Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
brings you to the top, where you'll be rewarded with the remains of a multilayered temple
complex, and breathtaking 360-degree views.
This can be done as an easy half-day trip from Puno. Take plenty of water and food as
there's no store.
CHUCUITO
051 / POP 1100
Quiet Chucuito's principal attraction is the outlandish
Templo de la Fertilidad
(Inca
Uyu; admission S5; 8am-5pm)
. Its dusty grounds are scattered with large stone phal-
luses, some up to 1.2m in length. Local guides tell various entertaining stories about the
carvings, including tales of maidens sitting atop the stony joysticks to increase their fertil-
ity. Further uphill from the main road is the main plaza, which has two attractive colonial
churches,
Santo Domingo
and
Nuestra Señora de la Asunción
. You'll have to track
down the elusive caretakers to get a glimpse inside.
Sleeping & Eating
There are a couple of very basic places to eat near the plaza. Both lodgings have upscale
restaurants with touristy menus.
Taypikala Lago $$$
( 79-2266;
www.taypikala.com
;
Calle Sandia s/n; s/d/tr S$201/254/320)
Across the
highway, the swanky new sister hotel of the original Tapikala offers even better views,
with understated luxury and subtle architecture.
HOTEL
Taypikala Hotel $$
( 79-2252;
www.taypikala.com
;
Km18 Panamericana Sur)
It would be hard to miss
the bumpy lavalike exterior of the Taypikala Hotel, a new-age confusion of model condors
and artificial rocks worthy of an amusement park. Rooms have lake and garden views,
and are decorated with copies of local rock art. At the time of research it was closed, but it
may reopen.
HOTEL
Albergue Las Cabañas $$
( 36-8494;
www.chucuito.com
; Tarapacá 153; s/d/tr S64/96/126)
This lodging near
the main plaza has a charming, overgrown garden, rustic stone cabins and family bunga-
lows complete with wood-burning fires.
CABINS
