After the tour to the Floating Islands, I stopped off at an Italian restaurant for lunch. There, I was entertained watching the interaction of a Peruvian-American family and their Peruvian cousins. The group was made up of American dad with teenage daughter & kindergarten-age daughter. There was a corresponding Peruvian teenage girl and kindergarten-age girl as well as a teenage boy with no American counterpoint. The American children did not speak Spanish and the Peruvians did not speak English. The little girls were a contrast with the Peruvian one making not a sound and the American one running around the table, standing on her chair, singing, and screaming for attention. The Peruvian teenage girl was hefty, dark and scornful. She talked on her cell phone throughout the meal. The teenage American daughter was lighter-skinned, slender and had braces. She was in an agony of embarrassment over her sister's antics and was clearly intimidated by her cousin. The young man just shoveled food in his mouth at a constant pace. Dad tried to start multiple conversations with his young relatives in extremely bad Spanish. The whole thing was like a case study in what happens to people once they are thrown into the US melting pot. It was fascinating.
After lunch, I rushed to a little tour company storefront and asked if I could jump on the tour to Sillustani, a pre-Incan necropolis about 45 minutes outside of Puno. Well, the microbus was literally just leaving and I caught it. Hah! Happy B-Day to me. We rode along to the site. I got to practice my Spanish with our guide, Clever (yes, that was his name), and a cool chick from Lima who was touring her country. Along the road out of Puno, there was quite a bit of graffiti. One of the most popular phrases was, "Down with the US!". Puno was definitely not quite as tourist-friendly as Cusco.
We passed traditional farm complex made up of a walled square containing multiple small stone buildings around an open courtyard area. The gate to these complexes were topped with two clay figures of bulls for luck and prosperity. We passed fields and animals and groups of people assembled for arcane reasons. The drive was pretty darn interesting. Then we actually arrived at our destination.
Sillustani was a site where Teohuanacan and Kolla people interred their deceased in stone towers. Originally, the bodies were mummified and deposited under ground, then over time, the people began building towers for the dead. Early towers were short and squat and held one mummy. Later towers were of fine stonework and held multiple bodies; an Inca-era tower was found containing 32 individual mummies. That was the lizard tower, called that for the small lizard carving on one of the stones. Other towers had other small carvings, the meaning of which have been lost to time. The towers were meant to represent the duality of male-female power, with the phallic tower filled with a dark, womb-like space containing a body mummified in fetal position. Each tower was completed with only a tiny crawlspace through which the person depositing the mummies could exit. This opening always faces east toward the rising sun, symbol of rebirth. Clever told us that in traditional villages, all bedroom windows also face east, a remnant of traditional beliefs.
The plateau containing the chulpas (funerary towers) of Sillustani is set on a promontory above a small lake. It has wonderful views of the hills & the afternoon light was perfect for photography. There was also the ubiqitous handicraft area with tables heaped with hats, gloves, and cheap jewelry. I couldn't leave without buying a necklace of an evil bunny gripping a piece of opalescent glass. Honestly, it looks like someone's 5th grade art project and is strung from a lanyard, but is the scariest looking bunny rabbit that I have ever seen. Irresistible!
We left the site at around 4:30 for the ride back to Puno. That was my last full day at leisure in Peru. In the morning, I'd have time for present-buying and breakfast, then begin 28 hours of travel back to San Francisco. This had been a wonderful experience and I felt physically confident (after that hike, I could do anything) and quite happily at peace with my entry into my 4th decade of life.
After lunch, I rushed to a little tour company storefront and asked if I could jump on the tour to Sillustani, a pre-Incan necropolis about 45 minutes outside of Puno. Well, the microbus was literally just leaving and I caught it. Hah! Happy B-Day to me. We rode along to the site. I got to practice my Spanish with our guide, Clever (yes, that was his name), and a cool chick from Lima who was touring her country. Along the road out of Puno, there was quite a bit of graffiti. One of the most popular phrases was, "Down with the US!". Puno was definitely not quite as tourist-friendly as Cusco.
We passed traditional farm complex made up of a walled square containing multiple small stone buildings around an open courtyard area. The gate to these complexes were topped with two clay figures of bulls for luck and prosperity. We passed fields and animals and groups of people assembled for arcane reasons. The drive was pretty darn interesting. Then we actually arrived at our destination.
Sillustani was a site where Teohuanacan and Kolla people interred their deceased in stone towers. Originally, the bodies were mummified and deposited under ground, then over time, the people began building towers for the dead. Early towers were short and squat and held one mummy. Later towers were of fine stonework and held multiple bodies; an Inca-era tower was found containing 32 individual mummies. That was the lizard tower, called that for the small lizard carving on one of the stones. Other towers had other small carvings, the meaning of which have been lost to time. The towers were meant to represent the duality of male-female power, with the phallic tower filled with a dark, womb-like space containing a body mummified in fetal position. Each tower was completed with only a tiny crawlspace through which the person depositing the mummies could exit. This opening always faces east toward the rising sun, symbol of rebirth. Clever told us that in traditional villages, all bedroom windows also face east, a remnant of traditional beliefs.
The plateau containing the chulpas (funerary towers) of Sillustani is set on a promontory above a small lake. It has wonderful views of the hills & the afternoon light was perfect for photography. There was also the ubiqitous handicraft area with tables heaped with hats, gloves, and cheap jewelry. I couldn't leave without buying a necklace of an evil bunny gripping a piece of opalescent glass. Honestly, it looks like someone's 5th grade art project and is strung from a lanyard, but is the scariest looking bunny rabbit that I have ever seen. Irresistible!
We left the site at around 4:30 for the ride back to Puno. That was my last full day at leisure in Peru. In the morning, I'd have time for present-buying and breakfast, then begin 28 hours of travel back to San Francisco. This had been a wonderful experience and I felt physically confident (after that hike, I could do anything) and quite happily at peace with my entry into my 4th decade of life.
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