Puno

Alas, my Thanksgiving vacation came to an end all too quickly and I headed back to Peru.  This time I opted to cross the altiplano (high Andean plateau) in a long distance bus, which was a lot more comfortable than the collectivos  from the initial trip.  From the bus windows I saw some beautiful scenery and was able to capture some of it:

I even saw snow in the Titicaca National Reserve, but I didn't photograph it, since I'm sure I'll be seeing enough on my trip back to the US.

Leaving Bolivia and returning to Peru was also much simpler than the initial trip-no crazed running back and forth from office to office this time.  Since I had an extra day before I needed to return to the plant, I decided to stay in Puno to see why everyone raves about the place.  Unfortunately, I think I will have to find that out at another time, since the weather on this trip did nothing to endear me to the place.  Officially the rainy season (clima lluvioso), I got both a cold and a sunburn in the 30ish hours I spent there.  (Of course, part of that might be because I got lost and spent an hour walking around in the rain, looking for my hotel, but that's a story for another time!)

I did manage to see Lake Titicaca:

I also managed to stumble on a festival (which seems to happen commonly in Puno) and got to see some traditional dancing:

But, as the weather got rainier, I headed to the Plaza de Armas (Main Square) to see the Catedral de Puno (cathedral) and check out the Museo Carlos Dreyer (museum):

Catedral de Puno

The most interesting part of the Carlos Dreyer Museum was their exhibit on funerary items

It includes this full-scale replica of a chullpa, or funerary tower...

...and 3 mummies...

...with a reconstruction of what they might have looked like

All in all, I would like to return to Puno, when the weather is nicer, to take a tour of the islands that occupy Lake Titicaca.