Name that Ruin

As the most interesting things to do in Puno require you to get the heck out of Puno, I spent the afternoon at the Sillustani Ruins.




Forty-five minutes out of town is a windswept altiplano on a peninsula surrounded by Lake Umayo. It was a sacred burial ground for the Incans, but before that the Colla people and even going back to the Pucara. These giant cylindrical tombs are called chullpas.





Bruno the tour guide was a real jokester, going on about how the mummies would come get us, or maybe Eje Eje, some sort of local lagoon monster that only comes out after dark. But for me the real fun was when a skeptical German lady would call him out on things. For example:

BTG: This site was chosen because of the great amounts of electromagnetic energy here. If any of you have a compass, take it out and you'll see.
SGL: Ja, but this is all basalt, which is full of iron, of course.

or

BTG: Amazingly, archaeologists found no machines anywhere on the site.
SGL: Ja, but they could have removed the machines, no?

And so on. Hilarious.




The weather changed suddenly, and it was easy to see why the pre-Incans thought they were in a sacred place. Standing there as the clouds swirled overhead, you couldn't help but feel like you were in the midst of creation and destruction.



On the way back to Puno, we stopped at a native dwelling to get milked for tips.




Did you know they eat clay in the Andes? I didn´t. But I did try some. Tasted like clay. (SGL: Ja, well of course they do. It's basic, you know? Opposite of acidic. Good for stomach.)



Sigh. Roxana. She was so sweet, and she totally didn't even care that I don't have a car.

I'll probably be offline for a couple of days (I'll be on the lake) so enjoy your turkey everyone!