Tag Archives: Uros

Peru, South America

Jesus, Mary and Pachamama?

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If you’ve been reading all along, you’ll know that I’ve promised more on the taxi drivers and more on Pachacutec. There is a connection, I promise, ok, maybe not so much Pachacutec, but Pachamama. Read on…

To preface this post, let’s say that neither of us is a particularly religious being. I have done a bit of world religion studies just for personal interest. Jon, however, has a completely irrational secular love of Jesus. (Which I think really scares people who have never met him before, and he’s wearing a shirt that says “Jesus Loves Me”. Either that, or they think they share his (non-existent) beliefs and it is all good.) We both enjoy visiting churches and sites of worship, so it all works out well when we’re traveling.

Festival CrossYou may know that a huge majority of Peruvians are Catholics. Roman Catholicism is the official state religion, and obviously plays a major role in Peruvian life. As we were driving, several of our taxi drivers made the sign of the cross over themselves, and just kept on driving. (Pedal to the metal! Please save me Jesus?) Also, there were religious icons hanging on wind shields and rear view mirrors of every vehicle we were in.

Every town or city we visited, no matter how big or small, had a main square with a large cathedral. Several places we visited were celebrating festivals of Saints or Holy Days. No one we asked could explain what the exact occasion was, just that a festival was taking place. In Cusco there was a band marching the streets that grew in size each time we crossed paths–eventually, they were marching with a procession of costumed dancers. In Aguas Calientes, the music from a parade about town was non-stop until almost 5am. All of these festivals create a huge sense of community.

However saturated the country may be in organized religion, it is also holding on to Incan customs and traditions. There are native cultures – like the ones on the Uros Islands or Andes highlands, who still believe in ancient practices. For example, on Taquile, the custom is that a young couple lives together for 5 years before getting married. They live in the man’s parents house, and having babies during this time is perfectly fine. You could see how the church would have issue with that.  Maybe?

So, one belief system mixes with another and the people seem to be alright with it. You can see this in the cathedrals themselves. First, some of the stones used in the Cusco Cathedral were looted from Sacsayhuaman, and there is Incan iconography on the church exterior. There is also a beautiful cedar choir area that has some intricate carvings that represent Pachamama hidden in with the carvings of the saints and popes. Vladimir, our tour guide for Lake Titicaca, explained that many people meld Christianity with Pachamamist practices.
Marcos Zapata Last Supper Cuy
Peruvian painter, Marcos Zapata, has also put his own spin on The Last Supper. His version shows Jesus and the disciples dining on cuy and drinking chicha. This painting is in the Cusco Cathedral, but photos were not permitted. If you were lucky, you may have received a copy in post card form!

And just so Pachacutec doesn’t feel left out, there were monuments of him in more than one city we visited. Here are the dorky photos.
Peru, South America

Lago Titicaca

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We found that travel in Peru seems to be set up for the ease of tourists. No day was this more apparent than the day we went out on Lake Titicaca. We arrived in Puno from Chivay via the most uncomfortable van ever (aka 4M bus.) At one point another passenger asked if there was the ability to stop for a washroom break, and the navigator said that it wasn’t possible because it wasn’t safe to stop. It was late, dark and we were travelling as a 2 van convoy that couldn’t be separated.

I don’t know if this was some huge exaggeration, or if we were driving in the most sketchy part of Peru. It seemed fine. Our driver arranged for safe taxis and we were literally whisked in one door of the station and told to go with a woman who whisked us through the building to the back door and into a taxi. I honestly couldn’t tell you what the station looked like one bit.

At 7am in the morning we asked at the front desk if there was a possibility to go out onto the Lake. The clerk panicked! She started making phone calls, and said the boat was leaving but would wait for us. A taxi arrived out of nowhere and literally 11 minutes later we were seated on a boat for a full day tour on Lake Titicaca–the world’s highest navigable lake. (FYI: There are lakes at higher altitude, but they are too shallow to be navigated by every type of watercraft.) The lake is huge. I can only compare it to being on the Ocean or being on the Great Lakes. It took us 1 hour to get to the first set of Islands from Puno, and 2.5 more hours from there to get to Taquile.

lake titicaca mapOur tour guide Vladimir was awesome! He spoke English, Spanish, Quechua and Aymara, and knew a ton of stuff about a ton of stuff. He was a fountain of information and not in a boring way. There were people on the boat from Israel, India, USA, Ireland, Columbia, Peru, Australia, Iran, Italy, England, Holland, Germany and Canada. We ended up chatting with Rolf a guy from Australia who had been volunteering with some tribes in Ecuador, and a kid named Bryce from Indiana. Side note: Bryce’s brother was travelling in Peru last year and ended up getting bitten by a monkey. He had to go home for Rabies shots and completely missed Machu Picchu. Boo-urns!

The first site we visited was the Uros Islands. The Uros Islands are man-made floating islands. Each one is home to 2 to 10 families. Pretty much everything is made from the Totora reeds. Walking on the island is like walking on a spongy mattress. I did feel very set up as a tourist (obviously, that’s why we were there!), but it was pretty interesting just to see people living a completely different way than we every could/would here. The Uros people make money by inviting tourists to the islands, showing them how the islands are built, inviting people into their homes, and just being hospitable. The home we were invited into was smaller than the computer room in my house for a family of 5. There was one totora reed double-sized mattress on the floor, and a few hooks in the wall with miscellaneous clothing on them. That’s all.

We visited a second floating Island, which would be the equivalent of main street I suppose. There was a coffee shop, a general store, and a post office where we got our passports stamped. A few random facts for you: Each island has its own president. If a husband and wife separate, they simply cut the island in half; if they reconcile they reattach the island. Gardens with grains and flowers grow on the islands. Bathroom facilities are on smaller islands behind the main living areas. And, the dead aren’t buried on any floating islands, they are buried in special cemeteries on the main land.

Peru, South America

Update

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Hey everyone…So, the updates have been written, but most of the places we’ve been staying don’t support my phone for doing ANYTHING! We’re having a lot of fun. Today we were out on Lake Titicaca and visited the floating Uros islands and the island of Taquile. There was quite a climb to the top of the island, and 550 stone steps back to to the port to meet the boat. The little kids are super cute. They crack me up with their little faces when they say “Buenos Dias”. Everyone here is trying to sell something or make money from something. We are basically being 2 soles to death. It is like living in a Walmart and being 2 dollared to death. So bizarre.

We’re doing well. Super tired, but everything has worked out so far. Will update again when the internet isn’t painfully slow.