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Getting Puno With It In The Folklore Capital Of Peru

All this week, Nathan Paluck will be filling us in on "The Real Peru" outside the capital city of Lima. Any questions or suggestions, send 'em to us here.

Though I didn't plan it, I arrived to Puno, called the folklore capital of Peru, on the eve of its anniversary day. In a region that lays claims to 4,000 distinct traditional dances, you better believe there was some fierce dancing. From 2-9 p.m. the next day, Puno elementary and high schools performed choreographed street parades in lavish costumes.

Puno is a port of Lake Titicaca and is way high up: 3,800 meters, or 2.3 miles. It was so high up that I had a headache upon arriving. After I found decent lodging (Hotel Arequipa, on Arequipa with Oquendo, has private rooms, a computer room with Internet and a clean, shared bathroom for 15 soles), my altitude problem seemed cured by a couple of coca leaf teas at a bar on Calle Lima.

In the morning, there was an impressive theatrical procession of the Incas. Legend has it that the Inca empire was founded by a couple that was born from Lake Titicaca. The royal couple comes back from the lake on Puno Day, carried on a platform by young men and throwing potatoes out to a large crowd.

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