Lanikai Underway

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On Wednesday August 8 we took a tour to the pre-Inca cemetery of Sillustani. It is on a peninsula in Lago Umayo, a smaller lake not far from Puno and Lake Titicaca. There are many chullaps or funeral towers at the site. They are round structures constructed of rock. The earliest ones were of uncut stones piled to form cylindrical towers with small doors facing the east. The later towers had finely cut and fitted stones on the exterior but still had the small door facing east. Inside, the mummified remains were placed along with grave offerings and a roof was constructed to protect it all. They had all been looted before modern times. Also on the site were graves of the lower class people; they were buried underground and only a ring of stones marked the graves.

Also at the site was a temple to the moon and one to the sun. All that remains of the temples is a base ring of stones after the Spaniards destroyed the temples.