Taquile is a fascinating real island as opposed to the floating islands seen in Lake Titicaca. The island, about 3 ½ miles long, has several hills with Inca terracing and small ruins at the top. The scenery was beautiful with the deep earthy hills contrasting with the intense blue of the lake . Add the backdrop of the mountains and the result was breathtaking!
The people speak Quechua rather than Aymara. The people have a strong sense of identity, rarely marrying non-Taquile people. There are no roads on the island, thus no vehicles, not even bicycles, and for some reason, no dogs. Electricity came to the island in 1990, but it is not available everywhere. The islanders own all the boats for transport, therefore keeping tight control on tourism levels.
The trail up to the main square was a long, winding, rocky path half-way around the island. It took about an hour to navigate the path up. Women wear many layered skirts and intricately embroidered blouses. The men wear tightly woven woolen caps, and are often seen walking around the island knitting. Red hats signal the man is single, a red and white one that he is married. The women weave the elegant waistcoats the men wear. Under the waistcoat a rough spun white shirt is worn all of which tops thick calf-length black pants. These people continue to live the cooperative lifestyle of their ancestors.
It seems as if one is never idle. The men knit, the women all were hand-spinning yarn from wool carried on the hip in a cloth sack. Each seemed to have a different color wool, so it must be dyed raw, before spinning. It was a fascinating sight to observe.
We had lunch on the island, and it was a pleasant surprise to find the Inca Cola well chilled. The vegetable soup was hearty and good. The rest of the meal was so so. There were 3-4 restaurants on the square, a small shop selling candy, film, and TP, and a craft shop selling knit goods.
Getting back to the bottom of the island and the boat was a trek down 550 steps. I didn’t count them, but I believe there were as many as we were told!
It was a long 3-hour ride back to Puno by boat. The lake was quite rough with a lot of white caps, apparently usual for that time day. When we did arrive back at the dock, we all got in a waiting mini-bus for a ride to the central square. At that point we knew our way to the hotel.
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