Sillustani, A Pre-Incan Cemetery

We've been in Peru for almost 2 weeks now and there is just such an abundance to see here that we fear we won't have enough time (we've allocated about 6 weeks here in Peru). These are images of Silustani, an Incan cemetery situated very close to Puno, Peru. The interesting thing about the cemetery, other than its gorgeous setting near a lake, is that it as example of how burial customs changed over time. The round towers are called challpas, which were burial places for the Colla people (who were Aymaran) who were later absorbed into the Incan Empire. This first chamber is where the Collas kept their mummies within these small stone piles. Their stonework looks so simple compared to what they were able to do just a few hundred years later.



These challpas date to Incan times. By this time, the Collas (like the Incans) had developed very sophisticated stonework to construct these monolithic burial towers. This one was hit by lightening, so only about half of it remains.



Here is the same chamber closer up. Sometimes, whole families were all buried together including all the servants. They were also buried with a lot of their riches, but of course these have been looted long ago (many of the looters were the Spanish conquistadors who brought back the gold to Spain to melt down).





And right next to this cemetery is the majestic lake Umayo where we were particularly captivated by the table island situated in the middle of it. They raise alpacas and vicuñas on it.





Around Sillustani, you can still see how simply some people still live in these agricultural communities.