Lake Weed Dip recipe

 How to make Leche Llasca

 

We jokingly call this dish “Lake Titicaca guacamole,” since it has that avocado smooth texture and is used as a dip.

 

Beautiful green, hair-like plant grows in the shallows.

First, you need the llasca, the lakeweed (seaweed) that lives along the shoreline of islands in Lake Titicaca. I don’t know if it can be found anywhere else in the world. Wade into the shallows of the cold water and gather the bright green water plant.

 

Spread out on the lawn to dry in the sun

Spread it out to dry in the sun (If you want to add it to your soup, you can use it fresh and green).

 

Maria and Silvana cut and tear the llasca.

Next, tear or cut it into short strands, removing any small snails or rock that you find. Its character is of strands, like hair, and is better in short pieces for the final poduct.

 

Quality control

After tearing, wash and again check to remove any snail shells or small rocks. 

 

Squeeze as much water out as you can and add to the hot milk.

Measured quantities of lake weed to milk

Approximately one big loose handful of llasca per liter of milk.

 

Stir in only one direction, clockwise (I don't know why).

 

If it’s too thin, add more llasca. When adding the lakeweed later in the process, wash it with VERY hot water so it begins to cook ahead of time.

 

Continue to boil in the milk until very soft. You don’t want that stringy feeling to chew. It will gel as it cools. Add salt to taste.

 

Half-eaten serving with potatoes

Serve each person a full bowl full, and with freshly boiled or steamed new potatoes. You eat with your fingers, dipping the potatoes into your own bowl leche llasca. Typically, the potatoes are offered in the middle of the diners, served in a handwoven wool cloth.

Excursion Sicuani 2026

 Adventures around Sicuani! 

We are hosting a wonderful family: mother, father, 15-year old girl, and 14-year old boy. None of them have ever stayed in a hotel before, nor soaked in a hot springs.

(Note: cell phone blogging is challenging, and many of these pictures are duplicated and out of order. Have fun with it!)

Plaza central in Sicuani

Purging waters of San Pedro

The grounds are beautiful and the toilets clean. 

One drinks at least a dozen cups the this water. Poops until the poop is clear, and then done. Recommended is a glass of aloe vera juice followed by a broth-rich soup. 

Incan Spirits: Puma, land; Condor, air; Serpent,

Fountain of purging waters of San Pedro

Chemical analysis of purging waters (sort of like a colonoscopy prep)

Aguas Calientes, up in altitude from Sicuani

Mineral-rich hot water soothes the muscles; gives fun for play. The kids got a bit of swimming lessons  lake Titicaca is a bit too cold for serious swimming.

(These pictures are not in chronological order; too difficult to rearrange on my phone )

The Bonbonera Market in Sicuani

This is a HUGE market, covering several blocks on the street as well as covered areas.  Alicia especially wanted to buy som special seed corn and fava beans. They also found a good deal on bayeta, the natural wool fabric used to make traditional shirts on Taquile.

Mercado Bombonera 

Near our hotel is the Central Market, where we ate breakfast every morning and bought our treats a picnic supplies. 

Mercado Central, where we ate breakfasts

Raqchi, major Incan archaeological site

We hired a local Guide, and our good fortune was it was the same guide we had hired in the past, Denis. He is very experienced and told us good stories. Took our picture as a group. We had visited his father, who is a very competent potter, in previous years. (Note: More Raqchi continued after Tinta)

Entrance to Raqchi 

From the Mirador at Raqchi 

Tinta and the Tupac Amaru museum

The museum is a difficult and terrible part of Peruvian history when the Spanish conquerors inflicted torture and slavery on the indigenous people, and in particular their leader, Tupac Amaru , and his family. The museum consists of paintings telling the story and shows lots of blood and suffering. Afterward, to cheer ourselves up, we have ice cream and chicha in the main square.

Chicha and ice cream at Tinta

Sacos y sacos de maíz, Tinta

Tupac Amaru museum in Tinta

A small structure tucked in Raqchi

View of Raqchi from The Mirador

The Inca baths fountain (do not drink!)

The biggest wall at Raqchi 

The December Solstice hallway

The bus ride from Puno to Sicuani was 6 hours and over a 14,240ft (4340m) pass

Inside the food storage qolqas at Raqchi 

40 years, 23rd visit

 2026, 40th anniversary 

Our first visit to Taquile Island, as tourists, was in 1986. On that trip too big things happened: 1)We caught the dream of bringing a Taquileño couple to the United States. 2)We observed that Taquileños had no dependable source of electricity on the island.  

The results were that we brought that couple to the United States in 1988. It was magical, full of serendipitous meetings and fun (You can read about it on the earliest posts of this blog). And that led to us becoming godparents and coparents, and even parents and grandparents, with deep relationships in this beautiful community.

The other result was that we returned in 1988 with the first solar electric panel, thereby introducing solar to the island. Now many houses have rooftop solar and the entire island has large community array, feeding inverted power to all the houses. You will see many of these stories throughout this blog.

Traditional “pollo broaster” dinner

So this week we are back for the 23rd time, having visited mostly every other year or every year with a few gaps. We don’t think of this as tourism at all, but our other life with our beautiful indigenous family of Taquile Island.

First, we stay in Puno, the “folkloric capital of Peru” the big city by the bay where we will catch a boat to the island in the morning. Here are a few pictures from Puno: