Day 11, Lake Titicaca

The evening before our two day trip on Lake Titikaka,
Silvia took us to meet with Jorge Delgado whom I had "stalked" unsuccessfully for many months in order to arrange some time with him. And, here he is at last!
Though I was feeling quite ill, I am obviously happy to see him!

Jorge Delgado is known as an Andean shaman, healer, and mystic....the author of "Andean Awaking", and now an international lecturer.
However, he says he is "only" a chacaruna, a bridge person who assists others to cross from one state of consciousness to another.

I now had three new names, Chasta...meaning star,
Tiki, meaning flower, and a word meaning light energy, the essence of a star, from Mr. Delgado. Since my purpose was to have a very simple name, Mr. Delgado's choice cinched it for me. I am Chasta.
How cool is that? Renamed by Peruvian shamans.



The following photos look like postcards....but, I took them all myself. For me it was a step in time so far back, that it still boggles my mind.

Nearing the floating islands of Uros, our first stop at Lake Titicaca.







Our guide, Silvia, shows us how the reeds are peeled (just like asparagus!) and then cooked. Delicious!
Two women demonstrate how the reeds are tied together to form the islands which are constantly changing as storms rip them apart and they are retied. The women do most of the work, because most of the men have left the islands to go to work and live in Puno. Everyone is quite "heftig".....but, even though they work hard, there's not much walking to do on a very small, flat reed island.
Lunch, anyone? One moment I saw this little tern swimming in the lake, and the next moment she was in the stew-pot! She still had her head on, and there was no way I wanted to have anything to do with that meal. There are also many types of potatoes in the pot....and, most likely, a few tiny fish, and reeds.
The residents of Uros were very friendly, and we had no difficulty communicating through gestures and smiles.
This mother showed us the inside of her home, which...of course...is made entirely of reeds. It contained one large bed, some kind of a rack from which hung a couple of changes of clothing for each family member....all looking exactly as you see here....and, a very small black & white T.V.!
Solar panels were used not for light....the homes were totally dark inside except for the light of the TV.....but, to keep their pride and joy...an ancient little TV going. It was tuned to English language cartoons.....in black and white, and with lots of "snow". I had a flash-back to the early 50's, only
we had electric lights first.:-)

It still boggles my mind to think that people live on floating islands made entirely of reeds.....and that I was there among them!


It's on to another island (Amantani) where we will spend the night with a local family.