Lake Titicaca

This weekend, Tom and I visited Lake Titicaca. We took the night bus to Puno, which is 6 hours from Arequipa and boarded the boat at Puno dock around 8 o'clock on Saturday morning.

Lake Titicaca is the world's highest navigable lake at 3,811 metres above sea level. The inhabitants living on the lake have been there for thousands of years.

For the first part of our trip, we visited the floating islands. There are 46 of these islands on the lake and approximately 800 inhabitants, so you find several families sharing each island. The islands are built using the reeds which grow in the lake. The roots of these are bound together and layers of reeds are then criss-crossed along the top of these roots. It's amazing to see how something which doesn't look so strong can hold not only body weight, but the homes of these people. Their homes are also built out of reeds, elevated slightly to avoid flooding when it rains.  Reeds are also the material used to build their boats. It can take around a year to build one boat.

On one of the islands, the locals gave us a demonstration of how the islands are built and then showed us around their homes. They have beautiful hand made tapestries and embroideries on the beds and the walls, which really adds something to what would otherwise be a very basic and plain home.

Afterwards, we took the boat to the island of Amantani. This took 3 hours, which gives you some idea of how enormous Lake Titicaca is. It was very cold and cloudy, and we did have some rain, weather we are not accustomed to after the blue skies of Arequipa!

Here, we were introduced to Olivia, who would be our 'mama' for the duration of our stay on the island. Amantani stands at around 4,000 metres above sea level. The paths are steep and rocky, and this combined with the altitude made it a testing, even though short, walk to Olivia's home. Olivia, however, having lived on the island all of her life, nimbly climbed the paths, even wearing loose sandals and the heavy traditional clothing. She showed us to our bedroom, which was very basic and cold, wooden flooring, heavy blankets on the bed, and a candle as there is no electricity.

Once we had left our bags in our room, we went to the kitchen, which is a separate building, to eat lunch which Olivia and her mother had prepared for us. Their cooking area is tiny and as there is no gas or electricity, they cook on a stove over a fire. First we were served with a local soup, containing quinoa and vegetables. It was very wholesome and warming. Next we were served with a dish of various types of boiled potatoes, a salted cheese and a slice of tomato. Again, this a dish native to the island. Finally, we drank a cup of muña tea. This plant grows on the island and has a peppermint aroma. It is incredibly good for digestion and also aids altitude sickness.

After lunch, Olivia took us to the Plaza de Armas to gather with the other visitors to the island. From there, we were guided to the top of the island, a height of 4,185 metres. This was an intense hike in cold conditions. It is a venture which I would have found particularly trying at any time, but was even more of a challenge at such altitude and with such a nasty cold as I suffered with. As such, it took some time, but I'm proud to say that I made it (with much encouragement from Tom). It was a spectacular view from the top, of not only the island and the lake, but also other mountains and Bolivia.

By the time we got back down to the Plaza de Armas, it was dark and raining. Olivia guided us home, sure-footed and confident even in the wet and pitch black. Dinner was waiting for us, another soup with potatoes, followed by a comforting vegetable stew with rice and another delicious cup of muña. After the hike and the meal, we were very tired and so needed a rest before the evening's activities.

In the evening, Olivia came to our room and dressed us in the traditional clothes worn by the people of the island. I wore a blouse made of thick white material with green and red flowers embroidered on the front and the cuffs, a full skirt made of very thick red fabric and tied high around the waist, and a multicoloured striped thick band which was wrapped around my waist like a belt. The outfit was completed with a black shawl with pink flowers embroidered at the ends. Tom wore a huge, heavy brown poncho made of very coarse fabric such as the local men wear over their clothing. Once dressed, we followed Olivia, who once again easily navigated in the dark, to a local communiity building for a 'fiesta'. It was very basic inside, with seating around the edges. A band formed from musicians on the island played traditional music and we danced with the local people. It was enjoyable but also tiring after such an exhausting day, and relatively early on Olivia took us home to sleep.

Early in the morning, after a very cold but otherwise comfortable night, Olivia's father knocked on our door to awaken us for breakfast. Again this was served in the kitchen, and consisted of homemade bread made in a style native to the island, and a cup of cinnamon and clove tea. Then Olivia took us to the dock, we said our goodbyes and boarded the boat.

The next stage of our trip took us to the island of Taquile, an hour away from Amanti. Here, we had to hike to the Plaza, another intense and tiring walk, very trying on the lungs. Weaving is a very important trade on this island, and we were shown examples of the work done by the local people. It is something done by men as much as women. In fact, when a man wants to impress a woman here with the intention of perhaps marrying her, his weaving is used as an example of his skills and what a hard worker he is and how he can be relied upon to provide for the family.

We then walked back to the port, thankfully downhill this time. Once on the boat, it was a 3 hour journey back to the port at Puno. The end to our trip was marked with pouring rain, cold and wind. However, it had been an enlightening experience and so interesting to see the culture of the 'real' Peru. It was also rather nice to see how some Peruvians way of life has remained like those of their ancestors, despite the modern world not so far from them.

Flora Tristan School Performance

As a way of bringing all of the students together, a school assembly was arranged for Friday 30th September. The first part was for each class to perform a song to the rest of the school, which they had been given the whole of September to practise. My babies class performed first. The song I had prepared with them was 'If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands'. They became quite shy upon realising that they were being asked to perform in front of the rest of the school, and most did not sing, but they clapped their hands at the right points in the song! Each class was quite shy about singing, but they all did it, and we teachers were all proud of them.

Once all of the classes had performed, the school coordinator, Li, made presentations to the students with the highest attendance rates during September. Each of these students received a card with their name on, acknowledging their efforts to come to school and learn English, and also a small goody bag. This went down very well with the students, and I really believe will encourage them to continue attending regularly, or in other instances, to increase their attendate rates.

Li and the volunteer coordinator, Anna, confirmed that the holding of an assembly at the end of the month will become routine. I feel this is really great for the school, as it is an opportunity for all of the students to get together and be rewarded for their efforts, and will introduce some more structure into their school lives. I believe that reward has a stronger effect on the students than punishment, and think it's fantastic that the school are taking this positive approach.