Lago Titicaca (Peruvian Side) – Puno, Sillustani & The Floating Reed Islands of the Uros
Arriving in Puno I discovered a town that was far more attractive and safe than I had been lead to believe by other travellers. I spent a day visiting Sillustani, one of the largest necropolises in the world, comprising many stone “Chullpas” or stone funerary towers of the pre-Inca Kolla culture (1200-1450AD). This was quite impressive, although I felt the information given by the guide was a bit dubious.
I then headed of on an excursion to the Floading Reed Islands of the Uros, just beyond the bay of Puno. The Uros people made their floating homes on Lake Titicaca to avoid being dominated by the expansionist Tiwanakus and Incas and then the Conquistadores. We visited some islands, received an explanation about how the islands are constructed: in shallow waters the “Quile”, earth dense with totora reed roots, is cut in large thick sections, which surprisingly float, and are bound together and then anchored with rocks, above which is placed layer upon layer of totora reeds. The houses, furniture (beds, benches, tables etc) and boats are constructed purely of totora reed. The islands last about 40 years, with plenty of upkeep, replacing the surface, after which they must start afresh, letting the previous island sink to the bottom of the lake. Dispite living from tourism they still continue the traditional self-sufficient subsistance living of their ancesters, consisting of fishing, collecting Coot eggs, hunting ducks (salting and drying them for preservation). Once a week they take their wares to a market near Puno where they exchange them for rice, potatoes, etc. Each island holds an entire family, i.e. the chief, his wife, his children and their families and his siblings and their families. (Until recently they were very incestuous community, until the outside world encourage them to interbreed with other Uros familes and even with the Aymara speaking mainlanders.) The first sign of modern life infiltrating their islands were the solar panels (allowing them electricity, TVs and radios) a hospital and school, all gifts from former President, Fujimori, now facing extradition from Chile to Peru to face charges for crimes against humanity during his rule. The inhabitants of the Islands are of course very big fans of Fujimori for having – in their eyes - improved their lifestyles.
So, now to my personal experience during my 24 hours on the island of “Taypi Quile” (Aymara for: central “quile”, or floating island base) with my hosts, Efraín and Elsa, and their relatives. They automatically made me feel welcome, showing me my accommodation, one of the older traditional house types (pointed), as they are more waterproof, and the whole family came out to greet me, curious to ask questions, find out my name and where I´m from, what I think of their island, etc. We spoke for a few hours, me asking many questions about their way of life, etc. I shared my enormous, watermelon-sized papaya with the family and delivered my gifts of rice and sugar. I was surprised to discover that they had never tried papaya and the other delicious fruits of the mainland – this is because they only eat the calcium-rich white lower part of the reed as fruit. I helped Rob improve his very basic English with a gramma lesson and some useful phrases to help in his dealings with tourists. Then suddenly the island seemed abandoned. I presumed they were out fishing but actually most were in their houses watching TV! It took a turn around the small island, finding out that there was not much more to discover, well, apart from the reason for them going barefoot: some parts of the island are very spongy and your foot sinks and gets wet. Anyway I was left to play with the children who were very entertained with the games on my fosil of a mobile phone, my torch (which Harry tried to make off with!), my playing cards, etc. Suddenly it dawned on me that it was getting dark (5.30pm) and I hadn´t eaten. Although I´d been promised meals when arranging the visit from the mainland, it seemed that that was not going to be possible. I was very hungry, having had nothing but a few chocolate biscuits for lunch, so went to Efrain´s house to ask if he could take me to another island where I could get food (as he promised), but he and the family were already tucked away in bed for the night. I returned to my house in semi-darkness, ate the remaining half pack of oatmeal crackers and went to bed. This was obviously a cultural incident and my fault – I had no idea that they would go to bed so early, given that they prefer to fish at night.
After a fairly cold night on a very comfortable reed bed, the new day was heralded by the sunrise at 5.30am. I spent a few hours playing with the children, before they went off to school, and chatting with one of the older members of the community, who perched herself at my door. After constantly being called “amigo” by the children and correcting them (“amiga”) to no avail I discovered that without a skirt and no plaited hair I looked more like a man to them, so I plaited my hair, borrowed the attractive, but heavy wollen pompoms for my plaits and suddenly I seemed to make more sense to the kids! The ladies of the island invited me to join them for a coca tea with lots of sugar which did wonders for my hunger! They spoke in Aymara together, so I was a little shut out of the conversations, but I was promised lunch of rice and chips, which I was very happy for, and managed to survive until then! I observed my hosts as the tourists arrived, I helped watch little Alex while his parents dealt with the tourists and made myself useful translating for them to tourists interested in their crafts. I even taught the community a song in English that they could sing to the tourists as they leave – I thought “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” was an apt choice! I then said a quick goodbye as the tourist boat came to collect me and returned me abruptly to the familiar world of the backpacker!
Here are the photos. Enjoy!
DISTANCE TRAVELED SINCE USHUAIA: 19,220KM
I then headed of on an excursion to the Floading Reed Islands of the Uros, just beyond the bay of Puno. The Uros people made their floating homes on Lake Titicaca to avoid being dominated by the expansionist Tiwanakus and Incas and then the Conquistadores. We visited some islands, received an explanation about how the islands are constructed: in shallow waters the “Quile”, earth dense with totora reed roots, is cut in large thick sections, which surprisingly float, and are bound together and then anchored with rocks, above which is placed layer upon layer of totora reeds. The houses, furniture (beds, benches, tables etc) and boats are constructed purely of totora reed. The islands last about 40 years, with plenty of upkeep, replacing the surface, after which they must start afresh, letting the previous island sink to the bottom of the lake. Dispite living from tourism they still continue the traditional self-sufficient subsistance living of their ancesters, consisting of fishing, collecting Coot eggs, hunting ducks (salting and drying them for preservation). Once a week they take their wares to a market near Puno where they exchange them for rice, potatoes, etc. Each island holds an entire family, i.e. the chief, his wife, his children and their families and his siblings and their families. (Until recently they were very incestuous community, until the outside world encourage them to interbreed with other Uros familes and even with the Aymara speaking mainlanders.) The first sign of modern life infiltrating their islands were the solar panels (allowing them electricity, TVs and radios) a hospital and school, all gifts from former President, Fujimori, now facing extradition from Chile to Peru to face charges for crimes against humanity during his rule. The inhabitants of the Islands are of course very big fans of Fujimori for having – in their eyes - improved their lifestyles.
So, now to my personal experience during my 24 hours on the island of “Taypi Quile” (Aymara for: central “quile”, or floating island base) with my hosts, Efraín and Elsa, and their relatives. They automatically made me feel welcome, showing me my accommodation, one of the older traditional house types (pointed), as they are more waterproof, and the whole family came out to greet me, curious to ask questions, find out my name and where I´m from, what I think of their island, etc. We spoke for a few hours, me asking many questions about their way of life, etc. I shared my enormous, watermelon-sized papaya with the family and delivered my gifts of rice and sugar. I was surprised to discover that they had never tried papaya and the other delicious fruits of the mainland – this is because they only eat the calcium-rich white lower part of the reed as fruit. I helped Rob improve his very basic English with a gramma lesson and some useful phrases to help in his dealings with tourists. Then suddenly the island seemed abandoned. I presumed they were out fishing but actually most were in their houses watching TV! It took a turn around the small island, finding out that there was not much more to discover, well, apart from the reason for them going barefoot: some parts of the island are very spongy and your foot sinks and gets wet. Anyway I was left to play with the children who were very entertained with the games on my fosil of a mobile phone, my torch (which Harry tried to make off with!), my playing cards, etc. Suddenly it dawned on me that it was getting dark (5.30pm) and I hadn´t eaten. Although I´d been promised meals when arranging the visit from the mainland, it seemed that that was not going to be possible. I was very hungry, having had nothing but a few chocolate biscuits for lunch, so went to Efrain´s house to ask if he could take me to another island where I could get food (as he promised), but he and the family were already tucked away in bed for the night. I returned to my house in semi-darkness, ate the remaining half pack of oatmeal crackers and went to bed. This was obviously a cultural incident and my fault – I had no idea that they would go to bed so early, given that they prefer to fish at night.
After a fairly cold night on a very comfortable reed bed, the new day was heralded by the sunrise at 5.30am. I spent a few hours playing with the children, before they went off to school, and chatting with one of the older members of the community, who perched herself at my door. After constantly being called “amigo” by the children and correcting them (“amiga”) to no avail I discovered that without a skirt and no plaited hair I looked more like a man to them, so I plaited my hair, borrowed the attractive, but heavy wollen pompoms for my plaits and suddenly I seemed to make more sense to the kids! The ladies of the island invited me to join them for a coca tea with lots of sugar which did wonders for my hunger! They spoke in Aymara together, so I was a little shut out of the conversations, but I was promised lunch of rice and chips, which I was very happy for, and managed to survive until then! I observed my hosts as the tourists arrived, I helped watch little Alex while his parents dealt with the tourists and made myself useful translating for them to tourists interested in their crafts. I even taught the community a song in English that they could sing to the tourists as they leave – I thought “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” was an apt choice! I then said a quick goodbye as the tourist boat came to collect me and returned me abruptly to the familiar world of the backpacker!
Here are the photos. Enjoy!
DISTANCE TRAVELED SINCE USHUAIA: 19,220KM
posted by Louise Parmenter at 6:49 pm
1 Comments:
Hi Louise!
These days I readed your photolog from your actual backpacking to april. You are having great time!
Maybe in my next holydays I will do some of your ways... You will stay in the road until when? Enjoy!
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