Day 41: Lake Titicaca, Amantani Island

We woke up to a raining and cloudy Puno this morning. A pedicab picked us up in front of our hostel at 7:30 in the morning with no top on it. The driver put a plastic tarp over our legs so they wouldn´t get wet but the rest of our bodies did. He swerved in and out of traffic while multi-tasking on the phone and talking to people on the streets. Needless to say, the ride to the port was an adventure in itself. At the port we met our guide Antonio and boarded a 25 person boat to Amantani Island. For the first hour of the boat ride, it rained very heavily and we could not see more than 20 feet out of the windows. Later on it cleared up giving us a view of the massive lake. It is so large that if you look in some directions, the lake dips off the curve of the earth, making the other side of the lake not visible. However, the boat itself could have not gone any slower, but after 3 hours on the boat we reached Amantani Island.



About 8 ladies from different families greeted the 25 people on the boat, including us. The women were wearing their traditional skirts, colorful blouses, and black head scarves. The tour group leaders split everyone up into different homes, leaving Allison, Antonio, and I to la casa de Matilda. Matilda graciously invited us into her home that had an incredible view of the lake. A view like that would cost millions in the United States. The family consists of the mother Matilda, her husband, and three boys. The two teenage boys are studying in Puno, so we were unable to meet them, but I really enjoyed the company of the 5 year old son (although I couldn´t understand him). They speak the language of the native Incan people, Quechua, as well as a little bit of Spanish. The house is very basic, with a courtyard in the middle, several rooms, and a small kitchen. Our room had two beds with plenty of blankets for the freezing cold nights. In the evenings, the home is powered by solar panels.

After we arrived, Matilda made us a lunch of soup, followed by rice, potatoes, tomatos, cucumbers and fried cheese. The people of Amantani, direct descendants of the Incans, are basically vegetarian, only eating meet at weddings or when one of their livestock passes on. Then after a little nap we began a hike up to the two peeks of the island, Pachatata (father earth) and Pachamama (mother earth). The Incans were believers in the balance between male and female. On the walk up we collected a rock for each peak to place in the wall of the temple. Local people are only allowed to enter the temple at the new year with the shaman for blessings, therefore we could only peek through the wooden gate. After placing our rock in the wall, we hiked over the other mountain to watch the sunset. The colors and clouds in the sky were absolutely beautiful over the lake. It started to get pretty chilly, so we put on our hats and headed to the house before dark. As we ate dinner as massive storm rolled over the island. The lightning and thunder were unreal, lighting up the entire sky. Then the rain turned into hail, beating on the tin roof so loud that we couldn´t even speak to each other. There was a party in the square we were all invited to but due to the storm, we could not attend. Instead we tried on the local clothes and took some pictures with Matilda. She was super nice and told us all about the clothes she wears everyday. We retired to bed quite early around 9pm and attempted to warm up our beds.