Peru - Day 9 - Taquile and Amantani


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South America » Peru » Puno » Lake Titicaca » Taquile Island
June 15th 2008
Published: July 5th 2008
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Well, I'm finally updating this blog, after having been neglecting it for quite some time. Today is July 4th, so this entry is a good 3 weeks overdue!

We woke up early for breakfast on the rooftop patio at the restaurant (coca tea was Definately in order after all those stairs!), and met downstairs in the lobby at 7:30am. We were met by our guide Marco, who would be with us the whole time out on Lake Titicaca. We all headed outside and hopped in our "Limousines" for the downhill trip to the harbour. Now, when I say Limousines, what I really mean is two-passenger tuk-tuks with a bicycle attached. We had a total of 8 Limos for our trip, and the race was pretty fierce, but Fran and I managed to come in second to Shane and Ashley. It was an awesome experience, I'm sure someone has a video of the trip. Puno is a pretty small city by most standards, but has been growing rapidly over the last twenty-years because of increased tourism.

We got to the harbour and bought some presents for our families at a small market there, then all hopped on a boat for the two-hour trip to Taquile Island. The boats that GAP uses are owned by local families, they build them, then rent them out to various tour operators, along with a captain and a first-officer.

Our trip was fairly uneventful, but quite beautiful. The lake is huge, and it lies at about 3800m above sea level, so the air is pretty thin there. Upon arrival to Taquile Island, we were greeted by the sight of a huge hill (keep in mind that I was getting tired climbing to the 5th floor of our hotel in Puno). We hiked up fairly quickly, pausing for breath only about half-a-dozen times. The path was paved with nice, flat, flagstones, clearly a product of local labour. At the top, the path passed through an alley before opening on the main square. It was pretty apparent that tourism played a large part in their economy, they had restaurants and a weaving co-op. We had lunch at a small family restaurant, the fresh trout was fantastic!

Taquile Island has it's own culture, with some pretty interesting customs that revolve around different hats. Seriously. Hats.

For example, if a man is single, he wears a hat (a long, knitted, pointy dealie) that is half-red, half-white. He will wear this hat until he gets married, or becomes a community leader. Women wear brightly coloured skirts and blouses if they are single. When a man and woman get together, they must live together for at least a year before they are allowed to get married. During this time, they still wear the "single" clothes, and theoretically could still be seeing other people. If the woman gets pregnant, however, the couple Must get married. There is no divorce. When a man gets married (intentionally or not), he changes his hat to a solid red one. The woman goes to a black blouse with a red skirt. The men must knit their own hats, and the quality of their work is considered a factor in their qualifications as a potential husband. I'm guessing that they probably have sayings like "it's like a man who can't knit: Useless". :-)

There is another hat-clothes indicator, and that is a black hat with a black waistband. This indicates a man who is a community leader, or authority. They are freely elected from the members of the community, and make decisions about matters that affect their entire community. There are about 6 communities on the island, so the leaders also participate in a leaders council, which deals with things that affect the entire island population. Their society is based on the communal good, so if one person needs help harvesting his crops, or building a house, the entire community comes to help out. The island operates on pretty much the same principles as it did 600 years ago, albeit with solar panels, satellite telephones, and TVs. Their society is founded on the three Incan rules: 1. Don't be lazy, 2. Don't lie, and 3. Don't Steal. It seems to work pretty darn well. One of the houses near the restaurant looked like it was built quite recently, and when asked, Marco told us that it probably took about 4 hours to build, because the entire island would have come to help out. Incredible.

After we left Taquile island, we headed over to Amantani Island, where we were going to have our homestay. Elard had taught us all how to play a new cardgame (shithead) on the way to Taquile from Puno, so we played that on the way. Once we arrived at Amantani, we gathered in a small square near the docks, and were sent off to our host families in pairs. Naturally, everyone kept the same pairing as they had for the hotel rooms, so I was again the odd one out. When it got to the end, Megan and Abby, bless their hearts, offered to share with me, but I declined for reasons I'm still not sure of. I was actually pretty worried about staying with my own family, alone, but thankfully Elard gave me the option to share with him and Marco. I considered staying by myself, but in the end chickened out and stayed with them. Looking back, the best choice probably would have been to go with Megan and Abby, as I think I would have had more interested contact with the family, but I still had a great time. The home that I stayed at was pretty big overall, I had a room with three beds to myself, Elard had the same, and Marco had a room with a radio. The homes were solar powered, so we had electricity for lights at night even! The toilet at my place was pretty much a normal toilet sans-seat, and a bucket of water to flush with. I'm pretty sure it all just went down into a hole in the ground.

After about an hour or so, our "mom" came to bring us to the football match "Locals vs. Out-of-breath Tourists 2008!". She gave me a hat to wear (of the keep-your-ears-warm kind), and along with Elard.

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