Kamisaraki!

This post would be my 2 days (9 and 10 June 2019) experience in Puno, Titikaka lake and surrounding.

To explore the lake, I took a boat from Puno harbor and first stop to Uros, the floating island. The island is made from the grass (reeds) that grows in the lake, the people take the one that disintegrated and combined then together to make a sort of a land for the house and the floor is also made from the same type of grass that needs to be renewed once every 2 months or so. The house is placed about 1 m from the floor by putting also the same type of grass, placed criss crossed. The whole island can be used for a certain period of time till it smells rotten then they will make a new island which takes about 1 year. The rotten island will be disintegrated by itself by the water. If you have dispute with the other family, then just cut the ground and separated. And the island is anchored in one place, otherwise today it is in Peru and tomorrow in Bolivia. Very fascinating! When you walked there, it feels soft and sometimes you fell deeper.

Then each family took one of us to show their house. A little girl, Elza (3 years old) she took my hand and pulled me to her house where her mother was there too. Her mother is 6 months pregnant for the second child and they live in that house which is only one room with the three of them, she, her husband and Elza. The house has 1 big bed, a radio, clothes hanging around and some dried grass to make the souvenir boats. Since we could not give money to them, I would like to buy the big painting/ quilt that shows how they live. It was 150 Sol but I didn’t have enough money, so I talked to our guide and she said you can try to bargain and at the end I got it for 100 Sol and 2 USD. I was quite proud of my colorful quilt and I took a picture with the lady who made it. Then we ‘re taken to the second island which is sort of the main plaza with a café and shop by their traditional boat made from the same grass for 10 Sol pp. The people who live there are Aymara people, they isolated themselves because they do not want to mix with Incas. I learned some words in their language:

Kamisaraki = hello, how are you? ; Gualiki = I’m fine ; Juspagara = thank you very much

I like that island a lot, their colorful dress and the island itself, if I come back there next time, I’ll stay overnight in that island for experience on floating.

From Uros islands in the bay of Puno, we went to the main lake by boat about 1.5 hours and we could see Bolivia’s mountain. The border between Peru and Bolivia is in the lake, for Peru is 60% of the lake and Bolivia the rest. Of course when you’re in Bolivia, it is the other way around. We arrived at Taquile island where the Quechua people live. We hiked about 1 hour to the top of the island to have a nice view over the surrounding island then we headed to the restaurant. We had lunch quinoa soup, grilled trout and mint tea. After lunch there was a dance performance and we could also dance with them. I did and pfff… dancing that fast left and right, front and back at about 4000 m… it was exhausting but I felt ok.

This tribe has habit that the men is knitting for their belt, scarf, etc. and the woman is weaving. Most of the woman has short hair, therefore they used a black scarf on their head. The hair is cut by the boyfriend when they are going to live together or the father or the husband. They use the hair, mixed with wool and knitted for their belt or they make a braid from the hair and use it as accessories during special occasion.

On the second day, I went to Silustani, which is actually a cemetery of pre inca people, in the form necropolis. They put the body in the fetus position and mummified, sometimes they also put in sort of a bag, called chullpa. Around their body, they also put some jewelry, gold, silver from that person. These was a necropolis of wealthy people at that time. This necropolis is believed to be one of the largest necropolis in the world, in the form of cylinder with a wider top than the bottom, over 12 m high. One of this necropolis was for one family. This necropolis complex also has a sun and moon temple. It is located in the peninsula of Umayo lake. What a breathtaking view, quiet and peaceful, the water is so calm and flat to make a perfect reflection of the hills surround and the sky. So many butterflies around too, it was just perfect to end my visit in Puno and Peru!