We spent May 19th in Puno, mainly exploring the famous Lake Titikaka, which is on the border between Peru and Bolivia. Lake Titikaka is the highest navigable lake in the world, and it is at an altitude of 3810 metres. It is a very large lake, and at it’s widest length it is 190 km. We visited two areas on this lake: Uros Islands and Taquile Island.
To get to the boat which would take us to the islands we took a form of tuk-tuk, where we were the front carriage of a bicycle and rode on the street through traffic:
We first went to the Uros Islands, which are a group of about 44 artificial islands made of floating reeds. It was so interesting visiting these islands and learning about the people who live on them. Each island is inhabited by a number of families, all related to one another. The reeds that they use to make their islands grow naturally in the area, and are used for almost everything including making their houses, boats, chairs, and they even eat them!
We had the chance to actually visit one of the islands, meet the families on the island and see their homes. As our boat approached the island the family members were waiting for us.
It was so strange walking on reeds! There was a lot of spring in the ground, it almost felt like we were walking on a trampoline!
They gave us a demonstration on how the islands were made. Each island was made by hand by using reed roots which were dug up from other areas in the lake. These reed roots were used as the base of the island, and then reeds were piled in layers on top, and then finally the reed houses were built the very top. In order to make their fireplaces they needed to go to the mainland and get large stones for underneath the fire, because one flame could set the whole island on fire!
I was so amazed at how these families could live on these islands. First of all it was freezing (it was under 10 degrees Celsius), and there is no insolation in the reed houses. Secondly, the women wear authentic Peruvian clothing, which consists of many layers of skirts, and none of them wear shoes!
One of the ladies on the island invited me and my roommate into her home, and dressed us up in authentic clothing:
In order to make money, the women on the island make handicrafts like beautifully embroidered pillow cases and table cloths (which can be seen in the photo above).
I really enjoyed my visit to these islands, but I also found it a bit eye opening. I couldn’t imagine living on these islands, isolated from the city and without insolation from the cold!
We also visited Taquile island, which was just beautiful! The population of the island is about 2,200 people, and it’s a 2 hour boat ride from Puno. Our first challenge was to climb a very high hill, which was at an altitude of almost 4000 metres. This climb was actually pretty challenging! You don’t realize how much an effect the altitude has on you until you try to do some physical activity! It was well worth it because the view from the top was amazing.
The island had beautiful scenery as it was covered in hills and terraces and ruins.
We had the chance to meet a local family, and they taught us some interesting things about their culture. First off, all Taquile men wear hats, and the style of the hat is different depending on if they are married or not. If they are unmarried they wear a white hat, with a bright bottom and a bright pom-pom at the end, but if they are married they wear a colourful hat with a bright pom-pom at the end. For unmarried men, depending on the side the pom-pom falls it indicates whether or not they are in a relationship (but not yet married). In the photo below, two guys from my tour are demonstrating the hats.
Male children also wear these hats, but they will let the pom-pom fall in the back of their head, indicating that they are not looking for a relationship.
We also learned about how the Taquil people find their partners. If a boy likes a girl, it is customary for them to throw a small stone at the girl. If the girl then throws a stone back at him then the connection is made, but if the girl does not then it indicates that she is not interested. Another way to get a girl’s attention is to shine a mirror towards her house so the light is reflected into the house. If she shines a mirror back then she is interested. Hearing these rituals makes me realize how complicated we make the dating ritual in our culture!
While we visited the family we were shown some of their traditional clothing:
After visiting the family, we had a chance to interact with some of the children. Before visiting the island we stopped at a local shop to buy treats for the kids like fruit, crayons, colouring books, etc. The kids were very happy with their presents!
Before leaving the island we had more of a chance to walk around and see how beautiful the island was:
I really enjoyed my visit to Lake Titikaka. I learned a lot about how the people live in two different parts of the lake, and I was able to see some beautiful views. All in all a great day!!
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