My Travels In Peru

The Taquile of Lake Titicaca

Not counting our brief stop on the floating island of the Uros, Taquile was the second island of our two-day excursion on Lake Titicaca. As was the case on Amantani, there are neither cars nor hotels on this island. We had arrived for a short visit, but people that wanted to spend a night, like we did on Amantani, could easily find host families. The system of providing visitor lodging on the two islands is similar. In fact, the two islands form the administrative district of Amantani.

Tourism started in the 1970s, and until recently they controlled all aspects of it. Today, the tour companies control the boats and they get the lion's share of the money. The bulk of the tourism income comes from selling lunches and handcrafts. Despite that, tourism places second in economic importance, after agriculture. Textile production, for export, is number three. Fishing used to be important, but not anymore, as fish stocks in the lake have been depleted due to overfishing.

Control of the island rests with its people, who speak mostly the Quechua language and a small number also speak Aymara. Just over two thousand people live there. The guide explained, "The moral code of the people is simple: don't steal (ama sua), don't lie (ama llulla), and don't be lazy (ama quella). Everyone does his/her duty for the common good." He also told us that young people find their spouses from within the community. They don't marry people from the mainland. "There are no more than ten last names on the island," he said.

Despite hanging on to their ancient traditions, they adhere to the catholic religion. It was such a surprise to find out that Saint James (Santiago) is the island's patron saint. I couldn't believe it. From everything we had seen and heard, including their traditional dress, lifestyle, and language I couldn't believe that they still adhered to the religion imposed on them by the Spaniards.

As we were walking up the path there was a local woman carrying a load on her back and heavy bags in her hands. Feeling sorry for her, one of the women in the group took one of the bags and carried it for her, but she didn't go very far before she gave it back sheepishly. The incident was somewhat amusing. A local woman almost half her height could carry three heavy loads to the top and she couldn't carry one of them more than a hundred metres. Perhaps, my wife was right, island women age faster because they work hard. We saw no men going up. It was only the women carrying the heavy loads from the dock. When we got to the village, we saw the men sitting comfortably, while knitting outside the shops. The men do the knitting and nothing else; the women do the weaving, on top of everything else.

The village was located on a hill 140 m above the lake, but was not the highest point. Although reaching it was quite a hike, it was nothing compared to the one on Amantani. All I can remember was the hot sun beaming down on us slowing down our progress. As usual, we were the last to reach the top. We had a good excuse: we were the oldest! The views from the town square were picturesque; we could see the side of the island we had just climbed. One of the things that had impressed me, both here and on the other island, was the extensive terracing. They had attracted my attention when we were climbing up, but now, looking down from the village, they were more noticeable.

The terracing was done during the Tihuanacu period of dominance, we were told. Terracing the entire island was a massive project, involving the construction of endless miles of stone-retaining walls to hold the soil in place during the heavy rainfalls of the rainy season (December, February, and March). All the hard work turned the island from a desert into sustainable farming for its inhabitants. "The current dwellers are reaping the benefits of work that was done over one thousand years ago," said the guide. From a distance, the island looked like it had been carefully carved, just like a sculptor chisels out a masterpiece from a piece of rock.

Directly in front of us was the island of Amantani. From this vantage point, we could make out its conical shape and its two peaks, one of which I had climbed the previous afternoon. It had the typical volcano outline, but most of it was underwater; only the top part was visible.  Because the entire island was terraced, it was the only ridged volcano I have ever seen. I couldn't help thinking about the enormous effort that went into creating all those terraces. "Truly," I said, "Necessity is the mother of invention." For the people who slaved to create them, there was no option. Then, it occurred to me that I was looking at the finished product, thinking that it was done in the space of a few years, when, in reality, it could have taken decades, or even centuries. It was an impressive island to look at, so perfectly shaped and masterly sculpted to give it a unique appearance. For the second time that day, I waved it goodbye, wondering if I would ever see it again.

The village square glowed under the bright light of the overhead sun; but minutes earlier, until the arrival of the first boatload of tourists, it had been desolate. Now, people criss-crossed it to go in and out of the shops. The men of Taquile have the reputation of being the best knitters of the entire Lake Titicaca area, or so the guide had told us along the way. Therefore, when we got to the square, everyone scurried off to the shops to purchase the best knitted products money could buy, items such as: scarves, hats, gloves, shawls, sweaters, and blankets.

Ironically, these products were being sold as alpaca wool, but I hadn't seen a single alpaca neither on this island, nor on Amantani. All I had seen on both islands were sheep, and lots of them. There is nothing wrong with sheep wool, of course, but it shouldn't be sold to unsuspecting tourists as alpaca wool. UNESCO recently declared the island a Heritage Site for its textile art, which helped to turn it into a tourist destination.

One of the buildings on the Village Square had a rooftop terrace that gave a panoramic view of the surrounding area. Unlike a typical town, the houses were spread out, each having sufficient space for a garden and grazing land for animals. Everywhere I looked from this viewpoint I saw terraces. The houses, with their red coloured tin roofs, stood out against the green pastures. As I looked further out, I saw more green and less red.

The inhabitants of Taquile have a fascination for arches. They have a unique arch design that's hard to describe, but they have them everywhere, it seemed. There was one at the entrance to the island when we got off the boat. There were two in the village square, and a few others along the paths we walked. The simplest way of describing it is to say that the opening is a roman arch, but the outside is very different. On both sides, it looks like there are steps going to the top. Although no two are alike, they have this unique stepped feature, regardless of the details. If it weren't for its cleverly designed façade, which features six arches, the town hall would be a simple rectangular building devoid of any architectural charm.

During our free time in the village, I wandered along the small pathways. Directly behind the town hall was the health centre, a small one-story building. The door was open, so I went in to take a look. It was empty! I didn't see anyone waiting to be served or anyone available to help them. As I turned around to go out a man came in and asked if I needed help. I guess he was outside talking with people and must have seen me enter. I told him I was looking for the pharmacy, and said, "I can help you. What do you need?" I told him and then he led me down a corridor into a tiny room and gave me two tablets to counter motion sickness. On the way to the island, the lake had bee a bit choppy and my wife had suffered. Now she was set for the return trip to Puno. When I saw how little there was to dispense, I was surprised that they even had the tablets. It's not the type of thing that locals would be asking for. They would have time-tested homemade remedies for common ailments.

As I was leaving the place, I thought, "People must be pretty healthy here." In Toronto, walk-in clinics always have patients waiting to be served, but there I didn't see anyone. Then I wondered, "If I had broken a limb on the island, would they have been able to immobilize it there?" Was the man who served me a doctor, pharmacist, or nurse?

Our time on the island, other than that passed in the village square, was spent walking from one side to the other. The boat left us on the east side and picked us up on the opposite side. We did a lot of walking to get to it. Before we got to the boat we stopped at a community house for lunch. A family had been hired to cook for the entire group. In an egalitarian way, different families are selected on rotation to provide this service. While we were sitting, waiting for our lunch to be served, one islander demonstrated how they use a common island shrub to make shampoo; and another demonstrated how they weave. It was another staged opportunity for them to sell products to visitors. While the demonstrations were interesting, not many were in the buying mood. After all the walking we had done, we were more interested in satisfying our grumbling stomachs than buying stuff that had to be carried around for weeks, before returning home.

On the way back to Puno, we reminisced about the two-day excursion. We agreed that, if we were to do it again, we would go directly to Amantani and spend more time there. We had enjoyed being there and would have liked to get to know the island and the people a bit better. Visiting three islands in two days was too much and the experiences felt rushed and somewhat artificial. The Puno agencies promote only set packages and are not amenable to changes. Therefore, to do it differently, one has to go directly to the port and buy a passage to the island. Once there, the people are very accommodating, and everything is possible. Life on the island was a welcome change from that of the city, including Puno. Despite the commercial aspects, the brief stay had made us feel like we were in a different world.