The people of the south
Trip Start
Dec 26, 2008
1
6
10
Trip End
Jan 15, 2009
Puno,
Peru
Friday, January 2, 2009
I arrived at 4am and felt really awful because i had to wake up the person who manīs the door at night. Pobre cito. Reminds me of the times when I have fallen asleep at work at 3am to be awakened by a patient buzzing me. So I guess thatīs just life.
I went to bed and woke up 2 hours later to go on a 7am boat trip to the islands. On the boat were a couple of older indigenous woman from Tequile. They were making bracelettes and laughing with eachother about nothing. Their playfullness and friendliness made them seem so much younger than they really were. I loved it.
The first island we went to were los islas flotantes de uros. Talk about more resistance; these pre-incan people built these islands made out of reed in order to escape the encroaching spaniards. they lived off of fish alone, and occasional trade to trips to the mainland. Now it seems they live off of tourism. There are about 40 of these little islands, each with their own name, we went to Utama. There I met to argentineans who apparently live in the area. i wish I wouldīve asked why, but I didnīt had the time. Part of the reason i could imagine is the simple lifestyle here. You wake up open up your little store when there are customers, talk and ride around in your reed boat to relax. For me, well I think I would get a little bored, but I could definitely see the appeal of such a simple life.
Then we arrived to Tequile, a 3 hour boat ride (because the boat was so slow and old!). i didnt really know what to expect, and no one really gave us direction, so I started marching up the stairs to get to the pueblo. Little did I know that there were well over 500 of these steps ( I later read it in my lonelyplanet). I was definitely out of breath, and fully impressed with the local people after that climb. It must have taken 20 minutes.
So then i started on my walk to the village. Everyone on the island says hi to you, and takes a moment to chat. The men here are so cute because they wear caps that look like those old fashioned sleeping caps. They walk around at times knitting it themselves! can you imagine our boy back home proudly walking around knitting their own cap? The caps themselves represented your status: red for married, white and red for single. wouldnīt that make life so much easier?
But, there was so much dignity and sense of self in this people. These people rarely marry out of Tequile, have a general store with all the goods the people knit inside. Whatīs impressing is that itīs all at a set price thatīs written down. They donīt bargain because they know their value.
Because of how pristine it was, it seemed so safe. I took a road to go look for the ruins, which i never found, but I instead encountered so many little kids running around. Not in poverty, but either knitting, tending sheep (which are highly important for their economy because of how much they knit), or just exploring the hills. I found one little munchkin (maybe about 5), trying to climb up this wall. I took his hand and lifted him up, then gave him a kiss on his forehead. He was so sweet, and definitely stole my heart. a lot of the kids on this trip stole my heart.
I was worried I was going to miss my boat and get stuck on the island so I prayed that a road that seemed to be a shortcut acros the island would bring me back to the port. It was a beautiful shortcut, and I got to see so many houses made out of stone, and fenced in stone as well. Luckily I made it back.
On the way home I literally thought I was going to die. about an hour before we arrived thunder clouds rolled in lightening lit up the sky, the lake started looking like one of the scenes from the guardian (well maybe not that bad), and then my seat started getting warm from the engine. I was sure one of two things would happen, either the boat was going to eplode because of the engine, or we were going to be tossed overboard. All I could think of was, how am i going to respond? i was going to grab the lifejacket put them on the kids, get everyone on floating pieces of wood from the decimated boat, and then try to swim the kids in.
Luckily none of that had to happen because we made it.
anyway, more could be said as always, but itīs time for me to write one more hopefully quick blog and then head out.
