Reed Places, Holy Places

Well, I am feeling unsure about Peru so far. Not about Peru itself, I guess, but about my place in Peru.

On Thursday we took a full day tour of a few of the islands on Lake Titicaca. The island communities are what the lake is famous for - that, and the fact that it is supposedly the highest navigable lake in the world.

The first island community we stopped in was called Uros, which is notable for being entirely man-made out of reeds! About 1500 people live on these islands - I´d guess there are at least 50 in total - and make their living through fishing and...tourism.


Our little boat pulled up to the island, and several women in traditional dress were waiting for us on the shore, waving. They were expecting us. This is their job.

The women pulled our boat in and tied us up, and helped us as we, one by one, stepped from the boat onto the pile of reeds that is their ground. I wish I could explain to you exactly how this works - an island made of reeds - but I´m afraid my eyes and mind were wandering around the little island while the guide was doing all his explaining. The basic gist, though, is that they harvest reeds (like 6 feet long, thick, hard plants) from other parts of the lake, and then lay them across each other (think weaving) on top of thick slabs of mud that basically float in the lake. Hence, they are sometimes called The Floating Islands.


This first island was easily the best part of the whole day - absolutely fascinating - but I couldn´t quite (and still can´t) decide how I felt about it all. Sure, these islands were originally created for a real purpose, but what about now? I felt very much like the locals would not have been wearing their traditional dress had it not been part of the dress-code for their day job. Many women had sweatpants under their frilly skirts. One woman was wearing an Adidas visor with hers. Digital watches abounded. What is this place? And should I really be impressed by seeing what feels like a recreation of a place that WAS amazing a hundred years ago?


When we were finished talking with our guide, the women opened up their stalls for business. And frankly, I was not impressed with what they were selling. No part of me believes that they made any majority of the jewelry, ceramics, textiles that were on display - it was the EXACT same stuff that was being sold in Puno. Do they have this stuff brought in from Puno? What is the point? Do the other tourists eat this stuff up?


And then again, this is just their way of thriving, surviving, making ends meet. But...


Puno had very little to offer aside from tourist companies and shops geared toward tourists and restaurants with tourist menus. I sort of wanted to tell Puno to get a life after a day or two. Show me something I can´t see in New York City, Puno. Show me something REAL. Something GENUINE. Something untouched. Pulease!

I guess the poverty is real, though. I take it back, Puno. I´m being a snotty Ameircan now.


I´m back in Arequipa as of Friday evening. Arequipa is Peru´s second biggest city, and compared to Puno, it is very modern. It´s called the White City, for all the buildings made from the white volcanic sillar, and this characteristic is most noted in the city´s gorgeous Plaza de Armas, set right in the city center. White colonial buildings surround the square, with a lovely fountain as its centerpiece. At night, the white plaza glows with little lights that sit on the balconies of the buildings. Enjoying a dinner from a second-story restaurant, on a balcony overlooking the plaza, I forgot where I was entirely. One morning I´m in impoverished Peru; that evening I find myself in Europe.


Yesterday, we took a tour of the Santa Catalina Monastery, and I was wowed. This place is awesome. The monastary opened its doors in the 1570s and at its height was home to about 200 nuns. The nuns lived in total seclusion - after taking their vows, they did not leave the monastary for the rest of their lives. They devoted everything to their faith. Until the late 1960s , when the nuns finally opened certain parts of the monastary to the public, no one, other than nuns and servants and clergy, entered its doors.

Only 30 nuns live in the monastary today, and, as they live in total seclusion, we did not get to see any of them or their living quarters. But, thankfully, the original part of the monastary has been turned into a museum of sorts, allowing visitors to wander in and out of the former nuns´residences and to try to get some sense of what this life must have been like. It´s so lucky (and rare) that the monastary has kept to itself for so long, because they´ve been able to preserve so much from the original days. Rooms now uninhabited are still filled with furniture, china, cooking utensils.

Although these gals were living the secluded life and had sworn off all of their vices (do nuns have vices?), they were not, by any means, roughing it. The monastary is a stunning building - the architecture is superb. Each nun shared her quarters with one or two others, and between them, they had an outdoor cooking area, beds situated into little nooks under archways, sitting rooms, the works. I actually found myself wishing I could live in such a place.

"Silencio" is engraved over arched doorways, reminding the nuns to always engage in thoughtful prayer. Listening, rather than talking. Listening, waiting, meditating, praying. One could go crazy, couldn´t one? But...if one could deal with it, what could be gained? I wish I had it in me to know. But I am far too worldy. I like my vices. I choose my vices!

The monastary takes up about six city blocks. It is a massive, sprawling, maze - its own city, really. We must have spent two hours in there, just puttering about, in one room, out the other.

Skepticism strikes all the time, of course. But, wandering through such a place, where so many women spent their entire lives, giving themselves blindly to something they could never be certain of...it makes you think. There must be something there.

Tomorrow morning, we are off on a three day trek through the Colca Canyon. Supposedly it is twice the size of the Grand Canyon (though I don´t know if that means depth or width or what), so it ought to be something to see! We are going with a guide and staying in little villages in and around the canyon, so I expect it will be quite an experience!

Back on Wednesday evening...til then, my pretties. Much love.