Day 6 Morning - Puno, Reed Islands and Luquina

Everyone had a great sleep in easily the fanciest hotel thus far, Taypikala Hotel Lago located in Chucuito. We enjoyed a breakfast buffet while being treated to a beautiful morning sunrise. 

After everyone had eaten their fill, we all packed onto the bus again, this time headed for Puno, the famous port city. There, we got onto a boat which would take us to our first destination, one of the floating reed islands of Uros. Though we all expected a long, nearly two hour ride, when we arrived at the dock we were lucky to find ourselves in one of the three speedboats at the dock.

              

  As we rode to Uros, our tour guide Edgar explained some of the symbolism and legends behind Lake Titikaka. To the Incan’s Lake Titikaka was of major importance in their religion. One of the stories Edgar told us was that the Incan’s believed the first man and woman emerged from Lake Titikaka, and that was their origin story. Also, the name Lake Titikaka, which means “Puma of Stone,” was said to have been because a long time ago there was a war between man and puma. Men slaughtered pumas, and many of their corpses rose to the top of lake Titikaka, their swollen bellies looking like rocks. And thus, the name Lake Titikaka.

                Thanks to the speedboat, we reached one of the Uros islands in no time, and there Edgar and one of the local men explained to us the history behind these floating islands. The people of the reed islands are, according to modern tests, shockingly 80% Amazonian. It is unclear exactly how people from the Amazon arrived so far from home, but when they did, they found themselves under attack. The land was far too dangerous to stay on, so the people built reed boats to live on. From time to time, families on the boats would come together and interact by linking their boats, but for a very long time that was the only connection these people had. It wasn’t until about 80 or 90 years ago that the reed islands began to take shape and communities formed. To us who are so accustomed to modern life and its conveniences, it might seem silly that these people would choose to live this way, especially when they are simply so close to Puno, a thriving, modern city of Peru. Edgar told us that, because he was a sociology major, he had the native people of Uros fill out questionnaires to try to understand why the people stayed. The two major reasons which came up were 1) a lack of money to make any sort of transition to city life or 2) the ties of family and culture were so strong that the young people said they would feel as though they were abandoning their way of life if they ever left the islands.

               

 Not long after we departed from Uros, we landed on the shore of  Luqina (spelling), a small community on the shore of Lake Titikaka. It was here where we were supposed to begin the first part of our service projects: building a trail from the shore to the middle of town. When we arrived, the locals greeted us with music, and then unexpectedly pulled some of the students and teachers into a dance. 

Roz and Lise's Room and them with our favorite little boy Brian!

The bright mood set the tone for the rest of our time at Luqina (spelling, again). We were assigned host families, and then brought up to have lunch. As we walked to our homes, it was hard to ignore the beauty, as well as the differences, between Luqina (sp) and anywhere we had been before. There were almost no roads, but rather treaded paths of worn our grass that suggested for you to go a certain way. Animals grazed on grass in the yards of homes, staring at us as we walked by. The rather free roaming nature of the animals combined with the sheer number of them lent to the enormous amount of manure. On every road. Everywhere. It quickly became not worth the effort to try to avoid stepping in it. Everyone seemed to enjoy a similar lunch, consisting for chicken, white rice, and potatoes. Everyone also seemed to agree that the food was incredibly filling, as very few could say they were able to finish their plate. Despite staying at numerous hotels and eating at many restaurants along the way, the food we were served by the families was the best. A small break was taken after eating to let the food digest, and the group reconvened at 12:30 to begin work on the road.

Emily and Shannon with their Host Family at the house

                Luqina (sp) was our first taste as a group of the truly rural life of Peruvians. At first, it might seem easy to pity the people here, because their lives are very simple and plain, compared to the lives we left behind in New York. And yet, after spending only a few hours with them, it was clear they were happy, and very excited to receive us. To eat out of their homes, the food they made us, was all very humbling and perhaps we all learned a lesson about understanding and respecting the lifestyles of other people.