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"Etsuko & I parted ways, she heading in down into Bolivia, and I back to Puno, then off to Manazo to visit the madres. Fell in with a Brit today, Callum, and after a day of kicking around together, we decided to hitchhike out to Ichu, a small fishing village he'd spotted from a bus, for a ride on a reed boat. What a lark!
"There were only about 40 dwellings in the village; everywhere were spread the totora reeds, drying in the sun in tidy rows on the ground, and stacked in bales. Men and women both worked at tying them into long rolls of mats, and into the reed 'barquos' the fishermen mostly use to navigate the shallow waters around the edges of Titicaca. (Half expected to see 'Thor Heyrdahl was here!' scrawled on a stucco wall.)' Leave a Comment
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"Lake Titcaca is like an ocean. Waves lap on the shore, and the far side is well beyond sight. The sun is gleaming; Los Dolores stand in single file on a hilltop, seven sisters over Copacabana, with a single cross for a companion." Leave a Comment
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"At last, exhausted, she leaned against the shrine sobbing. Then she simply got up and walked away, with another smile and nod in my direction. It was bizarre to be sitting next to such an outpouring of raw emotion and faith. I felt frozen in place, pad and pencils in lap, wondering if I should leave her some privacy, though she certainly didn't indicate any discomfort at my presence." Leave a Comment
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As I sat on top of the mountain sketching Los Dolores, a peasant woman padded up on her bare feet to the Dark Virgin, all dressed in black and wrapped in a black shawl. First she greeted me very pleasantly, with a friendly smile, and then proceeded to crawl around the shrine on her knees, moaning and wailing and praying, wringing her rosary in gnarled hands."
"She spoke a mixture of Aymara and Castellano, but I could distinguish just enough words to tell that she was praying to both the 'Padre' and the 'Inca' - could she have meant Manco Capac? This mount overlooks Isla Del Sol.....???" Leave a Comment
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"Leading up to the Dark Virgin herself are 7 smaller shrines, each with a picture commemorating the death of a martyred saint, and dedicated to the various citizens I presume donated money for the shrines to be built."
"They are called 'Los Dolores', the Sorrowful Ones.'" Leave a Comment
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"Inside the Catedral is very elaborate, similar to many others, with of course the requisite morbidly realistic Christ of which these guys are so fond." Leave a Comment
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"Etsuko wound up sick as a dog for a couple of days from our awful bus trip, once we finally reached Copacabana, so I stuck close by the town in my explorations. Too bad - I think she would've enjoyed this town. It's beautiful, with a famous Catedral that shows a Moorish influence, withdomes and tilework like I've never seen before. Leave a Comment
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"Etsuko & I caught the 9am bus to Unguyu, on the border of Peru & Bolivia, enroute to Copacabana, Bolivia on the shores of Lake Titicaca. We were advised to be there at 8am to get a seat, which wasn't bad advice, since the roof of the bus is quite low, and I would've had to stoop for the entire trip if left standing. However, it didn't actually depart the hot town square till noon.
"The driver stood around yelling "A Yunguyu! A Yunguyu!" for 4 hours in a nasal twang that will remain with me till my dying day, till he had not only every seat filled on the bus, but passengers packing the aisles, and riding on top of all the luggage piled on the roof of the bus as well. They were even hanging out the door, riding on the entry steps.
"Washboard roads conspired with dust, heat, and rank unwashed bodies to fairly destroy us. The windows were all stuck shut, which maybe wasn't such a bad thing considering the level of dust the bus raised as it careened down the road. The view from the front windshield was all but obscured by a wide tasselled handwoven band from which little crocheted dolls hung, doing a crazy dance in time to the repetitious pop Peruvian radio music as we bounced along.
"It was a particularly miserable trip, especially for poor Etsuko. A retarded girl with a godawful cold sat behind her, and sneezed in Etsuko's hair (remember, this is my immaculate Japanese friend, who managed to tiptoe through the muck and mire of Peru and still have perfectly white tennies on her little feet). Leave a Comment
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"...I felt a very strong vibe about the wrongness of our intrusion upon Taquile, and so I regret going there. I'm tempted to write to the authors of the South American Handbook (my bible down here), and tell them that it's not yet too late if we left it alone starting today - but no one would listen, would they? After all, here I am too.
"Just a couple more years and it will be an irretrievable sociological ruin." Leave a Comment
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"Back in a bar in Puno, 2 more tourists just walked by me saying, "Have you been to Taquile? I hear it's really a cool place to go, so unspoiled!" Order another Pisco Sour and swallow my gringo guilt." Leave a Comment
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on December 16, 2003
