On Monday, June 24th, Mary Joy had a bad cold and wasn't feeling well, so she stayed at the hotel. Apparently, flu was raging at Cusco, and some members of the group had had horrible respiratory symptoms (testing negative for COVID-19).
East of Puno is the ethnic boundary between Quechua-speaking peoplle and Aymara-speakers. This morning the group first went out east along the lake, to the house of an Aymara family that gathers reeds to make into mats. They demonstrated how this was done.
From there, we went into Puno to see what we could see. The city, besides being the largest town on Lake Titicaca, is the folklore capital of Peru, with a special festival around Candlemas (February 2), when people from miles around dress up in wild costumes and dance in the streets. We went into one of the many costume shops where people spend large sums of money to out-costume everyone else.
We walked over to the nearby cemetery. This was reminiscent of Recoleta in Buenos Aires, but on a much smaller, much less over-the-top scale.
Then, we went to the market: first, the part relating to food, then the "witch's market," selling materials for consulting shamans and curanderos.
Then, Pepe and Broz got us some pedicabs and we were off to another market.
At this market, one could buy guinea pigs, and also consult curanderos who use the "natural x-ray": placing live guinea pigs on patients, then cutting the animals open to view their internal organs as a way of diagnosing problems with the patient's corresponding organs.
We went to lunch at a restaurant near the main square, then had an hour to wander around.
That night the group had dinner at a pizzeria in Puno. Not great pizza, but better than in Argentina.
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