Hungry Mouth

Floating Island: Lake Titicaca

The Uros Indians of Peru live their lives on a man-made island that floats in Lake Titicaca. The lake is 14,000 feet in altitude, the highest navigable inland lake in the world. It's cold for much of the year. Yet, this tribe chooses to live there. Maintaining the island is a year round job. Every day parts of the island succumb to rot and every day new parts are added by the inhabitants. The island is constructed of a native reed that grows along the shore. During our visit we were given a piece of the reed and instructed to peel and eat it. It was quite refreshing, full of fresh water.

The island was an odd and fun place to explore because...due to the reed structure...one's feet sunk about 6 inches deep with each step. It really was like walking on a water bed.

Unfortunately, the Uros did not move to the island by choice. In the early 1500's, the conquistadores invaded. At that time the Uros tribe lived in the mountains surrounding Lake Titicaca. Shortly after the invasion, the Uros were conscripted to work in silver mines for the Spaniards who were intent on returning to Spain with great riches. Within 10 years over 90% of the Uros population was wiped out due to conditions in the mines. The remaining 10% decided to escape. They built a floating island and paddled out to the middle of Lake Titicaca. The Spaniards did not follow them and so they survived.

Their life today is very different than in the past. They rely on the tourist income, but also fishing. They dry fish and use it to barter for other items they need. There is a one room schoolhouse that educates the children to the high school level. At that point the only way to continue education is for their parents to rent an apartment in Puno, the nearest city. The trip to the island takes too long to commute on a daily basis.

Cooking:

Grinding grain:

Fishing boat and island:

Festival Peruvian Style 2

On the 3rd weekend in July many towns and villages in the Peruvian state of Cusco celebrate the Festival de las Virgenes de Carmen. I had the good fortune to observe the festival this year in the village of Pisac, near the Sacred Valley of the Incas. The heart of the festival was a procession that began at the church and encircled the village. Hundreds of villagers participated, at times there seemed to be more participants than observers.

Apparently, preparation for the festival starts a year in advance. The various neighborhoods in the village form "teams". Each team sponsors a specific group of participants. The groups consist of 10-20 people all of whom wear indentical costumes and march (or dance) in the procession. Each team selects one member to fill the roll of Majordomo. The Majordomo has many responsibilities including paying for and making the costumes for her group as well as hosting a 3 day feast/openhouse the weekend of the festival. As you can see in the pictures the costumes are extremely elaborate and beautiful. I had assumed they were recycled from year to year but instead they are made fresh. This clearly entails quite an expense on the part of the Majordomo. Supposedly, it costs the family of the Majordomo an entire year's earnings. However, it is believed that every $ spent will be returned to them in the form of good luck!

I was for some reason expecting the procession to involve "real virgins" a la Miss Peanut Festival or Miss Artichoke Festival in the USA. Rather, the virgins were inanimate "dolls", carried on a platform on the shoulders of participants. Pisac had two virgins.

The Cuckoos: This group dressed to resemble the cuckoo bird make bird sounds...they must not utter human words while in costume.

The Demons: Many groups represented various sorts of demons. They try to get close to the Virgins but are repelled by other groups. Demons and Virgins must never mix!

The Spaniards: Mocking the Conquistadores.

Blue Eyes: Not sure what this group represents but I found their blue eyes and pink skin interesting.

Hats: Throughout Peru the native tribes distinguish themselves from each other via their hats. These are particularly lovely.

The Feast: A majordomo sets-up for the 3 day feast.

Festival Peruvian Style 1

Our second day in Cusco, before heading up to Machu Picchu, we hired a taxi driver and a guide to show us the Inca ruins in the vicinity of Cusco, in particular the Sacred Valley of the Incas.

Around 11am we arrived at the town of Pisac and stopped for a 15 minute look at the market. Whoops! Three hours later we reluctantly left. July 16 was the major holiday for Pisac and much of the Peruvian state of Cusco: The Festival de Las Virgenes de Carmen. Some teaser pictures with explanation to follow:

Camel: A Tasty Treat

All international travelers to Peru are forced to arrive via Lima, the only international airport in the country. We spent one quick night in Lima and flew to Arequipa early the next day. Arequipa is a lovely colonial desert town surrounded by snowcapped volcanoes, one of which, El Misti, is still active.

The following morning we embarked on a two day private car tour to Colca Canyon, the Grand Canyon of Peru. As we left Arequipa, we began to climb into the Andes foothills, eventually crossing a pass at an altitude of over 14,000 feet. We adopted the Peruvian cure for soroche (altitude sickness) and drank lots of Mate de Coca, a delicious light green tea made of coca leaves. We also bought a bag of coca leaves to chew on...included in the bag was a greyish piece of soft rock, some sort of salt that supposedly activates the altitude protecting qualities of coca leaves. Unfortunately, neither the tea nor the leaves had any inebriating effect!

As we climbed into the mountains through high desert we began to see flocks of the camels that are native to these highlands; alpacas, llamas, and vicunas.

Alpacas and llamas were domesticated by the native Peruvians long before the arrival of the Conquistadores. Alpacas were raised for their extremely fine (and very expensive) wool. Llamas were raised primarily as pack animals though their wool is also harvested. Vicunas resisted domestication and we were fortunate to see a wild flock of them.

Late in the afternoon we arrived at an attractive eco-lodge, our home for the night. It is quite cold at 12,000 feet so we were pleased to be greeted with the offer of a delicious hot drink which consisted of coca tea, orange juice and rum. For dinner I took the plunge and ordered alpaca to the distress of my traveling companion who is a vegetarian.

The alpaca consisted of a very thin steak, deliciously seasoned but horribly tough. A few bites was enough. One interesting note; several people assured me that alpaca was absolutely cholesterol free. How can that be? Lean, yes, but I thought all meat had some level of cholesterol. ALso note the French Fries and green beans served with the meat. These made frequent appearances on our plates and were quite delicious. The fries almost rivaled those of Greece, but Greece retains the edge due to frying in olive oil.

After a warm night's sleep buried beneath 3 thick alpaca blankets, we headed early to the Cruz del Condor on the edge of Colca Canyon. And yes, we saw many Andean condors. What a great way to celebrate my birthday!

Peru

I ended my last post with a question, "Will I have the nerve to eat one of the Peruvian national dishes, cuy, roasted guinea pig?" The answer is my traveling companion would not let me. But I did eat Alpaca Steak. Tasty but tough.

In all honesty, Peruvian food was disappointing....but that was in large part due to the fact that I didn't dare eat fresh vegies. Luckily, the French Fries were excellent everywhere.

I had planned to dine at a few of the finer restaurants in Lima but both coming and going my flights were so delayed that I had to go without eating.

So much for the gourmet feasts I was planning to regale you with.

Peruvian food is Spanish food with the addition of the animals that were domesticated by the Incas long before the Conquistadores arrived: Llama, Alpaca, Guinea Pig. Plus a few uniquely Peruvian vegies such as potatoes and corn.

But I admit I was surprised. I just assumed Peru would be a corn nation like Mexico but it isn't. I never encountered a bread made of corn meal a la tortillas. Fresh corn was thrown into stews but mainly corn was served dried as a snack in bars: Peruvian corn nuts. The corn nuts were much softer and fresher than the ones we encounter here. But no corn bread. Breads were wheat, mostly unbleached white flour and very different. They were round, about 3/4" thick and 5" in diameter, and often somewhat sweet. On a couple occassions we encountered breads that were thinner and not sweet....I much preferred those. Not much rice either.

I have like 2000 pictures....but have not downloaded them yet. Just want to make a post so you know I am still here..,lots more to follow including fantastic pictures of the Festival de Las Virgenes de Carmen in Pisac, Peru.