ISLAS TAQUILE AND AMANTANÍ

Staying for a night or two with a family on Isla Taquile, about a 35 km boat ride from Puno, has become a signature Lake Titicaca experience. Visitors are picked up at the dock by a family member and led home to clean but rustic accommodations: a simple adobe room next to the family house, lumpy mattress, and an outhouse with no running water. With luck, visitors are invited to help herd the sheep or work on the far western side of the island, which is steeper and terraced entirely with potatoes and quinoa; or perhaps they learn how to weave with backstrap looms. Everyone speaks Quechua, some speak Spanish, and almost no one speaks English. Because Taquile is just 6 km long and 1 km wide, it is possible to walk around the island in two hours on walled paths carved into the hillside that bob up and down along its contours. There are a few beaches, which can be nice on sunny days and conducive to a plunge in the lake’s icy waters. There are pre-Inca ruins, though not very elaborate, on the tops of the hills, and an elegant stone arch at the high pass separating the two sides of the island.

During the time we spent on Taquile, our host family on the island taught us how to weave blankets and farm potatoes at high altitude. We joined them for family meals, with guinea pig as the main course. We also walked on dirt lanes through hillsides covered with eucalyptus groves and sun-baked terraces, and watched an afternoon squall whip the lake into a froth of gray. By evening, the lake was glassy calm and stained red by the setting sun. Sitting on the stone steps, with a bottle of wine, watching the sunset, we were convinced there was nowhere else we would rather be.

Tourism has become an increasingly important source of income for Taquile over the last decade, and the island elders, or varayocs, have struggled to find a system to spread the new wealth evenly throughout the island or, as they say, assure that todos comemos el mismo pan (“all of us eat the same bread”). Their solution, based on the communal ayllu system, is run by the varayocs who meet boats at the docks and rotate visitors to nearly a hundred families. This equitable system has faltered somewhat in recent years because tourist agencies are allowed to do direct deals with certain families, which end up getting a disproportionate share of guests. These family homes, usually clustered around Taquile’s main square, have as many as four guest homes, which seems to water down the homestay experience. As of 2004, the island has its first lodge, TikaWasi (House of Flowers, in Quechua), which has been built by former varayoc Alejandro Flores. It clearly raises the bar of quality with wood floors, reed ceilings, comfortable foam beds, clean whitewashed walls, and a spectacular terrace with lake views. Because of its privileged access to one of the island’s only springs, it is also the only home on the entire island with running water and solar-heated showers. Though comfortable, TikaWasi represents a critical challenge to Taquile’s communal way of life.

If you go on a prepaid tour to Isla Taquile, go with a socially responsible agency and ask a few questions beforehand. Ensure, for instance, that the agency pays the islanders the going rate—$5 pp per night of lodging, $2 for breakfasts and $3 for lunch and dinners. Ensure also that no more than two people will stay with each family and preferably away from the touristy area away near the town square. Otherwise, arrange your own homestay by simply hopping aboard the $6 boat that leaves from Puno’s public pier every morning between 7:30 and 8 a.m.—you will be assigned a family upon arrival, and will need to pay a $1 arrival fee. There are a dozen rustic restaurants on the island, clustered around the high pass and the main square, which all serve the same basic fare: quinoa soup, steamed or fried pejerrey, and egg omelette, or tortilla, mixed with potatoes and vegetables. The families also serve meals, though quality and hygiene varies. There is a small but interesting museum on the main square, along with a few stores that sell the island’s chullos, or hats, and expensive cookies and soft drinks. Travelers are advised to bring their own snacks and beverages—even a small bottle of beer can coast $2 on Taquile. It is also a good idea to bring a sleeping bag to stay warm, a water bottle, soap, and toilet paper.

Though less picturesque, nearby Isla Amantaní is an increasingly popular option for tourists (it is also cheaper, at about $5 per day for room and three meals) looking for a cultural exchange. The people receive far fewer tourists, and the island, which lacks restaurants and stores, has a more peaceful feel.