Day 187 Puno: Amantani Island tour

April 26, 2000

We get up at about seven and go for breakfast at the bakery. They have great fresh bread, good coffee with foamed milk, large glasses of orange juice and pancakes or eggs. Our tour leaves at eight thirty, again we get picked up at out hotel for the short drive to the Puno harbour. There we board a decent boat with a large diesel engine mounted under a wooden box.

There are about 15 people in our group, we meet an American woman from Vale Colorado that did some cycling in Chile but is now backpacking. Her name is Lori, and a Dutch girl, Inga, that lived in Australia for awhile. It’s about an hour long boat ride to the first port of call, a floating island of the Uras group. The island is circular in shape and consists of many layers of yellow totora reeds, floating the surface about six inches above the lake. As you walk the surface moves, like walking on a waterbed. Around the edge, in a half circle are small square reed huts with half round roofs, all made from the yellow totora reeds. In front of those huts are the women seated, selling handicrafts made from wool, clay and reeds. Rachel buys a reed mobile with little reed canoes. It’s a very good place to take people pictures, although the guidebook is correct calling it a peep show into these peoples private lives. But its tourism that sustains these people on the islands.

We get back on our boat and go to another island, about two hundred meters away. The same routine here. Several of the huts here are fixed with solar panels, quite a sight. After another fifteen minutes of shopping and picture taking we board again for about three hours sailing to Amantami. The ride is beautiful but uneventful. We talk with Lori and Inge.

We sail to the eastside of the island and dock in a little harbour. Locals are waiting on the shore. As we all get off the boat they talk with our guide after which he assigns us all to a different families. Each family takes in one to four people, two being the most common. We team up with Lori and follow a little girl to her home. We meet the family and are shown to our room on the second story of the adobe hut. It’s quite nice actually, there is a double bed and two singles, a table and chairs, and all walls are plastered and freshly painted. A solar panel and battery provides light. According to our guidebook the people of this island, and also on taguile, have resisted the building of hotels on their island. Instead, they all share in the revenue tourist bring by staying here.

We are served lunch in our room, first soup with vegetables and potato, then a plate of rice, french fries and egg, and mint tea for dessert. The tea is interesting, just a cup of hot water with a branch of mint plant floating in it. Tastes great, though. After lunch we walk up the hill behind the village. Amantami has two peaks, pacha mama and pacha tata. Both have temples on them. We walk up the latter and enjoy the views over the terraced slopes of the island. Just after sunset we hurry back down to find our house before all light fades. The houses have solar panels and there is no electricity on the island. (There are poles and lines, but the generator ran out of fuel and there is no money to buy new).

We eat dinner, again rice, fries and this time some kind of dumplings followed by mint tea. When it was pitch dark we follow our family to the local school. The building is empty except for long benches along the walls, a podium on one end and some tables and chairs behind some local males selling bottles of beer or pop. Four young guys form the pena band; a drum, guitar and flutes. Several local women and children, all from families that have guests here tonight start the dancing. They do a good job at getting all of us involved. We all do our share of “dancing”. After an hour or so we follow our hosts back to their unlit house.

Lots of stars!

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