From Colac Canyon, we drove 6 hours to Puno, a town on Lake Titicaca (but pronounced “Titihaha”). This was our start and end point for our Lake adventure, at 3880m above sea level. We are finally getting acclimatised to the higher altitude.
We started our lake adventure by first sailing out of Puno to the reed islands, which house the Uros community, and their famous reed boats. This is a community that all live on floating islands made out of around 1 meter of sponge soil and at least 1 meter of Chris-crossing layers of fresh reeds. It is very strange walking on these islands as they do move with the waves.
It is incredible to see a whole community, with churches, schools, homes all floating. Each home has a boat instead of a car to get around, with water channels replacing roads. However the homes are all tiny, essentially a big garden shed (that you would find in the UK). It’s an interesting community, one that is very restrictive. You can’t just go and make your own island to live on, you can only join by marrying into the Uros community. Apparently the youngsters enjoy going into the reeds to find a bit of privacy from their parents… As our guide said “Two go in, and three come back”
Whilst in the island community, we took a traditional boat ride “across” town to a cafe. The boat was made out of reeds, it actually looked a bit like a catamaran with its two reed bunches on which they put a wooden platform for the passengers and rowers. The boats vary in grandiosity, but ours had 2 puma heads on the front of each float.
After the reed islands we sailed on, to Amantani Island. This island was a more traditional island made out of solid rock. Once we disembarked, we got to meet our local family with whom we would be spending the night with. Our host was Elizabeth, and her family. It was quite the hike up to their home, where they served us lunch. As the community is mostly self-sustaining, they mainly eat vegetarian meals as there is not enough space and food for having cattle, pigs or sheep. They do have some sheep and pigs, but those are reserved for special occasions such as weddings or festivals.
After lunch we got to hike up the hill to one of the two sacred sites: Pachatata. This translates to Father Earth. Each year the villagers walk up to the top, with 3 coca leaves in their hands walk around the site 3 times, anticlockwise, and then make a wish. On the other hill top, is the other sacred site: Pachamama (Mother Earth). From the top we also got to see a very cloudy sunset.
The community also organised a bit of a party in the town hall for all the visitors. We borrowed some of the local clothes, and dressed up as they would and got to join in with the festivities. It was an awesome night of dancing to Peruvian music. Most of it was dancing in a circle, starting with small ones and joining up until there is just one big circle. Also very tiring as the songs just keeps on going! Needless to say we all crashed when we got back to the house.
The next day we got to visit a neighbouring island, Taquile. Whilst similar it was different. For example, the dresses and hats were very different in style. They also have a bit more varied diet, which includes fish. We got to try some delicious lake trout. Yum!
Whilst on the island we got to learn a bit more about their culture. It’s a very community centred and controlled system. Any couple that is interested in getting married, needs to live together for at least 2 years (max 10 years) under the watchful eyes of the community. If they are compatible, then they can get married. And instead of wedding rings, the men collect the hair of their wife-to-be and use it in a weaved belt/sash. This way they always have their wife close to them…. The men also wear a floppy hat, and depending on its colour will indicate whether they are married or single. It is such a different culture and it was amazing to learn more about it.
The flora is also interesting. They use lots of different plants for medication, cooking and home uses. One specific plant amazed us, called Chuho by the locals. When crushed and then mixed with water, creates a detergent/shampoo. We saw a local make it really foamy and then clean a piece of sheep’s wool, turning it from a creamy dusty colour to nearly pure white.
It has been an amazing experience!
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