Advertisement
Published: June 14th 2009
Edit Blog Post
Lake Titicaca
A traditional boat on the island of Uros Goodbye Cusco We had a full day in Cusco after the trek to rest up. I didn’t do very much that day. Was there any surprise in that? I spent some time wandering around the city, looking around before going back to the hotel for some R&R.
After four days of hard slog, we deserved a party. And party we did. We participated in a pub quiz and won (although, really we had to split our group up and so in reality only half of our group won that night). The prize? A very large bottle of rum and a very small bottle of coke. Later that night, we continued our party at a local club, with trashy Latin & Western music till very early the next morning - The day we would have to be on a bus for another 7 hours. Urgh! Hangovers for everyone would ensure that the bus ride would not be a very happy experience for all.
Lake Titicaca Homestay Our next stop after Cusco was Puno. I was told that Puno didn't have a lot to offer by way of attractions, except of course, Lake Titicaca, so our first night
My first glimpse of Puno
From the bus looking out to Lake Titicaca and Puno didn't involve a lot of activity other than a meal and bed. The following day we set of bright and early for our nights home-stay on the island of Llachon with the Kollpa community.
We headed out along Lake Titicaca to first visit the man-made floating islands of ‘Uros’. Essentially, a series of islands made from the roots of reeds that grow around the Lake itself, fastened together by a series of poles & secured by an anchor. Each ‘island’ generally consisted of 8 or more families living together subsisting on the roots of the reeds themselves and local fish & birds in the area. We spent some time with them, while they explained their lifestyle, how they build the islands themselves and took us for a ride in their reed boats.
Leaving the island behind, we then continued toward the island of Llachon to spend the night with the Kollpa community. We were met at the port by the head of the community, who divided us amongst the participating home stay families. Laura & I stayed with Benecia, her husband & children, Diana & Johnny who fed us some vegetable soup before taking us back to the
grassland area by the port for a communal lunch of ‘huatia’; a whole lot of different potatoes, yams & beans cooked underground over a hot stone fire and served with a selection of fresh vegetables & cheese. The Kollpa community is predominantly vegetarian, eating a little bit of meat, usually on a Sunday. You never really know how much you miss something until it isn’t available to you, and in this case it was meat. I spent the rest of that day, night & the following morning fantasising about a bbq pork chop, whilst eating an extraordinary amount of potatoes. It didn’t help that I had to watch the family pig roam free, oinking at me, whilst I was stuffing myself with yet another potato.
Later that afternoon, a game of volleyball was organised, a favourite past time for the locals and one where the women are generally the champions. We fought long and hard and after many hours of play finally managed to win a round against the local team (or maybe they just felt sorry for us and gave us at least one round). After dinner, Laura & I sat with Diana, her mother & her aunt
Isnt she gorgeous
Diana's cousin who joined us to lay out the nets for fish. Here she is wearing her 'single' girls hat in their mud kitchen peeling fava beans, potatoes & carrots for dinner. We sat there talking about ourselves, telling them about what we did back in our own countries & what they do day-to-day as part of their community. I struggled a bit when they started in detailed Spanish - but it was great to be able to converse with them, ask questions, explain things, and be understood. I got so much more out of the experience just by being able to communicate and was once again ecstatic about my decision to learn Spanish in Central America when I did.
The next morning, we woke up early to join Johnny with the morning fishing, caught 14 very small fish, and went back in time for breakfast, while Diana & Johnny quickly dressed for school. We said our goodbyes to the family and were each given a present of some munya mint to take with us.
We then set sail for our next destination, Taquile island, an island renown for their knitting men. On this island, men wear different knitted hats to symbolise if they are married, single or seeking a partner. Women wear different sized pompoms on their
On the boat
Laura in her 'single' girls hat with Diana, Johnny & her cousin coats to symbolise the same thing. According to Taquile tradition, when a man proposes to a woman, the woman’s father decides whether it is a good match by inspecting the knitting of the man who proposed. Additionally, women who consider a man’s proposal accept only after running to the lake with the man’s hat to see how well it holds water. The better the knitting, the better the man! How simple it would be if this theory were true for some men out there.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.076s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0422s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb