My Photos
Although it's hard to capture the natural beauty of Puno in a photo, I still tried to record as much of the landscape and culture as I could. These photos are just some of hundreds that I took along my journey in Peru.
An Aymara man sits with a small group of tourists inside his home on Los Uros, the floating islands.
A typical scene just outside the city - sheep grazing in the sunshine. Even though it was the winter season, during the day the sun was so strong that the weather was still beautiful.
After hiking up to the top of the mountain, my site partner Elizabeth, myself, and a Dutch girl in our tour group sit on a ledge to watch the sun set over Lake Titicaca.
Huatia is the name of a traditional oven constructed out of dirt and rocks. A small hole is dug in a ground and surrounded by rocks, and then blocks of dirt are placed on top to make a dome. Then, the food (in this case, potatoes) are placed inside, and the fire is lit. After the fire has a chance to grow, the dirt is collapsed, and the earth cooks the food. Food prepared by a huatia is called a pachamanca.
I was interviewed by the university television station twice while in Puno, once during my first week there to promote our English classes, and then again about halfway through to promote a discussion my site partner and I would be leading about American culture. The interviews were entirely in Spanish, which was so scary because they were aired on TV - but I managed to make it through!
We went to a small town called Ichu for a religious festival on the feast day of San Pedro y San Pablo (Sts. Peter and Paul), where traditional dances were performed by local cultural groups. Dancing was the most widely practiced cultural tradition in Puno. Schools would often have parades along the main streets in which the students would dance. Everyone knew the most popular traditional dances, such as La Diablada, and it was common for many people to perform regularly with a dance group at festivals.
For the festival in Ichu, people settled on the mountainside with friends and food to enjoy the activities of the day, such as the dances as well as a bullfight.
During our last full week in Peru, we took a trip to Ollachea, a small town in the jungle. We stayed at a house where children whose parents work in the mines live while they attend school. There, we played with the kids and spent time with them, helping them with their daily chores such as cooking and cleaning, and helping them with their homework. We also did a few fun games with them to teach them a bit of English. Simon says think!
In Puno, there are two miradores, or overlooks, at the top of two hills on the outskirts of the city. One mirador is a large statue of a condor, and the other is a large statue of a puma. This is a photo that I took from the puma, overlooking the city just before sunset.
By the end of my eight weeks in Puno, my students had become my friends. They showed us many of their favorite spots in Puno and openly shared their lives, culture, and experiences with us. After our last class day, we went to the puma, where we took this picture as well as the one above, and then afterwards we went for pizza!