"The folkloric Capital of Perú"

Location:
South Andean zone, plateau, 12,555 feet (3,827 m) above sea level.

Distances
817 miles (1315 km) from Lima
201.9 miles (325 km) from Arequipa
241.7 miles (389 km) from Cusco
91,9 miles (148 km) from Desagüadero (frontier with Bolivia), and 69.6 miles (112 km) from Desagüadero to La Paz (Bolivia).

Population:
91,900 inhabitants 

Weather:
Cold and dry, rainy season from November to February.

Puno is the capital of the department of Puno. It was founded with the name of "Villa Rica de San Carlos de Puno" in 1668, by the Viceroy Count of Lemos, to end with the problems of possession of the silver mines of Laicacota of the brothers Gaspar and José Salcedo.

Lake port beside the Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world. It have landscapes of indescribable beauty, it has been the origin and cradle of big pre-Hispanic civilizations as Tiahuanaco, Collas and Aymaras, and of the mythical legend of Manco Cápac and Mama Ocllo who emerged of its waters and went to Cusco to found the capital of the Inca empire.

The Uros, famous and ancestral town that live in floating artificial islands, or the indigenous communities of Taquile and Amantani that maintain their customs and rites without changes in the course of the time, amid unique landscapes.

Very near the city you will find interesting archaeological remains of
Pre-Hispanic cultures, as the chullpas of Sillustani inside the Ecological Reserve of Umayo, Pucará, or old cities of Spanish foundation as Chucuito, Juli and Pomata that harbor jewels of the architecture and colonial art, expressed in their temples and churches that flourished as product of the fortune of the silver mines of this region and the Spanish conquest of the Paraguay and of the Mojos.

Puno has been denominated the "Capital folklórica del Perú" (folkloric capital of Peru) by the wealth of its artistic and cultural expressions. Especially through the dance; there are registered more than 300 from the 1,500 existing in the national environment, autochthonous dances that reach their biggest manifestation in the celebrations of the Feast of the "Virgen de la Candelaria" and the Regional Competition of Autochthonous Dances.

The native resident of Puno is of the ethnos Aymara (the 12.9% population of Peru); their language is the Aymara. For the subsistence in height average of 4,000 meters above sea level (13,122 feet) and with a cold climate, they have achieved an excellent adaptation. The color of its skin is dark, high lung capacity and development of the thorax; they have two more litters of blood then the average, with high content of red globules, what grant them great physical resistance.

Many of them are dedicated to the elaboration of beautiful crafts and fine fabrics in alpaca wool.

In the plains and mountains of Puno it will be common to find clusters of llamas and alpacas, being the area of more intense development of this cattle raising, originating beautiful panoramas in places where trees and vegetation almost not exist.

Visiting Puno

The Titicaca
The highest navigable lake in the world where going through their waters is to travel by beautiful landscapes having for nice scenery the snowy mountain of the Cordillera Real (Real Mountain range) of Bolivia. Inside the lake exist a protected area of the natural ecosystem, you can also visit the islands of Taquile and Amantani, or carry out a small cruise to Bolivia.

Floating islands of the Uros
Old descending Aymaras that build their houses over floating artificial islands that elaborate themselves on the waters of the Titicaca, in which they inhabit in organizations and with ancestral customs.

The city
The beauty and charm of the city, are a mixture of their typical constructions of Andean architecture in the sides of the hills until the bank of the Titicaca Lake, and that of their people, humble, poor and kind.

Museums
It has modest museums of regional archaeological pieces as the Museo Municipal Dreyer (Municipal Museum Dreyer) and the Museo de Arte Popular de Puno (Museum of Popular Art of Puno).

Archaeological places
On the area of Puno flourished old pre-Inca civilizations like Tiahuanaco, Pucará and then the Inca. The best legacies are the chullpas of Sillustani and the fortress and citadel of Pucará.

Cities of the surrounding areas
Cities and small towns that flourished to the banks of the Titicaca Lake keep colonial jewels, outstands Pomata, Juli and Chucuito.