Lake Titicaca

We've spent most of the last two days out on the huge lake shared between Peru and Bolivia.  In beautiful sunshine the sky and water are both deep blue and the only clouds to be seen are over the distant Andes mountains which stand well over 6000 metres high, snow-capped year round.

The lake is still sacred to the Aymara and Quechua Indians that inhabit it's shores because the existence of a body of water 100 miles long and 60 wide absorbs enough of the sun's heat to create a micro-climate warm and humid enough to grow a few crops even at 3810m above sea level. It also provides a supply of fish and of course water.

When the Spanish brought Catholicism they replaced the Sun with Jesus and Mother Earth with a Virgin Mary the colour of local women.  They built the most important church in Bolivia at Copacabana on the lake shore near Island of the Sun, the Mecca of the Andean religion. We saw today a local shaman perform a traditional ritual which ended with us receiving a rather catholic blessing - the two religions are interwoven here as the easiest way to force people to convert to a religion they didn't understand was to make it look like the one they already had. Killing people who wouldn't convert was also persuasive.

Here on the lake we have seen two communities who continue to live in peace in their traditional manner despite everything. On the island of Taquile around 4000 people live without roads or vehicles with only a seasonal supply of rain water and some solar panels for energy. Traditional dress dating back to the early colonial period is compulsory. The men wear red and white woolly hats if they are single, red and blue if they are married, while married women wear dark skirts and singles wear bright colours. The men are always knitting and make their own hats while the women do the weaving.  Outsiders can't buy property and anyone marrying into the community has to follow its strict rules.  The only jobs are farming and fishing but these days they supplement their income by selling some of the wool and woven goods that they produce. Taquile is remarkably tranquil and has beautiful views of the Lake.

On Taquile

Still more remarkable in this modern world are the people of the floating Uros Islands. They have lived for a 1000 years on their man-made islands made of the reeds that grow in the shallow part of the lake. We visited a small island no longer than 50 metres in length where four families live in their traditional manner - again supplementing their income by selling to tourists as they now need cash to pay for the kids to go to school and other novelties. They showed us how they make and maintain the islands and build their houses and boats also out of reeds.

Women of Uros floating islands

As we cross the sacred lake by catamaran from Peru to Bolivia from Peru, it continues to provide for the various communities who live here at nearly 4000m above sea level. Despite the hardships of life and the history of violent repression, the indigenous people are starting to reassert themselves and find a place in the modern world which enables them to maintain their way of life. The Incas may have gone but their descendants maintain their memory, identity and values.