Lago Titicaca

Qué significa "Titicaca":

Titi = puma
Caca = piedra (stone)

El lago de los pumas de piedra (The lake of the stone pumas)

*The lake is in the shape of a puma catching a rabbit...pretty neat*

Hechos Divertidos (aka Fun Facts)

• 56% of the lake is in Peru while the other 44% lies across the border of Bolivia
• volume wise...it is the largest lake in South America
• it is the highest (altitude = 12,507 ft) navigable lake in the entire world
• average water temperature is around 50 degrees
• air temperature has highs of 60/70 and lows of 30 (SO cold during the night)

Las Islas (aka The Islands)

The first island we stopped at was "Isla de los Uros" or rather called The Floating Islands. There are 44 different islands that make up this grouping and the people (Urus) live on these floating islands. This tradition is pre-Inca and was at first used as a protection mechanism from enemies (think...floating away from your problems). These islands and the housing complexes built on them are completely constructed with reeds (yes, everything...houses, boats, floorings - all reeds). Each step you take on the island sinks about 2-4 inches; it is really quite a strange concept and felt extremely weird to stand on!

*Kind of gives an idea about the boats and the housing being constructed entirely of reeds*

The second island we ventured to was "Amantaní" where there was some sort of modern technology but not much (half-way functioning toilets, no running water, and one lightbulb per room).
Here is our amazing host family greeting us on the island - our host mom was Valentina and she provided such a welcoming homestay for all 40 of us! The food and activities were quite marvelous.

• cuento rápido - quick story • 
Since we're all adults here...they fed us an incredible amount of food - so naturally people have to poop. I realized earlier during the day that the toilet wasn't flushing so I'm thinking *Oh shit...* literally. Of course I confide in Sarah (my roomie) about if she knew how to flush the toilet and thank god she knows all these weird things. The first thing out of her mouth is "Is there a bucket nearby?" A bucket for what!?!? Sure enough, there was a bucket outside that you had to fill with water in order to manually flush the toilet...and I was standing there praying and cursing at the same time that maybe the simple life ain't so simple after all!

I'll begin with LA COMIDA: Pachamanca ...bad transition from toilet story, my bad!
This was seriously the most incredible cooking I have ever experienced. To begin with...lava rocks are heated up by the fire.

After the rocks are hot enough, they are removed from the flame and the fire is put out. A couple rocks are thrown into the hole in the ground where the fire had been and placed on top is a sack of pollo (chicken). On top of the pollo is another layer of rock, then a layer of papas (potatoes), more rock...more potato...you get the idea. Once all the ingredients are in the hole, sage is added to the top and the entire concoction is covered with dirt... about 45 minutes later you have an amazing meal of pollo y papas.

That night we trekked up Pachamama (cause it's obvi better than Pachatata) in order to catch an amazing sunset over Lago Titicaca. Pachamama (Mother Earth) is a significant place for the Aymara people that live on Amantani...they provide many sacred objects (coca leaves) to this mountain as an offering.

The sunset was incredible and sharing the experience with tasty snacks and great friends was the best part of all. Prior to this hike we were told to purchase lanterns for the walk back down...and I was thinking waitttt wut?! BUT......there was obviously no electricity and this lantern helped a girl out plenty of times throughout the weekend.

Upon our arrival back to the homestay, we were greeted with a tradition of the "Baby's First Haircut". This was un poco extraño, but I went with it and cut the baby's hair and offered some coins and coca leaves that would eventually be used as an offering for good luck in the baby's future from Pachamama Mountain.

To finish up the night we were dressed in traditional Peruvian wear and brought to a fiesta (mucho bailando -  a lot of dancing) ... This terrible picture about sums up that part of the night ... YIKES!

The last island we visited was "Isla Taquile" and yes, we kept calling it Isla Tequila...typical college students, I know. It was gorgeous but had extremely weird customs; the people of Taquile still live exactly as their ancestors did. They are extremely well known for their handwoven textiles (so naturally I bought a scarf made with little llamas at the bottom) aaaaaand their relationship status (a lot more exciting than Facebook has to offer...) If you have time, I seriously recommend checking out this awesome article for more information on the Taquile tradition of wearing hats to identify status - both with power and relationships. VERY interesting stuff.

Now...la comida, of course! We ventured up to the top of the mountain and enjoyed lunch at the island restaurant - quinoa soup & trucha (trout) & coca té. To top it off, we got to eat while enjoying the most amazing vista (view) of Lago Titicaca.

 • la playa •

*Of course I enjoyed a peanut chocolate bar while getting a nice sunburn...Carmela and Guillermo (my host parents) have been calling me "Tomate" all day...*

Mi Experiencia

Although this post is getting a bit lengthy, I think it's important to brush on this. Upon my arrival to Lago Titicaca and the islands we visited, I was all Christopher Columbus - "This place is my paradise! Holy cow, it's so amazing and beautiful...the people, the earth, the food...WOW!" I literally caught myself saying that if I died, this place might just be my heaven.

BUT

Don't let the beautiful sunsets, amazing chocolates, and delicious food fool you...this type of simple life is an EXTREME culture shock from the US. Going from the US to Cusco was about a halfway step from what going from the US to Isla Amantani was. This is not the "simple" life that I always dream of living - tiny house, running water, not many knickknacks. This "simple" life is THE simple life...and while the stars are amazing (I got to experience the Milky Way for the first time! I have never seen so many stars!) the walk home in the pitch black with a native dress on that was cutting off my breathing was just short of the "washing up" experience. After 3 days of not showering and using a water bottle to wash my face and brush my teeth...I was SO glad to get back to Cusco's running water and what I like to call now "the semi-simple life". 

This is the reality of so many places in our world and it is seriously crazy the discrepancy of life experiences between an Aymaran and an American...the extreme culture shock kind of disrupted my trip and made me realize just how naive we can be sometimes - to think that living simple means electricity and running water when on the island it is not very simple at all.

Overall, the trip to Lake Titicaca was a great experience but I don't think I'll go back. It was an extremely hard trip because of the culture shock and really exposed the discrepancy of lives that people live around the world. Next time you wash your hands with running water or flush the toilet...just think about those types of things that we take advantage of and how difficult it would be to go fetch water just to complete these mindless tasks in America.