Caracoto Community is toward Sillustani, which is at the end of a paved road leading off of the main road that goes between Juliaca and Puno about 34 Km North of the City of Puno, on the shore of beautiful Umayo Lagoon. The junction is roughly half way between the two cities and then you drive another 15 minutes to the end of the road and the site itself. On the way to Sillustani, we drove for about 10 minutes and stopped to visit the local indigenous community of Caracoto and we were guests in the home of a local woman and her son.
It is here that we learned about chuño. The extremes of temperature in the high Andes make it possible to freeze-dry and preserve potatoes naturally. The cold air at night freezes the moisture from the potato, while the sun during the day melts and evaporates it. After a week of lying outdoors, the potatoes are pounded. The result is chuño— small, rock-hard pieces of potato that can be stored for years. If the normal black or dark potato is not washed to remove the color it is Black Chuño. If washed it is White Chuño. We visited this Home on April 21, at about 3:30 PM.
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| Caracoto Community Cancha (house compound), Note The Toritos (Good Fortune Bulls). |
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| Typical Peruvian Home | Grinding Quinoa Flour |
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| Household Stove | Household Stove |
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| Loom | Loom |
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| Llamas & Alpacas | Llama |
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| Guinea Pig House | Guinea Pigs |
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| Native Potato Variety | Native Potato Variety |
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| Native Potato Variety | Native Potato Variety |
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| Black chuño Natural Freeze Dried Potato | White chuño Natural Freeze Dried Potato |
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| Barley | |
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| Quinoa | |
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| Cheese Cover | Cheese |
