Sillustani and The Condor

April 20, Saturday

A bus load of people to the Incan and Pre-Incan ruins of Sillustani.

We bought little notebooks for a group of 8 kids from Taquile. At the last minute Neal and Katia had to refrain from coming so we added even more.
Plus Eduardo, the guide. This is the first time we've had a full guided tour. Very informative and interesting.

We started by visiting a local family to see how they live.

Visiting a traditional Aymara home

 Then to the ruins. Round chulpas, funerary towers. A circular Inti Watana where we held hands and made a magnetic circle and also a coca ceremony.

Eduardo was an excellent tour guide

Here was the group:
Nancy, Liane, Sam and I, the non-Peruvians
Taquile adults: Ruperta, Valeria, Luz Nate
Taquile kids with their ages: Juana Luz 15, Ivan13, David 14, Kusi 12, Edith 11, Cecilia 10, Sarita 8, Christian 10, Clever 8

After the tour of Sillustani, we had the bus drop Sam and the Taquileños off at the base of the stairs leading to THE CONDOR viewpoint so they could climb to the top. Ivan beat everyone to the top of the stairs, but didn't know about climbing the statue up to the condor so Sam was first!

The Ugly Cost of Gold

March 14-15
We took a little personal vaction together to some hot springs north of Puno. In the past we have brought our Taquile family here, so this time on our own. The water is wonderful, free flowing and hot; two different pools, one smaller and slightly more primitive, the water yellowish with minerals, the other clear blue water and a bit more polished.

On March 15, early morning at the smaller pool, we had just retired to the private bath pool when someone knocked on our door. I called out that we had just entered and our time could not be up yet but they persisted and said we should just get out for a minute. We did, to find several police people plus some suits. ¡¿WHAT?! We're at the pool; our documents are not with us; we're worried. But no, it's the local television station accompanied by the tourist police. Tourists are rare in Putina and they want to interview us. So they do. I'll post the link as soon as they send it to me.

One of our goals is to get to know the large Department of Puno (Departments are like U.S. States) and we were curious about the big mines high in the mountains above Putina. Posters show beautiful glaciated peaks above the mining town of Rinconada. This day was overcast, so our hopes for mountain views were weak, but this was our free day for the excursion. Turned out that the purpose of the tourist policewoman was to help us enjoy our visit. She helped us get on the right bus to Rinconada after a quick breakfast.

The bus ride was fine, full of helpful and friendly people. A pair of men generously gave up their forward seat so we wouldn't have to sit in the back.

Baby ¿talks? on cell phone on the bus

The early part of the bus ride went through rich green valley up the Rinconada River (need to check that river name). Saw a couple of fishermen, one with a pole and another with a net, higher altitudes had large herds of alpaca.

Then we came to the mining area.

Through the rain spattered window the beginnings of destruction.

Most of the mining appears to be hydrolic. Earth moving equipment shovels piles of earth on wooden structures. With huge pumps and long hoses, the earth is washed out, the gold collecting on the structure, placer mining style.

Overturned earth as far as the eye can see.

detail of what I am calling the sluice ladder

Acres and hecters and miles, as far as we could see, it was destroyed earth. Not even birds.
Then we came to the garbage dump.

20 minutes of rough road worth of garbage scenery

Then we came to the town of Rinconada.

Coal-black mud was everywhere.

It was snowing, a snow that mostly melted as it hit the black mud that covered everything onthe ground. At one point I it seemed that the road was paved with smashed plastic soda bottles. The worker housing was made up of row upon row of corrugated tin-walled and roofed structures about 10 x 15 feet (less that 5 meters square), windowless, uninsulated.

Snowing on the astroturf soccer field. The only green anywhere.

 We had our own drinking water, but were later warned that maybe even the soup broth was contaminated with mercury.

View from the restaurant

Not a tourist destination.

Rock Work: Taquile Community Project

The Taquile Community needed to make a major repair of a big hole in on of the docks at the Salacancha port. The Mayor had put out a call for workers to start work on Monday, March 23. Each worker would be paid out of funds available from tourist entry fees.

Picture above shows the hole, although in a later stage of repair. So many people showed up to work that the Taquile Island officers (authoridades) decided to add a lower level to the existing dock, useful for when Lake Titicaca water level is low, and a new trail so arriving tourists wouldn't have to walk in the mud during rainy season.

Men moved rocks with 3-4 ft. steel bars; Sam did a lot of this work, sending big rocks down to the wetsuited workers in the water.They placed the big rocks around the outside of the new dock and women carried backfill, all sizes of rocks.

I worked with the women. We walked out on the beach and filled our woven plastic sacos with as many rocks as we wanted to carry. Then brought them to where the men needed the backfill.

Idas y vueltas. I kept thinking of that T.S. Elliot line, "...and the women come and go...." and we did speak, though not of Michaelangelo, mainly while we were gathering our rocks. We would take breaks as needed, sharing coca. I wore my local traditional clothing after that first half day on Monday, so I fit right in.

Many of the men were splitting the sandstone with chisel and hammer.

The split rocks from across the water were ferried on rafts.

Of course we got a lunch break and one day Sam brought a watermelon to share.

Late in the day the men would share alcohol. Sam joined in the male bonding, though kept his indulgence to a minimum.Cement was mixed with sand and gravel to create a good mixto in a volcano-shaped lago, then shoveled into buckets. Sam ended up on the lower level hauling buckets of cement to seal the rocks for the new dock.

He and Elias worked together, noting a competition of who got the most messy with concrete. Elias worked really hard, as did Sam.

This picture shows the new trail, nearly finished.

High winds caused waves that washed away the final coat of concrete on the dock, so it was left incomplete for the time being. If I get a picture of the finished work I´ll post it later.

Sam and I met new people and both earned a lot of respect from the broader community for joining in the hard work. We worked on the project for a full three days and a half. Except for that final layer of concrete on the dock, it was finished in 5 days.

Warm Springs and Geologic wonders

We love taking our family on excursions to places they might otherwise never be able to visit. In this case, two co-mothers, Eufasia and Valeria, and our "daughter" Ruperta, with her son our "grandson," Clever, joined us for exploration, fun and healing. About 3 hours worth of bus rides brought us to this high altitude adventure. We are at 4059 m.s.n.m., or 13,317 feet above sea level.
We stayed in a hotel for two nights, soaked and hiked and enjoyed good food.

We had to hire a car and driver to get to this beautiful canyon of eroded rocks, and curious ruins. After our hike, Walter, the driver, took us on an extra drive down the canyon and took this group shot showing some of the rock formations behind us. We are at 4059 m.s.n.m., or 13,317 feet above sea level.

The curious ruins look a lot like graneries in ancient southwestern USA. A local man told me they are houses of people a long long time ago who were extremely short (about 2 feet tall, to judge by their houses). I'll have to do some research....

Fun in the bubbly warm springs water: Eufraisia, Valeria, Ruperta, Clever y Samuel. It took stong encouragement to get the women loosen their grips on the railing and to allow us to support their heads to float in the mineral-rich water, but they all did it! We all came away feeling relaxed and healed.