• Peru, Bolivia & Easter Island
    On the Reed Island
    Children at the cooking potEggs from these birds are part of the dietFishing stocks have depleted, so Canadian trout have been introduced into the lakeOne of the housesA family of four sleeps hereStill cookingShy cutieSolar power was recently introduced for the islandsMayors on Taquile IslandEntrance from the pierTerrace farmingYoung trinket sellerKnitterKnitting with crochet hooks1This boy is 14 and improving his weave. (He also needs to clean his nails 😉)Abad explaining to us the hat that mustn't leakPerformance1Brad joins in21Performers2Gorgeous views

    Lake Titicaca

    9 lutego, Peru ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    We had a 7 a.m. start to take a boat ride on Lake Titicaca to visit two of its islands. The first island was the one that Brad and I were particularly excited about. It’s one of the famed Reed Islands. The second was an island called Taquile and is about a 90 minute ride from the shore.

    Our guide, Abad, guided us around the Reed Island and explained that there are 120 of these islands on Lake Titicaca. The islanders have traditionally relied on fishing but fish stocks have depleted so they’re welcoming tourists to visit. There’s a rotation and each island gets a turn if they’re interested.

    The islands are made out of reeds and each platform is about three metres thick.
    We were on one that’s 11 years old and they typically last about 35 years. The reeds on the houses reed replacing every eight months. You can learn more about them here:

    https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20220814-the…

    Taquile is an Island with a population of about 2,200 famous for its textiles which were proclaimed "Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" by UNESCO. What was particularly fascinating about the island culture was that the men knit and the women weave.

    The men knit with standard knitting needles, but they also knit with crochet hooks😲, which, as a crocheter, I found absolutely fascinating. There is a very dense, tight knit that is done with two very fine crochet hooks. Young boys need to master creating this tight weave in order to be marriage ready. Once they’ve mastered the technique and believe that they have woven a tight enough hat, they’re ready to propose. When they do, the future father-in-law will pour water into the hat to ensure that it doesn’t leak and he isn’t lazy..

    We were able to walk around the island and see the terrace farms and enjoy a wonderful lunch. This adventure took the better part of the day and. The festival we went to yesterday is in full swing in the city centre so we decided we were going to have a quiet night in and simply have dinner at our hotel restaurant because we have another early start tomorrow morning.

    We’ll be taking the train to Cusco.     Czytaj więcej

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