Two things our travel book said to not do which we did anyway today:
- Ascend directly to 12,000 feet from the coast
- Have alcohol when acclimating
It (and the general internet) says these two situations should be generally avoided or you will have a greater risk of getting altitude sickness (soroche). The book also recommended Diamox but I think we all know where the book can stick that recommendation. Do you really care about me, book?
Today, we decided to take it easy and explore downtown Puno, which has a lot of neat things in a relatively close area. Our hotel is close to the Plaza de Armas (a common name for a central square in Spanish America) and lots of good restaurants, shops, and attractions.
Puno as a town is a mish-mosh of interesting architecture, brightly-colored squarish buildings, and brown boxy buildings. There are as many older adult women wearing traditional garb as there are people wearing modern clothing. The streets are dusty but clean, and people are polite and helpful.
Puno Cathedral
First, we went to the Cathedral, which crowns the northern part of the Plaza. It was built in 1757.
After spending some time admiring its intricate baroque facade and surrounding views, we went inside.
Have you ever been in a totally silent place and been unable to control the noises you made as you walked around? I am pretty sure this is someone’s nightmare.
Imagine entering a silent cathedral and having to walk about three minutes past neverending rows of pews in a cool, dark church with several people praying (or doing whatever one does in a Catholic church – Catholicking?) inside. You can’t stop your rubber-soled walking shoes from squeak-squeak-squeaking with every. Single. Step.
We squeaked up to the front and sat – the interior does have a nice pulpit, though the rest of the interior is relatively spartan compared to the grandeur of the outside. Those around us Catholicked silently and we took a few pictures before we noisily squeaked out.
Finding the Yavari on Titicaca
Our guidebooks and the internet both recommended going to see the ship Yavari, an old British gunship which has been transformed into a B&B (fun fact: I had attempted to book us in this place for a night but it is booked solid for months).
It’s located out of town a ways so we had the friendly, ever-present front desk guy call us a cab to go see it.
Unbeknownst to our cabby, us, and the front desk guy, the Yavari has actually been refitted for sailing on the lake once again and was not to be found at its normal home. It was actually back at the port…and not somewhere accessible for tours. Boo.
It was a good opportunity to explore Puno port, at least. The town of Puno sprawls up into the hillsides around the town, so the view is quite nice (see feature image!).
We walked the docs and spent time in the chilly winds taking pictures and relaxing.
The walk back from the docks was an easy mile and recommended by our book, so once we had our fill of boats, blue waters, and nippy breezes, we headed back to the Plaza de Armas.
Parade surprise!
On our walk back, we encountered a cacophony of trumpets and drums and a crowd of people. It looked like the easy way back to the plaza was jammed with people, so we took a detour to get back to Lima street, the main pedestrian thoroughfare.
This is when the parade struck, or was in the middle of striking.
From what I gathered, the participants various schoolchildren of all ages from different schools dressed in traditional dress and dancing or playing instruments.
We stopped to watch for a bit before moving on to lunch, hoping the parade would be done by the time we were done with lunch. We went to Mojsa on the south side of the plaza, and our balcony seats gave us a nice view of the ongoing parades.
There were tennis-ball colored outfits, a squad of monkeys which danced, numerous types of drums, flags, bells, dancers…I’m sure there were over a thousand people in the parade! There was also one kid with shackles around his ankles, black face, and holding a watermelon. I really hope that is not a racism thing in Peru…but who knows.
It was still going 3.5 hours later. I am not quite sure what was being celebrated, but hopefully I’ll remember to ask the front desk tomorrow.
Coca museum attempts and the Arco Deustua
We had two more things we wanted to see: the Coca Museum and the Arco Deustua.
We started with the Arco as it was north of the Coca Museum. It was built at the top of a hill in 1847 by people who can function at this altitude and go up a stupidly steep hill repeatedly.
We did get to go down the hill again, in search of the Coca Museum. I probably should have known the Coca Museum was not a reliably existing thing as many google searches by both of us kept giving us a museum by the same name in Bolivia.
The coca museum has closed sometime in the last year and both of our books are at least a year old. :'(
In lieu of a museum trip, I will post all the things I know about Coca for you:
- If you refine it, it turns into cocaine. I can’t bring any of the tea or other unprocessed forms of it back to the states…or into most other countries
- The leaves of the tea are used to treat a lot of things and are featured in many tea and drinks here in Puno
- You can also chew the leaves
- A de-cocainized version of the leaf is used in Coca-Cola today
Science!
After some alpaca-themed shopping and time in Parque Pino, we headed to dinner for the evening.
Tomorrow, we’ll adventure out to Lake Titicaca to explore the floating reed islands.
Post appendix: Puno facts
It is here on a map, on the shores of Lake Titicaca:
- Population of ~150,000
- Elevation: 3800 meters/ 12,500 ft above sea level
- Known as the folklore capital of Peru
- It’s often below freezing at night, but quite warm during the day
- There are lots of alpaca goods here
- There are many hills and stairways, and the poorest live on the outside of town, up in the hills