YA LEUM.65 — Almost lost in Lake Tititcaca…
In the last post we spent time with a indigenous family in Sucre just before living Bolivia…
In Copacabana, a village with plenty of tourists and travel agencies, we took a boat to Isla del Sol.
Isla del Sol, located 4000m high, in the Lake Titicaca, is a sacred island for the Incas, who believe that was where their civilization started, created by Inti, the Sun God. The legend says Inti sent his two children to Earth, to teach humankind about goodness and honesty. The sons of Inti emerged from the depths of Lake Titicaca and spent a season in Isla del Sol. Then, their sons moved to the Isla de la Luna and later to Cuzco, where the Inca Empire was born.
The boat trip was smooth and quite beautiful. We got to the island in the morning where we could feel a light breeze in the air.
After leaving the boat, we had to go through a long staircase to get to the higher area of the island. Going through the stairs was an exercise on its own, especially considering we were 4000 m high…
When we got to the top, although we were tired, we immediately felt a serene atmosphere. The Isla del Sol has a very small population, only 800 families living there. Some tourists passed by us, but we quickly lost their sight.
The majority of the tourists return to Copacabana on the same day, but we decided to camp. The first thing we did was find a place to pitch the tent. We set the tent in a small area in the forest, with an amazing view over the island. During the day, we visited the many points of the island, read, rested, wrote… without ever hearing a single sound.
To this day, I still remember it as the quietest place I have ever been in my whole life.
The silence, the brightness of the sun, and the surrounding mountains and sea view turned that moment in a magical and fascinating place.
We forgot we were 4000 m high and, when the time came to go to sleep, we spent a quite cold!
I pushed my body against Mathieu the whole night, never moving so that no single wave of heat could leave us.
At 6 a.m., Mathieu woke up to go to the bathroom but since he did not feel like sleeping again, he ended up meditating. I kept sleeping and only woke up after sunrise. When I woke up, I was surprised that Mathieu was not back and went to look for him because it had been 2 hours since he left to go to the bathroom.
At first, I walked for a little bit with no concern at all. Yet, time went by, 30 minutes, then 1 hour, then 2 hours… and Mathieu was still missing. I started to get really worried! I went to all the places on the island: I returned to the viewpoint, walked through the hills, visited the cafes, and looked at the houses for him. And nobody had seen him! I started thinking about other solutions in case he did not appear. There was no mobile network there, there was only a boat per day, and I barely saw any people…
When I returned to our campsite, walking around the area, he appeared out of nothing, with that smile that always characterizes him! I could not believe it!
After all, he was 20 meters away, sleeping, for the entire time. He went to meditate on a hill, to see the sunrise, and ended up falling asleep…
A few hours later, we took the boat back to Copacabana. By then, we had already forgotten the little morning incident. That was our last stop in Bolivia.
Finally came the time to meet Peru.
All our friends and acquaintances paid the best compliments to this country that I still barely knew. Thus, we had some expectations, although I was not sure about exactly what…
The truth is that, just like with all the other countries, I never did much research about the country I was visiting.
When I got to a new country or city, the first thing I did was to sit. I sat in the nearest café, on a park bench, or on the sidewalk. I sat to try to understand where I had just arrived and to figure what to do next.
We got to Puno by the morning, like usual. We found a city still sleeping but with all the typical buzz from the cities.
In Puno, there are several traditional islands, bathed by Lake Titicaca also. We heard about the island Amantani, which, although prepared for tourism, was much less popular than other islands. About 3600 people live on this island, in a simple way.
We walked to the highest point on the island, saw the quinoa and cornfields everywhere, and, once again, enjoyed a peaceful atmosphere.
At the end of the day, we returned on a small wooden boat with the locals who worked on the island during the day.
We had the privilege of talking to a primary school teacher who told us about the difficulties of the island.
People lived without electricity, little employment, no running water, no support… school was not always operating and was constantly dependent on the will of the teachers… It was not the first time I heard about this type of reality on this side of the world, but it still hits me like the first time.
They gave us a ride on the teacher’s bus and we spoke until we followed separate ways.
Kind, simple, and smiling people. That was how Peru welcomed us…
And we could not imagine how much Peruvians were going to steal our hearts!
April, 2018
Patricia Assis
