After all the adventures in Cusco the boy and I made our way to Puno to see Lake Titicaca. Puno itself was not much to see but the highest lake in the world is incredibly impressive. It sits at 3, 812 metres above sea level, can be up to 107 metres deep, encompasses 41 islands and its sheer size is unlike any lake I had ever seen. After staying in an incredibly questionable hostel (not just no hot water, no water at all - new low for dodgy Sud American hostels), we embarked on a tour we had booked with an ecotourism company to visit some islands and stay overnight on one of them with a local family. We first visited Uros, a floating island and the largest of its kind in Lagos Titcaca. The Uros tribe lives here, one which pre-dates the Inca civilization. According to their legends, this superior tribe existed before the sun, when the earth was still dark and cold, impervious to drowning or being struck by lightning. After mixing with humand and disobeying the universal order they lost their status and became susceptible to death and disease. Shamed and vulnerable the people scattered, losing their identity, language and customs. The remaining tribe became the Uro-Aymaras and, based on their now simple and precarious lifestyle, the Incas thought them worth little. Yet the mighty Incas, with their huge stone temples and great mountain-top cities, were outlasted by the Uros with their basic reed homes.
It was quite an strange feeling to step onto this man made island that consisted of very solid but springy totora reeds. The totora reeds are used for everything, for the island itself, for furniture, boats, handicrafts and even to eat. You peel the reeds like a banana and eat the exposed fleshy stalk which didn't taste bad at all (although it didn't really taste like anything). The main actitivies and sources of income on Uros Island used to be fishing but is now, unfortunately like most of Peru, tourism. As a result we got dressed in the local clothing (which is quite bright and fun), brought little knicknacks for exorabant prices (still having moral dilemmas about the implications of supporting the tourism industry but seeing as we were there and therefore the reason behind this new source of income, ended up with 2 ridiculously expensive little bracelets), and had lots of photos pretending we lived in the reed huts on the island. After the fun and games we took a 3 hour boat ride across to Armantani island where we would be staying the night.
On Armantani our new 'Mama' met us off the boat and took us for a steep walk up to her house. She was lovely but it was quite ironic calling her Mama especially as she was only 2 or so years older than Kim. She grew up on the island and had only ever left Armantani once in her whole life. Her lovely but shy husband had gone to Lima for a few years to work but had returned after he found the cars, people and smog too much. Which was very understandable as Armantani is an incredibly peaceful and beautiful island. Tourists arrived 40 years ago but the island has maintained an existence that is intimate and somewhat quiet (despite a few children trying to sell us artisans in which they ceased to be cute very, very quickly and became downright annoying pushy little pests). After Mama made us a delicious lunch we rejoined our group to hike to the top of the island in the late afternoon to see the sunset. We had a great guide, Leo, who filled us in on the history and way of life of Armantani inbetween giggles. As we made our way higher and higher to the top of the island we were treated to absolutely breathtaking views that made us feel like we were on the edge of the earth looking out onto the never-ending ocean. That's how massive Lagos Titicaca is. After seeing an impressive sunset, which I hope stays with me for a long time, we made our way back to our homestay for dinner. Afterwards we got dressed in the islands traditional costume and went to a discoteque in the local hall. It was great, like an awkward high school dance, everyone sitting on chairs around the outside of the room waiting to be asked to dance. Luckily my boy is the king of awkwardness, took it in his stride and we (he) were soon busting out some pretty impressive dance moves much to our Mama's entertainment. When the locals and the band got bored of us everyone started heading home. After we found our Mama, who was conveniently hiding behind the punch bowl (naughty Mama), we headed back to her house under the most incredible and clear night sky. It was pitch black with what seemed like millions of sparkling starts, no clouds, no pollution, just the beautiful infinte that made me feel tiny and insignificant.
Kim and I both thought that the homestay would involve a pretty basic but appealing traditional little hut-sort of house but instead we found ourselves in a double story sizable house which was much nicer, and cleaner, than some of the hostels we've stayed in. Whilst it was lovely and comfortable we both took delight in the kitchen which, as Mama explained to us rather apologetically, was yet to be renovated. It was a tiny mud room with no electricity and only a small amount of ventilation for the fire. We had joined Mama whilst she was preparing dinner and she did it all by a tiny candle, a single knife and clay pots. It was kind of the only part which, as great as everything else was, seemed a little like the a glimpse into the actual 'authentic' way of life. Now, don't worry, the anthropologist in me knows that a single snapshot is not representative of a culture and that everyone's way of life is fluid, constantly moving, engaging with external and internal influences, and it was quite obvious to see the influences of tourism on the island and especially on this family. But the anthropologist in me also took a childish delight in witnessing this older way of being, the Island family I had imagined.
The next morning we got up early for breakfast and then after saying our goodbyes to our new family we then went to the nearby island Taquile. We explored the island for a while, finding our way to Plaza de Armas and witnessing the clever irrigation and wind powered systems the people of this island employed. Afterwards we had an amazing lunch at the top of the island overlooking the lake. The boy and I bailed on lunch a little early so we could jump into Lagos Titicaca which was absolutely freezing. I dont think i've ever swum in anything so cold in my life, we were both gasping for breath so hard our lungs burnt. It was exhilarating and hopefully had some sort of healing properties as rumored. We did get called Crazy Gringos but the Australian in us both just missed the ocean so badly and Lagos Titicaca was a sweet compensation. We returned to the mainland on top of the boat speeding across the lake with the wind chilling but drying our cold bones and our wet clothes streaming out behind us, like they were waving goodbye to Lagos Titicaca.
No comments:
Post a Comment