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Lake Titicaca’s Taquille Island
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More than 50 islands dot the surface of Lake Titicaca’s waters as the world’s highest navigable lake stretches for 115 miles between Peru and Bolivia. The island of Taquille is the lake’s third largest and rises almost a half mile out of the water to a steep point. Since the lake itself is at an elevation of more than 12,500 feet, to say that your visit is breath taking goes far beyond just the visual sense of the phrase.
Located about two hours by boat from the Peruvian city of Puno, the island is relatively unspoiled by the trappings of the outside world. It’s quiet, with only the occasional moo from a cow or bleating of a goat. Taquille is terraced for farming with a landscape that is pre-Incan. The island itself has many Incan ruins. The 17-hundred inhabitants obviously make the most of every square inch of their island. In addition to farming and fishing, they are known for their hand woven textiles, considered some of the finest in Peru.
While there are a few “hotels,” they are eco-hotels and anyone visiting is treated to experiencing the Taquileños way of life. Islanders celebrate almost every activity from hair cutting to harvest with music and dance. The women seem to pile on more and more petticoats with each song.
Local dress here is different from any other place in Peru due to Spanish rulers who forbade
Taquileños from dressing in their traditional clothes. The men’s clothes are the most telling, resembling the dress of Spanish peasants. They wear black pants and vests over a white shirt with a hand woven belt. If a man is wearing a cap that is white on top, it means he is single, while a married man’s cap is completely colored.
The Taquileños enjoy greeting visitors to their remote location but are nonplused by outsiders. Spending a few hours with them leave you with a sense that even if the tourists stopped coming, the color and the music would continue and they would go about their daily life as they have for centuries.
For more info:
http://www.taquile.net/en/in.php
http://www.puno.com/
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