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Puno - Peru
 Puno is a city in southeastern Peru,
located at the edge 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 and the Puno province.
Puno is also believed to have been the cradle of the Inca civilization,
as legend has it that Manco Capac, the first Inca, rose from the waters
of Lake Titicaca, under the orders of the Sun God, to found the Inca
Empire.
In 1668, viceroy Conde de Lemos established San Juan Bautista de Puno as
the capital of the province of Paucarcolla. Later, it was called San
Carlos de Puno, in honor of the ruling king, Charles II of Spain.
From that moment, the town began to change physically, as the Spanish
priests, in their eagerness to evangelize the natives, built the
churches which still stand today.
This region of Peru is famous for its varied and colorful folk
traditions, as it has some of the most dazzling and richest folklore
ceremonies to be witnessed in this part of the continent.
Today, Puno is an important agricultural and livestock region;
particularly of South American camelids (llamas and alpacas) which graze
on its immense plateaus and plains.
Puno Pictures
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Titicaca Lake Tour
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Lake Titicaca
is the world's highest navigable lake and the center of
a region where thousands of subsistence farmers eke out
a living fishing in its icy waters, growing potatoes in
the rocky land at its edge or herding llama and alpaca
at altitudes that leave Europeans and North Americans
gasping for air. It is also where traces of the rich
Indian past still stubbornly cling, resisting in past
centuries the Spanish conquistadors' aggressive campaign
to erase Inca and preInca cultures and, in recent times,
the lure of modernization.
When Peruvians talk of turquoise blue Titacaca, they
proudly note that it is so large it has waves. This, the
most sacred body of water in the Inca empire and now the
natural separation between Peru and Bolivia, has a
surface area exceeding 8,000 square kilometers (3,100
square miles), not counting its more than 30 islands. |
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Below our selection of package tours, please make a choice
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