Peru - Lonely Planet Publications [149]
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Lake Titicaca
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JULIACA
AROUND JULIACA
PUNO
AROUND PUNO
LAKE TITICACA ISLANDS
CAPACHICA PENINSULA & AROUND
SOUTH-SHORE TOWNS
BOLIVIAN SHORE
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Worlds collide around Lake Titicaca. Here the desolate altiplano (Andean plateau) meets the storied peaks and fertile valleys of the Andes. Green, sun-dazed islands contrast with freezing dirt farms. Ancient agrarian communities live alongside the chaos of the international marketplace.
Campesinas (peasant women) in bowler hats and sandals made from recycled truck tires tend to their llamas as light aircraft full of contraband fly overhead. Coca smugglers count their money in tumbledown towns that rear out of the dust like anthills. On howling cold nights, people huddle together, yet this place parties like nowhere else. In a country known for its riotous religious fiestas, Puno’s Candelaria is one of the greatest shows of all.
Lake Titicaca shimmers with a distinctive navy blue, and its gemlike islands and gentle shores are an agricultural paradise. Crumbling cathedrals, rolling hills, checkerboard valleys and Bolivia’s highest mountains in the background all conspire to make anyone a pro photographer. According to Andean belief, this lake gave birth to the sun, as well as the father and mother of all the Incas, Manco Cápac and Mama Ocllo. Pre-Inca Pukara, Tiwanaku and Collas all lived here and left monuments scattered across the landscape – from waist-high burial towers for dwarves to comical oversized stone penises. This is the heartland of South America, where priests bless taxis and lawyers sacrifice llamas. Rug up and jump in.
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HIGHLIGHTS
Join mesmerizing celebrations with brass bands and crazy costumes in Puno (Click here), Peru’s capital folklórico (folkloric capital)
Admire towering temples and breathtaking backdrops in Lake Titicaca’s tiny south shore towns (Click here)
Hike through peaceful farmland to an overgrown ruin, then climb another hill in Ichu (Click here)
Visit awe-inspiring funerary towers at Sillustani (Click here) and Cutimbo (Click here)
Recharge your batteries on the sunny, somnolent Capachica Peninsula (Click here)
▪ BIGGEST CITY: JULIACA, POPULATION 62,000 ▪ AVERAGE TEMPERATURE: JANUARY 8°C TO 14°C, JULY 4°C TO 10°C
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JULIACA
051 / pop 62,000 / elev 3826m
As a local wit diplomatically put it: ‘If Cuzco is the navel of the world that makes Juliaca the – ahem – armpit.’ The department’s only commercial airport makes Juliaca an unavoidable transit point, but it is ugly, cold, dirty and, outside the central commercial area, dangerous. Stay in Puno or Lampa if you can.
Orientation & Information
Hotels, restaurants, casas de cambio (foreign-exchange bureaus), and internet cafes abound along San Román, near Plaza Bolognesi. Buses to the coast leave from within walking distance of this area, on and around San Martín over the railway tracks; combis (minibuses) to Puno leave from Plaza Bolognesi.
The police station (32-4795; 24hr) is on the corner of San Martín and Ramón Castilla. There are several banks with ATMs on Nuñez near Plaza Bolognesi. Clínica Americana (32-1639; Loreto 315; 24hr) offers emergency medical services. The post office (Sandía at Butrón; 8:15am-7pm Mon-Sat) is a stiff walk northwest of Plaza Bolognesi along San Román.
Dangers & Annoyances
Juliaca’s high altitude can cause problems for those arriving from the coast (Click here).
The commercial center is safe for tourists; in other areas, muggings and scary, aggressive drunks are common at all times of day.
Sleeping
There are several bare-bones hostales (guesthouses) around Plaza Bolognesi.
Hotel San Antonio (33-1803; hotel_san_antonio@hotmail.com;