Peru Tour - 7 - Lake Titicaca

31 Dec 2005 – Lake Titicaca

A very good morning! Took a lovely shower and vacated the room by 6:30 am. Breakfast was so. Our guide came at 7 am and we drove to the harbor. Picked up some fruit for our host and some bottle water. (The tour is that we go to an island on Lake Titicaca and stay with a local host family for one night to get a Peruvian village experience). It was a little rainy this morning. This rain is getting a little tiring but what to do?

Placido gave us a good introduction about the lake. It is about 180x60 km, all fresh water, shared by Peru and Bolivia and has 4 native and 2 exotic fish. It has algae and weeds which are used to make the floating islands. Lake Titicaca has many floating islands on it. Each is made and inhabited by locals. There is no irrigation or other human use of the lake.  There are four rivers coming into it and flowing out. Lately a new species of frog, 12-15 cm size has been discovered in the lake. I think that is a humongous frog! The shape of the lake shows a puma eating a rabbit and the name of Titicaca comes from “grey Puma”. But this is all strange because there were no satellite images back then!

There were some natural islands also on the lake. The artificial ones are called Uros. The first island we stopped at was Uros Island at 8:30 am. It was made entirely of weeds from the lake. It was still raining so we sat inside one of the huts. Every single thing, the hut, the seat, the roof was all made of weeds.

Placido told us about the weeds: they can be used as food, fuel, building material, fodder etc. very useful! The island residents came to us with their goods. Ultimately it was all about making money. The smell on the island was bad. Maybe it was because of the rain also.

There was trash on the island. There was a pond with more weeds. It was all very scenic. The color contrasts were amazing.

So apparently one family lives on one island and there are about 20 islands like with about 200 people living on all of them. They are all tied to each other to prevent them from floating away during windy times. I did buy some small local stuff of the weed and I gave some chocolate to the kids.

Next stop was Tequile Island. This is a huge island (a real one!).  We docked on side of it and will be picked up later on another side. We walked for more than an hour to get to the center of the city – the Plaza. The walk was all uphill and not all of it was even. There were many vendors on the way. We met a lot of locals on the way – all dressed traditionally – red blouse and red skirt for women and pants and kurta type shirt for men. Men also wore hats. They would have belt also around their waist, we learned later what it meant.

The walk was very pretty, all very scenic, there were archways on the way – so beautiful. There were many flowers on the way. Placido showed us many medicinal plants – one of which is “munio” – very good for colds and digestion.

The central square was ok. We went up to the roof of store. The view was just amazing! The island and the lake…just gorgeous. The sun was now coming out and it was getting pleasant. At 12:30 pm we went to have our lunch – another 30 mins walk. There was no one there except us – so great service. Placido showed us all the variety of corn on the island. It was all so colorful – not all yellow, and it was all small size, about 6 inches.

Lunch was quinoa soup – sooo good! I have to learn how to make this. And omelet. Also good. We had tea made of the “minua” herbs – quite strong and flavorful.

While we were drinking, Placido told us about the customs of the island, how women wear blue skirts and red blouses, unmarried girls wear brighter clothes and cover their heads. When a man and woman decide to marry they cohabitate for three years to see if they are compatible. During this time the woman cuts her hair and weaves it into a belt with other threads. She makes patterns of what the couple has been achieving in their life. Once the couple has decided to stay together, the wife will give the belt to the husband as gift. The belt is usually very fine looking.

Almost everyone gets married on 3^rd May as that is the day the priest comes to the island! J

For men – they have three different caps: half pattern and half plain is for bachelors, half pattern and half plain with a line knitted in the middle means a bachelor looking for a wife. And all pattern means a married man. Men also carry coca leave pouches tied on their hips. When they meet someone they greet by exchanging coca leaves. These leaves come from Puno as they are not found on the island. And finally only adults can chew coca leaves.

When people die they are buried under or above the ground depending on how much money they have. Above ground is more expensive.  

One interesting thing about the men on Tequile Island is that they knit more than the women, and they are better in the designs, types, sizes etc... Placido was really good in telling all this…it was all such interesting stuff to know about a culture.

And finally – the men with the black hats are government officials. The jewelry on this island is very different and nice. Although the women do not seem to be wearing any themselves but they sure know how to make it! There was one best picturesque arch before we climbed down the stairs to our boat. It was just gorgeous – the sun had come out, the lake was all blue and so was the sky! Then 200 steps down the hill and we were in our boat.

After one hour of boat ride we came to Amantani Island. Placido talked to the men there and we got placed with Mrs. Fortunata. Apparently as the tourists arrive they get placed in the houses of their hosts, so the hosts also don’t really know who their guests will be.

We had our three bags and thus began our treacherous 1 mile trek to Mrs. Fortunata’s house. The walk was a killer! Too much up and down and one of it was a ravine! The house was very pretty, all made of mud. It looks picturesque. Our room was upstairs. Very simple and very sweet. The toilet was outside and not really hygienic. There is no running water in the house. There are a lot of pails and tubs around to store water.

We showed Placido all the stuff we had brought for the people and he helped us give some items to Mrs. Fortunata. Placido suggested we go up the mountain to see the sunset. So we thought okay, but then when I saw all the clouds, I said no, what’s the point? We won’t be able to see anything. So instead we sat in the community place for a while Placido went to get our other things that we wanted to donate.

There were a lot of white tourists here. They were playing soccer with the locals. They did trek up to see the sunset. Good for them! Sad news for them though – there was no sunset today. We went around to distribute the clothes and other items to a number of families. They seemed happy, I just hope they use the items.  It was nice to see all the houses.

We came back to our host’s house and sat in the kitchen. It was very much like an Indian kitchen with a chulha… there was a lot of smoke inside. We had coca tea and dinner around 7 pm.  Dinner was pasta soup with potatoes and rice with vegetables (more potatoes and beans etc.). It was all so good except it needed a little more salt.

We then went to our room and we waited to go to the party which will start at 9 pm. it was very cold at night. There was only one candle in the room and it was dark. So really there was not much to do. I was just cold to the bone! Mrs. Fortunata came around 9:15 pm with a local dress for Bhaiya and me. Bhaiya’s was a simple poncho and cap. Mine was a blouse, 2 skirts, a belt and finally a shawl. All tourists dress this way for the party, which is held when there are so many tourists. Which today is also special because it’s New Year’s Eve.

We walked with the help of flashlights to the community hall where all the jokers – oops the tourists were! (Including us!). The walk was really bad in the dark.

The room was full of people. So many young people. The party was okay. 5-6 young men were playing musical instruments and dancing was going on. The music was quite good. Each host would get up and get their guests to dance with them. Ours did too….it was really quite a nice community affair. No one really cared also how one danced – just get up and dance and have fun. After 12 am hit and we all said happy New Year, I said it was time to go.  It had been a nice but tiring day after all the walking.

The walk back was not so easy either. And worse – it was raining now! Mrs. Fortunata helped me undress – I was still wearing all my other clothes underneath – it was so cold! Bhaiya had to show the torch while went to the restroom – this was one of the worse parts of the trip.

The bed was not that comfortable, but no choice. It was so cold – but no choice!