Lake Titicaca
Lake Titicaca is very beautiful and very very big. It's around 180 km long and 60 km wide. In some places it looks like a sea. It is at an altitude of 3,820 meters (12,533 feet) and it left me completely breathless. I though that after my stay in Cuzco and the Inca Trail I am accommodated to the high altitude but I am really not. I wake several times during the night feeling as if I was suffocating and I have the strangest dreams connected to all I heard about the Incas - I dream of them, the pumas, condors and snakes, but also about the people I know, the people I don't know... maybe it's the fact that I visit all these sacred places and hear so many legends and various myths or maybe it's just lack of oxygen. Apart form the altitude sickness all is well.
I bought a tour to the islands of the Lake Titicaca because it's really the only way to see them. It would be hard to do it alone as there's not much traffic between the islands and Puno - fishermen come to Puno on various days of the week and there's no regular boat service. The tour was very inexpensive ($12 for two days and it included everything: the boat, the guide, the food, the overnight stay at Atamani) and it's mostly for people who are backpackers and enjoy adventure so it was really nice. We first visited the floating islands of the Uros Indians. They live on platforms made of tortora reeds which are anchored to the mud by wooden poles. They started living on the lake in the pre-Inca times, during the reign of the Colla culture. There are 42 islands and about 120,000 people live on them. Everything on these islands is made of tortora reeds, the "ground" on which the village is built, the houses, the boats they use for taking their catch (they are a tribe of fishermen) to the shore to exchange for goods they need in daily life. Walking on the tortora bed is funny - you can actually feel you are walking on something soft that is floating on water.
After visitng the floating islands we went to the Island of Amantani. The Island is basically a mountain so everywhere you go, you either go up or down. Only tarrases on which crops are grown are leveled. It's a very peaceful island: there's no tv and no machinery of any kind. It's completely quiet. There are a few solar panels and a few stores and a few houses have electricity. When we arrived a group of young women greeted us. We were assigned to them to spend the night with their families. This is the only way to spend a night on the island. All the women were wearing white richly embroidered blouses, very puffy skirts of various bright colors (they were unmarried; the married women wear black skirts), black showls on their hads, and black sandals). This is what they always wear and have been wearing for centuries... Women always weave, knit or spinn wool on spindles they carry with them, even when walking. According to the Inca's tradition one should follow three principles of not stealing, not lying and not being lazy. They take great care not to be lazy... There are eight communites living on the island. The houses are made of clay and grass bricks and they are very clean, inside and outside. Bathrooms are outside, there's no shower or anything like that - baths are taken in the lake. I was assigned to the house of Ruth together with Ai, a Japanese girl who is also travelling alone. We got to the house and the altitude made us totally exhausted - we just dropped on our beds and took a nap until dinnertime... complete laziness... After dinner we went with the rest of our group to the sacred temple of Pacha Tata - Father Earth. I walked around it three times anti-clockwise for my wishes to come true... What is interesting about all these Indian cultures of Peru is that even though most of them were converted to Christianity and consider themselves Catholics, they never stopped worshiping the gods their ancestor worshipped long time ago - they never abonded the ancient temples which were built long before the Christianity was brought to them. Pacha Mama and Pacha Tata (Mother Earth and Father Earth) and all the sacred animals and places, and equinoxes and full moons, are as important as traditional Christian holidays. When we returned from the temple (a very old, basic round structure of stones with an arch leading to it) we were presented with traditional clothing to wear during the dance in the evening. I got a green skirt and Ai a red one. The mother of the house dressed us: first she put on us the long white embroidered blouses, then underskirts, then the skirts (wool, thick and layered), and last wide bands around our waists to support the skirts. She was a strong woman and she tied the bands so tightly that we could hardly breathe... It was alreday dark (the sun sets at 6.00 pm there) and Ruth took us in complete darkness to the dance house. There we met with all other people from our group and local people. There were two bands playing wonderful music. The girls showed us how to dance the traditional dance; it's not hard - you just have to get the rhythm witch is always the same - and we were dancing till breathless... We danced in pairs and did all kinds of conga lines. It was a lot of fun. I have a few really nice pictures from the dance - you will see them one day - and of Ai and myself in the very feminine outfit. The Amantani women looked very beatufiul in it. They are all short and plump, their hair tied in braids. They look and feel beautiful. There's no tv here so the western idea of a tall anorectic blonde as an ideal of beauty to aspire to didn't reach them yet... They are happy with the way Pacha Mama created them. The next morning we ate breakfast with the family, thanked them for their hospitality and left to join the rest of the group who already collected on the shore to go to the island of Taquile.
Taquile island belonged to a Spaniard named Taquile during the Spaniards' reign and the name remained. There are 2,000 people living on the island and they speak Quechua (the Amantanis speak Aymara). The outfits are slightly different. For women they are almost the same as for Amantani women (the blacks showls are not embroidered but have tossles attached to them) but men wear specific hats resembling nightcaps - the married ones wear hats in one color, the single men's hats are half color half white. Marriage is very important to Taquileans. The guide told us that men and women live together for a few years before they get married but when they marry it's for life and the entire island is invited to the wedding - it's a huge celebration. Here women and also men! weave and knit everywhere they go. It was such a peculiar sight to see men knitting hats using five needles!
It took us 3 hours to come back to Puno from Taquile because the boat was very slow - it looked like a fishing boat made to accommodate people. I came back tired because of the altitude and the heat. I will rest till the end of the day and tomorrow I will head to Bolivia. I asked around and the yellow fever vaccine is not necessary in Bolivia (and I won't go to the jungle so I should be fine). Claudio, I sent you an e-mail some time ago asking about the vaccine (I am reluctant to get it because I heard that it's really tough and has many side effects) and I haven't heard from you - did you get it? I lost my e-mail address book in my o2.pl account so I am writing here hoping that you will read it. All other friends: I respond to all e-mails I get from you so those who write to me regulary - I have your e-mails, but all other persons - I don't have all e-mail addresses in my memory so please write to me if you would like to get a personal letter from me. I have a printed list of e-mail addresses but I left it in Lima...
I bought a tour to the islands of the Lake Titicaca because it's really the only way to see them. It would be hard to do it alone as there's not much traffic between the islands and Puno - fishermen come to Puno on various days of the week and there's no regular boat service. The tour was very inexpensive ($12 for two days and it included everything: the boat, the guide, the food, the overnight stay at Atamani) and it's mostly for people who are backpackers and enjoy adventure so it was really nice. We first visited the floating islands of the Uros Indians. They live on platforms made of tortora reeds which are anchored to the mud by wooden poles. They started living on the lake in the pre-Inca times, during the reign of the Colla culture. There are 42 islands and about 120,000 people live on them. Everything on these islands is made of tortora reeds, the "ground" on which the village is built, the houses, the boats they use for taking their catch (they are a tribe of fishermen) to the shore to exchange for goods they need in daily life. Walking on the tortora bed is funny - you can actually feel you are walking on something soft that is floating on water.
After visitng the floating islands we went to the Island of Amantani. The Island is basically a mountain so everywhere you go, you either go up or down. Only tarrases on which crops are grown are leveled. It's a very peaceful island: there's no tv and no machinery of any kind. It's completely quiet. There are a few solar panels and a few stores and a few houses have electricity. When we arrived a group of young women greeted us. We were assigned to them to spend the night with their families. This is the only way to spend a night on the island. All the women were wearing white richly embroidered blouses, very puffy skirts of various bright colors (they were unmarried; the married women wear black skirts), black showls on their hads, and black sandals). This is what they always wear and have been wearing for centuries... Women always weave, knit or spinn wool on spindles they carry with them, even when walking. According to the Inca's tradition one should follow three principles of not stealing, not lying and not being lazy. They take great care not to be lazy... There are eight communites living on the island. The houses are made of clay and grass bricks and they are very clean, inside and outside. Bathrooms are outside, there's no shower or anything like that - baths are taken in the lake. I was assigned to the house of Ruth together with Ai, a Japanese girl who is also travelling alone. We got to the house and the altitude made us totally exhausted - we just dropped on our beds and took a nap until dinnertime... complete laziness... After dinner we went with the rest of our group to the sacred temple of Pacha Tata - Father Earth. I walked around it three times anti-clockwise for my wishes to come true... What is interesting about all these Indian cultures of Peru is that even though most of them were converted to Christianity and consider themselves Catholics, they never stopped worshiping the gods their ancestor worshipped long time ago - they never abonded the ancient temples which were built long before the Christianity was brought to them. Pacha Mama and Pacha Tata (Mother Earth and Father Earth) and all the sacred animals and places, and equinoxes and full moons, are as important as traditional Christian holidays. When we returned from the temple (a very old, basic round structure of stones with an arch leading to it) we were presented with traditional clothing to wear during the dance in the evening. I got a green skirt and Ai a red one. The mother of the house dressed us: first she put on us the long white embroidered blouses, then underskirts, then the skirts (wool, thick and layered), and last wide bands around our waists to support the skirts. She was a strong woman and she tied the bands so tightly that we could hardly breathe... It was alreday dark (the sun sets at 6.00 pm there) and Ruth took us in complete darkness to the dance house. There we met with all other people from our group and local people. There were two bands playing wonderful music. The girls showed us how to dance the traditional dance; it's not hard - you just have to get the rhythm witch is always the same - and we were dancing till breathless... We danced in pairs and did all kinds of conga lines. It was a lot of fun. I have a few really nice pictures from the dance - you will see them one day - and of Ai and myself in the very feminine outfit. The Amantani women looked very beatufiul in it. They are all short and plump, their hair tied in braids. They look and feel beautiful. There's no tv here so the western idea of a tall anorectic blonde as an ideal of beauty to aspire to didn't reach them yet... They are happy with the way Pacha Mama created them. The next morning we ate breakfast with the family, thanked them for their hospitality and left to join the rest of the group who already collected on the shore to go to the island of Taquile.
Taquile island belonged to a Spaniard named Taquile during the Spaniards' reign and the name remained. There are 2,000 people living on the island and they speak Quechua (the Amantanis speak Aymara). The outfits are slightly different. For women they are almost the same as for Amantani women (the blacks showls are not embroidered but have tossles attached to them) but men wear specific hats resembling nightcaps - the married ones wear hats in one color, the single men's hats are half color half white. Marriage is very important to Taquileans. The guide told us that men and women live together for a few years before they get married but when they marry it's for life and the entire island is invited to the wedding - it's a huge celebration. Here women and also men! weave and knit everywhere they go. It was such a peculiar sight to see men knitting hats using five needles!
It took us 3 hours to come back to Puno from Taquile because the boat was very slow - it looked like a fishing boat made to accommodate people. I came back tired because of the altitude and the heat. I will rest till the end of the day and tomorrow I will head to Bolivia. I asked around and the yellow fever vaccine is not necessary in Bolivia (and I won't go to the jungle so I should be fine). Claudio, I sent you an e-mail some time ago asking about the vaccine (I am reluctant to get it because I heard that it's really tough and has many side effects) and I haven't heard from you - did you get it? I lost my e-mail address book in my o2.pl account so I am writing here hoping that you will read it. All other friends: I respond to all e-mails I get from you so those who write to me regulary - I have your e-mails, but all other persons - I don't have all e-mail addresses in my memory so please write to me if you would like to get a personal letter from me. I have a printed list of e-mail addresses but I left it in Lima...
posted by Asia Kabat at 4:43 PM
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