In covering the area around Puno, my guidebook mentioned pre-Columbian funeral towers (or chullpas) near the village of Sillustani. It said that the best way to get to them was with an organized tour, which I learned was surprisingly inexpensive. At the front desk of my hotel, I signed up for a Friday afternoon tour before I went out to investigate the waterfront. The cost of joining a bus trip with English-speaking guide for the afternoon was 20 soles, the same amount I had donated to look around the restored steamship.
The weather was warm in Puno, apparently the effect of being on such a large body of water. In preparing for the trip to the towers, I put on my intermediate fleece pullover, but didn’t think to bring anything else. When I boarded the tour bus in front of my hotel, I noticed that most of the other ten or so tourists had brought their packs, but I didn’t see any need and was content to carry my camera. I thought at the time that I should have brought my rain jacket, but I didn’t anticipate being cold. One of the other tourists was wearing shorts.
It took a little less than an hour to get to Sullustani, which lies at a slightly higher elevation than Puno. When we got to the site, it was sprinkling a little, but the real problem was the wind and the cold. I turned up my collar and soldiered on, my only consolation that the other tourists were almost as cold as I was.
The archaeological site was incredible. I wish I had been able to concentrate more on getting a representative photo, but my mind was on listening to our guide and on keeping warm.
Scattered around a large hill were a dozen or so broken-down towers, which the Colla tribe had constructed as tombs for their rulers. The towers ranged from about 20 to 40 feet in height and were about 20 feet in diameter. Our guide explained that the Colla had always used circular tombs, but that these had evolved from holes in the ground through tombs that protruded from the surface to these elaborate towers. Late in the pre-Columbian period, Inca masonry techniques had come into use, so the latest towers are obviously Inca structures. The most amazing thing about these later towers, aside from the perfection and size of the stones, is that they are narrower at the bottom than at the top. Here are three photos I did manage to take:
Our guide explained that the damage to the towers was caused by lightning strikes. To prevent further damage, there are lightning rods stationed around the ruins.
As everybody was obviously cold, our guide rushed us through the tour. He determined that except for one person, we could all follow his explanations in Spanish. The person who couldn’t follow said that her friend could translate, so we were spared having to listing to the same explanation twice. It was a shame, because our guide had a lot of knowledge he was excited to share with us. Plus, his English was excellent.
On the way back to Puno, we stopped at a current Colla house for a tour. Here is the house, which was typical of the structures we passed approaching Sillustani.
Like my fellow tourists, I was a little uncomfortable with this part of the tour, but consoled myself that this was what these people did for a living. The standard of living of this family was a little higher than what I saw near Cusco, but they were living without electricity on the altiplano, in the wind and the cold. We looked at the bedroom and kitchen (here the guinea pigs were outdoors), were served mint tea, cheese, homemade corn chips and potatoes, saw demonstrations of weaving and grinding grain, and were given a chance to buy handicrafts. I tipped the woman as we left, but in effect this decreased the eventual tip that I gave the guide, because I only had so much change and so many small bills. As we left, we were swarmed with begging children. And as we drove away, we saw the woman and children counting their take as they waved good-bye.
I was wavering about whether to visit the islands near Puno the next morning, and this visit entered into my decision not to go. I was interested in seeing floating islands, but I wasn’t so interested in the display of native life that would go along with them. But even with the cold and wind, the funeral towers were amazing.
