TRAVEL TO PUNO

PUNO

Puno is a city in southeastern Peru, located on the shore of Lake Titicaca, the world's highest navigable lake, at 3,860 m (12,421 ft) above sea level. It is also the capital and largest city of the Puno Region.

Like most of northern Peru, the territory of Puno importance to the vast Inca Empire was reflected in a legendary connection. Inca tradition has it that Manco Capac, the first Inca, rose from the waters of Lake Titicaca, under the orders of the Sun God, to start the Inca Empire, which would be centered in the neighboring region and city of Cuzco.

Established in 1668 by Viceroy Pedro Antonio Fernandez de Castro as capital of the province of Paucarcolla with the name San Juan Bautista de Puno.

Known as the Capital folklorica del Peru (folkloric capital of Peru) due to its wealth of artistic and cultural expressions, particularly dance. They are most notable during the celebrations of the Feast of the Virgen de la Candelaria and the Regional Competition of Autochthonous Dances. Puno access to Lake Titicaca is surrounded by 41 floating islands. To this day, the Uros people maintain and live on these man made islands, depending on the lake for their survival and are a large tourist destination.

A visitor arrives in Puno with one look on his face and leaves with an entirely different one, more real and lasting. Maybe it is the humbling presence of the Sillustani chullpas (burial towers) Lining the Lake Titicaca de Puno shore.

The splendor of its churches of Puno is equally hard to forget, such as Saint Dominic in Chucuito, built in 1534 and being the first and oldest church on this high plateau. It is also likely that Puno enchantment rests in its people, their reserved nature, yet their joy and the way they welcome visitors. Maybe it is all the aforementioned reasons added together.

Puno is a land that never stops surprising. It may be the aluminum rooftops that compete in shimmer with the blue steel lake waters in the sunlight, or the fact that the city relishes its provincial mood, its Aymara and Quechua soul and a legendary connection to its greatest treasure sacred sacred Lake Titicaca of the Incas and its wonderful islands, which covers the eyes of its visitors with a special magic.

But not everything down there is simple observation. Puno is a city on the move very day of the year; it is hard not to find a festival in Puno, like the one celebrating La Candeleria (Our Lady of Candelmas), where dancers rock the stones of Altiplano. Wearing brightly colored outfits, showy costumes and intricate masks, dancers twist and turn to the beat of the music, punctuated with drums and reed pipes, as if they were thinking the earth and the sky for all their blessings.

Travel to Puno, and make a tour to Lake Titicaca and the floating islands of Uros