AlternateRoute

Having seen the ‘local family’ in the jungle and the ‘local family’ on the reed islands, we were wondering what sort of accommodation the ‘local family’ on Amantani would provide. We were told there was no electricity, that although the sheets were clean the blankets were often dusty and a few other things that led us to believe the conditions would be quite primitive. We arrived at the island to be greeted by a dozen women dressed in bright red skirts, white embroidered blouses and black embroidered shawls. We all stood in a circle and one by one were introduced to our ‘mamas’.

Our mama was Ana, and between her English and our Spanish, we managed to communicate quite well. Her house was in the second of two communities on this side of the island and seemed to be about 100 metres above the lake. The steepness of the hill and the lower levels of oxygen made it hard work. We had lunch of potato soup, followed by fried cheese and salad. We also had Coca tea. We ate in the kitchen which was separate to the house. The food was cooked on an open fire or sort of. The fire was burned in an oven shaped clay structure with holes in the top to place cooking pots. The kitchen itself was a mud brick building with a tin roof and a single compact fluorescent light run by solar power.

Around 4pm we had a meeting with the rest of the group and given the choice of climbing the hill behind the village (40 mins & steep) or walking to the village on the other side of the island (1 hour undulating). Most people opted for the unstated third option of doing nothing. Just as well. Within ten minutes the temperature dropped about 10 degrees and the pouring rain and howling wind began. We went into a nearby shop, (there were 5 within spitting distance all selling a limited range of toilet paper, soft drinks, chocolate and beer.

We had a beer and played with the three toddlers who amused themselves endlessly with just a ball. It is a stark comparison with other toddlers we know who need DVDs and computers to keep them amused. We finished that beer and went for another at the shop owned by Ana’s family. Her brother (Edwin?) who we hadn’t met yet was behind the counter. His first language was Ketchuan, his second was Spanish and he was also learning English at school. To keep himself amused he blew up a balloon and was seeing how many times he could head it in a row. As we could count along in Spanish we had a great time of it.

Soon after this we had dinner where we also met Ana’s mother and father. It was another nice vegetarian meal (no refrigeration means meat is only eaten on special occasions). After dinner we were dressed in traditional costumes and taken to a fiesta where we danced to an Andean band. The dancing was very tiring so we called it an early night.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 11th, 2007 at 1626 and is filed under South America 2007.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.