Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
All Ways Travel
( 35-3979;
www.titicacaperu.com
; Deustua 576, 2nd fl)
Offers both classic and 'non-
touristy' tours.
TOURS
Edgar Adventures
( 35-3444;
www.edgaradventures.com
;
Lima 328)
Longtime agency with positive
community involvement.
TOURS
Las Balsas Tours
( 36-4362;
www.balsastours.com
; Tacna 240)
Offers classic tours on a daily basis.
TOURS
Nayra Travel
( 36-4774, 975-1818;
www.nayratravel.com
; Lima 419, Office 105)
Local package
tour operator.
TOURS
FIESTAS & FOLKLORE AROUND LAKE TITICACA
The folkloric capital of Peru, Puno boasts as many as 300 traditional dances and celebrates numerous fiestas
throughout the year. Although dances often occur during celebrations of Catholic feast days, many have their
roots in precolonial celebrations usually tied in with the agricultural calendar. The dazzlingly ornate and imaginat-
ive costumes worn on these occasions are often worth more than an entire household's everyday clothes. Styles
range from strikingly grotesque masks and animal costumes to glittering sequined uniforms.
Accompanying music uses a host of instruments, from Spanish-influenced brass and string instruments to per-
cussion and wind instruments that have changed little since Inca times. These traditional instruments include
tinyas
(wooden hand drums) and
wankaras
(larger drums formerly used in battle), plus a chorus of
zampoñas
(panpipes), which range from tiny, high-pitched instruments to huge bass panpipes almost as tall as the musician.
Keep an eye out for
flautas
(flutes): from simple bamboo pennywhistles called
quenas
to large blocks of hollowed
out wood. The most esoteric is the
piruru,
which is traditionally carved from the wing bone of an Andean condor.
Seeing street fiestas can be planned, but it's often simply a matter of luck. Some celebrations are localized to
one town, but with others the whole region lets loose. Ask at the tourist office in Puno about any fiestas in the sur-
rounding area while you're in town. The festivals listed here are particularly important in the Lake Titicaca re-
gion, but many countrywide fiestas are celebrated here, too.
