Native Clay

Pottery making on Taquile 

In 2020, while we were “stuck” on Taquile during the p*ndemic, I got ahold of both white and red clay and made a few little pots. Fuel is not abundant, so they were never fired—that is, until now. 

Final results were tea and maté offerings for the dining table.

THE PROCESS

Of course, one of the first uses was clay-play with the kids:

Next, I made a fairly ambitious planter with rich texture.  I used a technique with corn cobs to raise the walls, which I had learned years ago from Guatemalan potters in Totonicapán. 

The clay had some small rocks and plant material and took some cleaning.

Some of the process:

I thought it was quite beautiful:

Sadly, it cracked in the drying. Nevertheless, the dry clay was then better cleaned (ridding it of small rocks) for further work on smaller pieces.

I also found some white clay and decided to make simple little boxes for serving a selection of tea bags, pleasant for both for the family and for tourist guests at our homestay dining room. This photo shows it in the raw, unfired state, the texture inspired by Incan rock work:

And the same piece fired:

FIRING 

Our fuel came from grass weeds. Normally these weeds are burned immediately in the field, but I collected a substantial amount and spread it out, turning it frequently, and doing all, I could to knock the soil from the roots.

Silvano helped me bang soil from the dry grass roots, but they were still fairly rich with dirt. We didn’t want to use good firewood, that would normally be used for cooking.

Silvano and I try to get rid of some of the soil clinging to the roots, a dusty job. Note the pile of prepared fuel. 

A smoky fire

We used paper trash as fire starter.

Sam played with the fire to get air to the fuel.

Eucalyptus leaves made some exciting flames.

So did a few dry branches.

After a night of rain, our ash pile was a mud pile and our little boxes were Carbon blackened.

RESULTS

I missed firing this little piece, safely tucked away on the top shelf with the other pottery. The white clay represents the sacred three-leaf coca k’intu. 

SUMMARY 

First, I regret that I forgot to take pictures of the unfired pieces before they went into the combustibles.

The fuel was extremely heavy, mainly because of the soil that was mixed with it. In a future attempt I will pull the pottery to the top of the pile right at the end before putting on the hot flash of the eucalyptus leaves. I think that hot fire could have burned away some of the carbon and given some color variability to the white or red clay.

The clay IS fired. Besides sitting in the rain overnight and remaining intact, I put them on top of the propane burner until a spot turned red with the heat. I was trying to burn off some of the carbon to be able to see the clay color. I got only a very small revelation of that uncarbonated clay. This clay and firing method could certainly be made into cook pots that would work just fine on directly on open flames. I may yet slip them into a wood-burning cook fire and see we can burn away some of the carbon. If I do, I will amend this post and show the final product.

GRATITUDE 

Finally, I’m blown away that this indigenous household was able to safely store raw clay pottery for 3 1/2 years until I was able to come back and fire it. I’m grateful for their kindness and support and for the love that we share.

Solar Island

A LITTLE HISTORY 

In 1988 we introduced solar energy to Taquile Island with a tiny 10w photovoltaic panel. We hooked the wires directly to a radio and THE MUSIC PLAYED! A Eureka moment—you can get electricity from the sun! Next we sent a 40w panel. Then the Taquile community created a system for families to finance and install photovoltaics. We brought panels and controllers in our suitcases to trade for textiles with families who didn’t have the cash to buy into the system. 

Now

Now two large arrays provide 220v inverted power, a community micro-grid, to nearly every household on Taquile. 

About 250 panel array with clean building housing inverters and batteries, as well as a backup diesel generator.

TOUR

We got a personal tour of Taquile’s solar electric micro-grid, hosted by Anilson, the local technician/maintenance man. State-of-the-art technology. Our host graciously opened every cabinet of cable connections, breakers, inverters. My head is still reeling. 

The cabinets mounted on the wall are inverters.

Those huge boxes on the floor are the batteries.

Each panel. 

BACKUP DEISEL GENERATOR

Anilson starts up the generator every couple of weeks just to keep it working.

Outside view 

Northern Array

The north side of Taquile Island has a second big array (see previous post) serving this end of the island. We are pretty sure the blue boxes are inverters and that the gray cabinet sends high voltage power which is later transformed into 220v to the houses. The south array has that big building with batteries; power from this northern array is used during the day, and also charges the batteries on the south array. 

WIRES

High power lines of 380v are transformed to 220v into meters and to the houses. 

Greenhouses

 Several governmental projects have been installed on Taquile over the last three years when we haven’t been here.  

Greenhouses 

Typically not very many vegetables, besides potatoes and oca and fava beans, are grown on the island. Everything else comes from the mainland. We usually buy carrots, beets, onions, celery, broccoli, or whatever other vegetables are favored to make the soups more rich, or to make side dishes and to increase nutrition. 

Most of the greenhouses are arches, although some are more peaked roofs. The cover for the greenhouses is a yellow Agro film that lets in the right kind of light for plants. A large water tank was included with the insulation. When people have water, the tanks are filled and then they can water the greenhouses as necessary. Some households have not had enough water to keep their greenhouses going well. Others seem to have an amazing abundance.

Seeds were also included in the project. We’ve received gifts of beets and tomatoes as we visit lots of friends these first two weeks of our time here. Everyone seems to have lots of chard, which is not necessarily common in the diet here, especially in this quantity. 

The following are pictures of various greenhouses, including those with and without much water. 

Not much water for this greenhouse 

Not much water, but the aguaymanto (tomatillo family) is doing fine

Juan has enough water for a nice garden just outside his greenhouse as well

Moving Eucalyptus log

Making lumber Skilled chainsaw master cuts down the tree and mills it into boards for building, all with the chainsaw.

Tree Rings

A 5-year-old and an experienced chainsaw master learn how to tell the age of a tree by studying the rings.

Working together The chainsaw needed some repairs, so the milling into manageable sized boards was delayed. But it's time to plant! Get some good help from the neighbors and free this agricultural field for planting. These logs are HEAVY!

Coca leaves show relationship and physically give strength.

One, two, three--PUSH!

A HUGE log that was already out of the field needed rearranged. Note how it rolls on a small log

All Saints’ Day

Already business starts The main items we brought to trade are LED rechargeable headlamps. So our All Saints’ Day started with trading for textiles. We will have some nice new items for our Etsy shop when we get back in January.

Some people worked. Delfin and Maria started a grass roof shade structure to make weaving outside more comfortable.

Asunta had come from Llachón with her son to help plant. This was extremely hard work with the two teenage boys pulling the plow.

Day of the Dead, All Saints, November 2 We remember our beloved dead, and acknowledge that their souls are with us. Here on Taquile, one custom is to bring soup to special people we had five different soups brought to us! And about 20 people in the house at one point. We told stories about some of our ancestors.

Other traditional foods on this day are quilquiño, a snack made from toasted and ground quinoa, with a touch of pickling lime, pressed into little shapes and steamed. Sometimes so shapes get creative, such as this llama or into bird shapes.

Special breads, sweet bread is made with a little ceramic doll face baked in. It’s called baby bread, or Tantawawa (Wawa is baby in Quechua).