting pot of different cultures like the Aymara, Quechua, Uro, Pacaje and Puquina who mixed their culture with western elements after the Spanish conquered this department. Now it`s possible to get the artificial and traditional impression of the different cultures.
Legend and History
Puno is also called "the city of legend" because one of the most important pre-Hispanic culture, the Tiahuanaco, lived here ones upon a time.
The legend says that Manco Cápac and Mama Ocllo came out of Lake Titicaca and followed the instruction of their father, the god of the sun, to found the Tahuantinsayo Empire. The empire of the Incas was divided in four parts. One part was named Collasuyo and spanned over the whole Collao Plateau including Puno.
When the Spanish conquerors arrived in Cusco in the middle of the 16th century, they got to know about the richness of gold and silver mines in the Puno region. In the 17th century this knowledge lead to a bloody conflict because of the mines of Laikakota (9 km westwards from Puno). The city Puno itself was founded on 4th November 1668 by the Spanish San Carlos de Puno. Throughout the course of time the Spanish priests tried to evangelize the natives and built beautiful churches.
Puno`s climate is rather cold and dry - the typical climate for the Altiplano. The average yearly temperature is 9°C but in the Peruvian wintertime the thermometer can sink down to 0°C. The rainy season is between November and March.
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