Chullpa Tombs of Sillustani.

July 2nd

Today, we prepared for our last day in Peru. We left Puno and traveled 35 minutes to the Chullpa Tombs of Sillustani. As much as we all loved Machu Picchu, for me, this was the most impacted place of the trip. 

Here we saw that the tombs in this area were only for nobles. However, based on the type of stone structure of the tombs, we understood that this predated the Incas and probably came from the Coya or the Tiahuanaco period which lived in the Lake Titicaca in the 9th century. The way this group set up the tombs was so that the sun during the summer and the winter solstice would shine directly into the tombs.  They believed that the living was only a part of the life cycle, however, the afterlife was just as important (if not even more).  Within the last few years, it was discovered that young children were found in burials in the fetal position. Since the Inca did not believe in human sacrifice, our guide Henry advised that this must have come before the Inca came to Lake Titicaca in the early 1500's. 

In addition, where the Inca had the symbols of the Condor, Puma and Snake, on the walls of the tombs were depictions of lizards. This was true because lizards can regenerate if they lose a part oft he body and the Coya believed that they continued on in the afterlife! 

After learning about the tombs, we had the chance to see the lake that the tombs looked over. Even though Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake, this smaller lake is actually 20 meters higher in elevation than Lake Titicaca. The students had a chance to reflect on their last 10 days in Peru by sitting quietly looking at the lake with the island in front of them. What's really neat is that there is only 1 house on that island (imagine the large candy bars they give out at Halloween).

We then made our way to the airport to take our return flight into Lima where we spent the afternoon at Miraflores. Here we had a chance to eat a chicken lunch and then the students had a chance to walk the mall, eat some ice cream and others went bowling! As always, it's bittersweet, but the trip was coming to an end. This evening, we said good-bye to our tour guide Efrain and to our new Washington friends!