| Dec 3, 2005 - Lake Titicaca, Peruvian side
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 | Me on the boat out to the reed islands
| | One of the reed islands
| | Another island, the people are the Uros
| | The reed boats
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 | Isla Kontiki, the one we visited
| | A girl on Isla Kontiki
| | 2 homes on Isla Kontiki
| | People on my tour, & cooking lunch in the background
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 | Some locals of Isla Kontiki
| | Cute baby eating reeds
| | The reeds of the Isla Kontiki
| | Man and son, in front of their home
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 | Another island, and that's really all of it
| | Me from the Isla Kontiki lookout tower
| | Me on top of the Isla Kontiki lookout tower
| | Coming down the Isla Kontiki lookout tower
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 | The tour, on a reed boat to visit another reed island
| | Isla Kontiki from the water
| | Raising the reed sail on the baot
| | Me on the reed boat
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 | Kids on the island, with a tourist
| | Local boy
| | More local boys
| | Same boys, funnier expressions
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 | Reed huts, using the Sepia color featre
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| | Closer up of the same huts
| | Me, locals, and another tour member
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 | Kids inside one of the huts
| | Going from the reed islands to Amantani
| | Local sailor on the lake
| | Me chilling on the deck
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 | Another island
| | On the island Amantani
| | Terrace fields of Amantani
| | 2 of the boys from my host family
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 | The boys doing laundry
| | More of the family chores
| | Their 16y.o. sister now helping
| | This kid was great
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 | Host mother at the kitchen stove (bucket chimney)
| | Me and the family
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| | Rachel getting ready for the dance
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 | Rachel and the host sister
| | Me and Ioan, ready to go
| | Our family, at the dance
| | The musicians
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 | | The older musicians
| | Scenes from the crazy party
| | Back in Puno with some tour-mates, relaxing at the hostel
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| Lake Titicaca is called the highest navigable lake in the world at 3,800m. It is also massively huge. I had expected it to at least somewhat remind me of Lake Tahoe where I lived in California but I was way off. You constantly feel like you are in the middle of an ocean since you can only see what coast at a time, if any, and are usually actualy looking at the large islands that dot the lake. Our tour had about 20 people on it from all over the world, who were all really great people to be spending time with. The first stop were the floating reed islands of Lake Titicaca, adn they are exactly what they sounds like. The Aymara (i think) people were once slaves to the Spaniards. When they were freed, they sought isolation from the rest of the people surrounding them, so constructed these small yet inhabitable islands out of the only thing they had in abundance: reeds. The underside is a sort of tight mud and roots held together, and then there is about a 5 feet or so of reeds jsut piled on top of it to make ground. They say they need to repair the underside of the island and put a fresh coat of reeds down every so often, and it can take a month or so do finish the job. Their houses and their boats are also made of these reeds, which they eat as well. They are actually able to grow limited crops in limited numbers, but people from the mainland come every Sunday with goods for a barter/cash market as well. When I say small, I mean the two islands we visited were maybe about 100ft in diameter tops.
So we spent a bit of time on two different islands then had a 3-4 hour ride out to the actual island of Amantani where we were to spend the night. We got to the shore where representatives from our families were waiting to meet us, they divided us into pairs or threes, and we were sent off to go "home". I was in a family with Ioan and Rachel from Wales. We sat in our room for a bit, and then sat in the kitchen talking with the mom while she prepared our lunch. It was very interesting to be able to witness and experience what island life is like on the lake, and they actually reminded me a lot of my second homestay while I was in Nepal. The kitchen is made of mud and very primitive pots cooked over an open fire. Their chimney is actually just a bucket with the bottom cut out, turned upside down, stuck into a hole in the mud wall and sealed around the edges. I thought that was pretty genius. For lunch, we had a soup followed by some boiled potatoes and half a hard-boiled egg. The family consisted of the mom who was 32, her daughter who was 16, and then three boys of 12, 8, and 6 I think. The husband lived and worked in the town of Juliaca a few hours away on the mainland and came to visit for a few days or a week every six months or so. This is how they lived for the past 2 years since he left to find work there.
In the afternoon the whole tour group met back up to get a tour fo some ruins on the island and watch the sunset from a high vantage point. After, we went back to our homes for dinner, and then got ready for the party. Part of the tour involves a "dance" at night where the local kids play traditional music and our families lead us in dancing the traditional Wayno dance. They also dress us up in local clothing, which for the girls means quite a long setup to get into their dress, but for the boys just means throwing on a large poncho and a colorful ski hat like the kind all the guys here now wear. The dance was a funny experience for a bit, but also seemed a bit forced and we where all tired anyway. I guess I can take the time here to comment on the tour. As a whole, it made me feel very uncomfortable and I sorta didn't like it. I mean, I am so glad I got to see what I did and experience it all, but it felt wrong. LIke I wish this type of tourism never existed, but since it does of course I am going to want to take advantage of it. Its one thing to visit someone's home or country when there is something of historical or cultural importance there, but this is a tour just to watch the people live. We walk onto their reed island and stare at them for a while. Then we go to Amantani and storm their homes for a whirlwind experience and take pictures of them living thier daily lives. I guess it was compounded by the fact that none of these people seemed to interested in having foreigners come by either, except for the fact that we brought money. Even our tour guide seemed to be very bored and jsut rushing us through the motions, only making sure to tell us who we should tip, where we could by things, and who to bring gifts to. I thought maybe the homestay part would have some valuable exchange, but they really did not care much at all. More like, "ok, here's your food, where's our gifts, lets dress you up and get this dance thing over with so we can go to sleep and you will leave." That was my impression, and quite a few people on my tour agreed with me. However, overall the experience was still a positive one, and was saved largely by the amazing and funny people on it. The boat rides were especially great just hangin out and sharing stories and making fun of the whole experience. Likewise, Ioan and Rachel were great people to share a room with and I got a crash course on UK history and geography. Only when you are with the Welsch can you here someone say "he was a right twat of a bloke" when describing a guy he didn't like, and not even bat an eye while saying it.
So the next day we woke up for a quick breakfast, and returned to the boat for a ride over to Taquile. Taquile is a nearby island yet comes from a different culture of people, and is run as a cooperative. That means it is basically a communist place, where there is one mayor who is selected each year but never decided to run or become a candidate himself, just chosen by the people. In their market all the goods have a tag with the family name that made it and the price, and the families rotate who run it each week. At the end of the week allt he families gather to sort out what was sold and who is owed what. Also, all the restaurants rotate customers as well. So when a tour shows up they are told where to have lunch, and the next tour will be sent somewhere else, so that it all stays even. Finally, there is no way to buy any land on the island, since they won't sell it, and you can only live there if you marry into the commmunity. It sounded alright to me. We landed on one side and took a walk to the other side of the island where we stopped for lunch, and then continued on back down to the boat.
From here we took the boat back to Puno and all parted ways. Some people took off immediately, but I decided to spend the night and take a bus to Copacabana in Bolivia the next day. So I checked into a room with these two Finnish brothers (Vikke and Topi) from my tour, and eventually went out to meet Ioan and Rachel for dinner. At night Ioan and I went out together, and ran into Henry from Enlgand (the guy from my first hostel in Quito, who I also saw in Aguas Calientes at Machu Picchu, and who was on Amantani the same night as us but with a different tour company). Are you all starting to see how common this Gringo Trail is, and how often you run into the same people over and over and over? |
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