George & Eve DeLange

Sillustani is at the end of a paved road leading off of the main road that goes between Juliaca and Puno about 34 Km North of the City of Puno, on the shore of beautiful Umayo Lagoon. The junction is roughly half way between the two cities and then you drive another 15 minutes to the end of the road and the site itself. Sillustani is about 13,500 ft above sea level and is only one of many sites in the Puno area that hold mysterious burial towers, called chullpas. It is the most visited. Here we can see the enigmatic chullpas, which were built by the Collas, an Aymara speaking tribe that dominated the Titicaca region before the Incas. Here they would bury the remains of Colla nobility, accompanied by their riches.. Grave robbers have long since removed their contents, even using dynamite, although the towers are still well preserved and worth visiting. Some are over 36 feet tall. The engineering involved in their construction is far more complex than anything the Incas ever built. Two of the towers are unfinished: one with a ramp still in place to raise blocks; the other with cut stones ready to place on a very large dome. The chullpas Torre of Lagartija (of the lizard) and Serpiente (of the snake) are the most prominent. The lizard is a symbol of life since it has the power to regrow its tail! The towers were constructed in the general form of a womans uterus. The Collas believed it to be Mother Earth which created life. Therefore the dead were mummified in a fetal position and placed into the tower in the same position as when they entered the world. The doors of the tombs faced East since that is the direction from which the Sun is born. Also at this ruins we found a young man who comes to this area to play native musical instruments. He says he does it to earn a little extra money and for relaxation from his regular work. We have included an unedited video of his music. Also in the video you will hear the very high winds that appear daily in the late afternoon at Sillustani. We visited this ruins on April 21, 2006 at about 4:00 PM.

You can fly directly to this area but you must fly into the nearby Inca Manco C�pac International Airport (IATA: JUL, ICAO: SPJL), known as Aeropuerto Internacional Inca Manco C�pac in Spanish, located in the city of Juliaca, thirty minutes from the city of Puno at Titicaca Lake. It is run by CORPAC S.A. (Corporaci�n Peruana de Aeropuertos y Aviaci�n Comercial S.A.), a government-run organization that oversees the management of Peruvian airports. Its runway is the longest in Latin America. While it is called International; it does not serve international flights! You can fly into Peru to international airports located at Lima, Arequipa and Cusco. Then you can be flown into the Inca Manco C�pac International Airport. Then, you can be transported from the airport of Juliaca, to the town of Puno in a taxi; with an average cost of about US $20; or in a minibuse, with an average cost of about US $5 per person. The leading hotels in Puno have transportation back to the airport. We found that when touring Peru, Magical Cusco Tours gave us the best service of all. They even arranged very personal tours based upon our ages and experience. They were there for us whenever we needed them. Click on any of their links on our pages and they will give you a 4% discount for taking their tours. Mention Delange.org; Merchant Code GD882010 for your discount! We suggest letting Ana Maria handle your tour. We do this all the time. It is safe and it works!!! We have never experienced a problem doing it this way! It is advisable to book reservations ahead of time, as hotels, especially in high season, are quickly booked up. Then you could easily tour Sillustani and it's chullpas. We also have links to Priceline.Com on our pages, in case you may prefer to use their services.