Things to Do in Puno

The 40-plus floating Uros Islands are perhaps the most photographed attraction on Lake Titicaca, famously constructed with springy totora reeds. The reeds are collected from around the shores of Lake Titicaca, and used to replenish the fragile islands every three months or so, as the bottom of the two-meter (6.5ft) totora mat slowly rots back into the lake. Thus, the islands change shape, size and even number as the centuries pass, anchored to the lake bottom but in many ways a completely separate world.

The Uros people are an ancient race, predating the Incas by millennia and, according to local legend, even the sun and stars. The “People of the Lake,” as they call themselves, once said that they did not feel the cold, thanks to their “black blood.” (The last full-blooded Uros woman died in 1959, after centuries of intermarriage with Aymaras and other races, so that claim is subject to some conjecture.)

Heavily taxed by the Incas and enslaved in the silver mines by the Spanish, the Uros have managed, through ingenuity and isolation, to outlast their tormentors with their unique culture largely in place. The key to their survival is the reeds, whose starchy tubers are consumed for food, flowers brewed to make tea, and stalks used for medicine, handicrafts, and the construction of gondolas, homes, schools, churches and just about everything else on the islands.

The islands change in size and number over the centuries and will quickly thin if not meticulously maintained. Tourism on the handful accessible to tourists is relatively open and you can arrange trips with several Puno travel agencies or even come on your own, in public boats that leave regularly from the Puno pier. The 5km (3mi) trip takes about thirty minutes.

The islands are part of Titicaca National Reserve which protects 37,000 hectares (143 square miles) of reed bed, including some 60 species of bird and 14 of fish, many collected by the Uros for meat, eggs, and as work animals, such as cormorants used to fish. You’ll also see plenty of domesticated cats, to keep mice from devouring the delicate islands.

While many of the Uros traditions have been maintained, the islands are by no means frozen in time. For example, they no longer speak their original language, having switched to Aymara after centuries of trade and intermarriage, and have more recently embraced technology, such as electrical generators, modern motors on reed boats and so forth. 

Tourism has brought money and opportunity to the islands, which cuts into time once spent doing traditional activities, such as the all-important collection of totora. They are savvy enough to know their time’s worth, so expect to be charged for photos and/or offered handicrafts with a cheerfully hard sell.

Lake Titicaca, glistening atop the Andes Mountains, is a tourist attraction, spiritual oasis, and cultural hub all in one. It is also South America’s highest (at 12,507 feet/3,812 meters) and largest (at an astounding 3,230 square miles/8,366 square kilometers) lake, as well as the highest navigable lake in the world.

The best way to explore Lake Titicaca is on its famed waters. Ride a boat out to the Uros Floating Islands to learn how the Uro people have lived on Lake Titicaca for generations; Taquile and Amantani Islands are particularly well known for their well-preserved cultural traditions and handicrafts, and they offer lodging and homestays. Active travelers can explore the lake on a kayak or paddleboard for a more adventurous outing. Most Lake Titicaca tours cover the basic attractions, while a private tour gives you more opportunity to customize your itinerary. Trips to Titicaca National Preserve, a protected section of the lake, offer opportunities to see 60 species of bird, such as the endemic Titicaca grebe, as well as fish and amphibians, including frogs weighing up to seven pounds (three kilograms). If you have more time in the region, multi-day tours often include visits to Machu Picchu, Lima, and Cusco.

The lake is divided between Peru and Bolivia, which bookend its beauty with the small cities of Puno and Copacabana, respectively. Both are fine bases to explore the lake’s amazing islands, replete with hotels and restaurant. Most travelers reach these cities by bus, though flights are available to the Inca Manco Cápac Airport in Juliaca, roughly an hour from Puno, and a train runs between Puno and Cusco. A few of the islands also offer lodging, though some are available only to travelers on tours.

For the most warmth and sunshine, visit Lake Titicaca from May through September, though temperatures are still chilly at night. Expect rain almost daily from October through March.

Lake Titicaca is thought to be the birthplace of the Andean peoples, where the Creator God Viracocha summoned the sun, moon, and first human beings from what is now called Isla del Sol. The Incas, Aymaras, Uros, and countless other indigenous nations thus hold this lake sacred.

For those wishing to avoid heavily touristed Taquile Island, but still enjoy a smoothly operating system of homestays and a taste of traditional lake lifestyle, Isla Amantani is the perfect option. The 26- mile (38-km), four-hour trip and dearth of infrastructure (electricity, running water, automobiles) has kept the island of some 3,600 Quechua-speaking people somewhat isolated from Titicaca’s tourist industry.

Amantani has been communally owned since shortly after Peru’s independence from Spain, after which the indigenous residents—used as poorly paid labor by landlords of European descent—took a page from their oppressors’ own handbook and staged a revolution of their own. Ever since, the island has been run as something of a commune, a tradition that extends to today’s tourism.

Upon arrival, visitors are assigned to a family and its small adobe home; some are much nicer than others. Toilets look modern, but don’t flush; you’ll use buckets of water provided. Your host family also provides simple meals, made with locally available foodstuffs such as potatoes, quinoa, eggs and perhaps lake trout. Some guidebooks recommend bringing fruit, cooking oil, rice or sugar—all difficult-to-obtain delicacies in this isolated spot—as gifts.

Your family can also arrange guided hikes, perhaps even in English, around the scenic island. There are two mountains, Pachatata (Father Earth) and Pachamama (Mother Earth), terraced with beautiful farms, which you can climb—slowly, remember your altitude. Pre-Columbian temples top both peaks and are still used on traditional feast days. 

As on Taquile, Amanti islanders knit and weave the region’s renowned textiles, which are offered for sale around the island. Host families will typically dress visitors in traditional clothing for a nightly dance, accompanied by a local band.

Puno’s most enigmatic attraction lies 35km (21mi) from the port city, overlooking Lake Umayo with dignified mystery. Tours are easily arranged; consider coming around sunset, and staying to enjoy the starry skies.

The Chullpas of Sillustani are a collection of striking burial towers, among the finest examples of such architecture in the Andes. Though no one can be sure of their age, they appear to have been under construction just prior to the Inca conquest of the local Aymara-speaking Colla people, around 1300 AD. They most resemble, however, the neat stonework of the Tiwanaku people, who controlled the southern shore of the lake from about 500 AD to 1100 AD.

More advanced than even the Inca’s finest masonry, these towers reach with neatly squared geometric regularity toward the clear, high-desert sky. The tallest are 12 meters (40ft) high; others probably exceeded that, but have long since been dynamited by tomb robbers. Some have detailed carvings and all open eastward toward the sunrise.

Archaeologists have long hypothesized that these were the tombs of the Aymara elite, buried in baskets that trapped them in fetal position. The dry, desiccating desert air mummified many of the presumably regal corpses, surrounded with offerings such as ceramic bowls of grain, guinea pigs and gold (the last now displayed in Puno’s excellent Dreyer Museum.

More recently, archaeologists discovered the bodies of 44 children around a 10m-tall (32ft) tower called Chullpa Lagarto. They were apparently sacrificed some 700 years ago, perhaps by the Colla people during some sort of conflict.  A volcanic stone was placed on each of their chests and they were also surrounded with food, ceramics and other offerings. Perhaps the adult corpses were not royalty at all, but the revered remains of a human sacrifice.

As famed for its handicrafts—the island’s traditional knitwear has been proclaimed a UNESCO Masterpiece of Intangible Human Heritage—as its dramatic, rocky topography topped with windswept pre-Columbian ruins, Isla Taquile is one of Lake Titicaca’s most famous destinations. 

It is not easy to get here, however, and most people making the 45km (28mi) trip on the slow boat from Puno opt to spend the night. That, too, can be a challenge, as the island and its sole tourism operator, the Munay Taquile Travel Agency, are communally owned by Taquile’s 2,200 residents. They (or rather, the Taquile Council of Elders) require that the island’s 40,000 annual visitors live much as locals do while on the island.

When tourism began to arrive to Lake Titicaca in the 1970s, shortly after the indigenous government won full ownership of the island, the quiet, agriculturally oriented lives of locals began to change. Outsiders were in control, and brought in boatloads of camera-snapping tourists without the permission or input of local leaders. 

Rather than submit to the loss of privacy and profit like so many indigenous communities, however, Isla Taquile’s government secured exclusive rights to transportation, lodging, food service and island tours. Thus, if you choose to visit, you’ll be staying in a family home, eating traditional cuisine and hiking around the island’s Inca ruins and stunning vistas with a local guide. 

You’ll also have plenty of opportunity to peruse the island’s famed hand-woven textiles, considered some of Peru’s finest handicrafts and see them made. Knitting is done almost exclusively by men, while women spin yard and work the looms, creating elaborate designs that incorporate both ancient and modern symbolic patterns. Most famous are the knitted hats with earflaps, called chullos: men wear red chullos if married, red and white if single and black to signify leadership. Women usually stick to the stylish bowler-style caps popular throughout the Andes.

The most important island on the lake, according to pre-Columbian tradition, is the Isla del Sol, “Sun Island.” It is the largest of the lake islands (14.3 square kilometers, or 5.5 square miles), and considered sacred to the Andean Sun God and Inca patron deity, Inti. Today, its dramatically sculpted terrain is home to some 800 families, 180 pre-Columbian ruins, and several kilometers of ancient trails to explore.

It is said that after a great flood cleansed the Earth, Viracocha, the god of creation, rose from the sacred lake and came to this island. First, he created Inti, the sun, and Mama Quila, the moon. Two large “footprints” in the stone, still visible on the path to the sacred city of Challapampa, mark the spot where Viracocha created the Earth’s first man and woman, Mallco Capac and Mama Ocllo.

While it’s possible to come here on a day trip from Copacabana (but not Puno; Isla del Sol is on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca), it is much better to stay overnight. Most services are in Yumani, also home to an ancient stone fountain that sits atop 206 stone steps; this may be the Fountain of Youth. Boat tours and stone trails lead to scores more ruins, such as the Inca seminary and enormous stone labyrinth called the Chinkana, the ornate Temple of Pilcocaina, and the “Stone Puma,” or “Titi Karka,” thought to have bequeathed upon this lake its name. Sunset is fittingly spectacular, and perhaps best appreciated from the lighthouse, atop the island’s highest point (4,097m/13,441ft).

Nearby Isla de la Luna (Island of the Moon) is another sacred isle, which can be visited by boat tour from either Isla del Sol or Copacabana. The most famous ruins are those of what is thought to have been an ancient convent, called Ajlla Wasi (House of the Chosen Women).

Stories of a nearby lost city, long thought to have been as apocryphal as Plato’s tales of Atlantis, were proven absolutely true in 2000. An international expedition discovered a submerged temple dating to perhaps 700AD, roughly the size of a football field, connected to Copacabana by an undersea road. You can see some of the artifacts uncovered there at the island’s Museo de Oro (Museum of Gold).