Puno, Peru
From Puno we caught a boat trip out to Uros and Taquile Islands on Lake Titicaca. 
"The Uros use reeds for everything. They eat the reeds, make houses of reeds, boats of reeds, they sleep on reeds, they even make babies on reeds!" Alexander our guide. The Uros have cleverly used the uniqueness of their culture to their advantage to attracting and welcoming tourists to gain an insight into their simple lives. We learnt about and were given demonstrations relating to the building of the islands and how each community on the island works. We found it very amusing while departing from one of the little islands on a reed boat - we were sung renditions of traditional songs as well as "Row row row your boat" and "my Bonny lies over the ocean".
Taquile Island: We walked around this island where the only escape for an islander is to convince their community they are epileptic in order to marry someone from the mainland. We were shown colourful wedding belts made by the bride to be who cut her long hair and intricately wove this in with the yarn. It is a very male dominant society - the women have no say/input in community meetings and always have to walk a few steps behind their partners!
No comments:
Post a Comment