Fodor's Expert Review Andean Roots Eco Village

Part of the Inca Utama Hotel & Spa is this small but charming museum and exhibition on the culture and history of the region. Replicas of mud houses that many of the Chipaya people of the surrounding altiplano still live in are outside the museum, along with some disgruntled and very shaggy llamas. Probably the most interesting things are the replicas of the tortora (reed) boats used by explorer Thor Heyerdahl for his expeditions across the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The real ones were built just down the coast. The Limachi brothers who built these, and who served in the crew for some of these epic journeys, are often here and happy to talk to you for the price of a postcard. The replicas themselves are not only technically impressive but also rather beautiful.