Travel Peru, Peru Blog

While sitting on a boulder, I admired the dramatic scenery at night. The moonlight spread a beam on the surface of Lake Titicaca from the shore where I was to the west. Down there, Puno´s city lights embellished the deep darkness of the silhouette of the mountain range that covered all my sight of the horizon. Parallel to the cordillera ran a fringe of clouds white at the top yet black at the bottom. Above it, millions of stars sparkled in the sky. That was going to be my first night out of two at Felix Turpo´s family house.

Mr Turpo is a villager who ekes out a living by farming as well as fishing. In addition to that, he and his wife run one of the thirty family homes in the town of Llachón. About eight to nine years ago, they began to open the doors of their houses for tourists who wanted to experience and witness the villagers´way of life. He invites me a hot mate made of coca leaves and muña, a local shrub, while he displays a wide smile. A few handicrafts such as colorful mantles and chullos or hats hang on the walls of his cozy comedor or dinning room. The walls are also trimmed with totora reeds that grow on the lake.  The town has three comedores for tourists, he claims.An stone arch at the entrance of a house means that you are about to come in to a family house. There you find one or utmost two bedrooms for guesses. Like all the three comedores, the bedrooms are decorated with totora reeds and handicrafts hang on the walls. My room has two beds, a table, a garbage bin and six towels (I did not have time to take a shower, though).  A colective bathroom is beside my room. Mr Turpo tells me that there is only one family house that has solar-heated showers. His. However, most have outhouses.At night, I meet a german couple. The wife speaks spanish and she translates her husband. She tells me that he would like to go fishing. Thus, Mr Turpo arranges that for next morning. Even though I wake up early, I could only find them coming back on a small boat with their cargo of Ispi, a very tiny fish of the lake. They are not able to catch carichi, other local fish.

Mr Turpo explains to us that Llachon´s basic crops are quinoa, potato, maize, dry potato or chuño, barley, beans, and papa lisa or olluco. He goes away for a brief moment and when he comes back he wears a kind of band on his chest since he is the local authority. He is in charge of punishing bad behaviour such as rob with his whip. At the end of the year, he will give this authority to another villager.

Honestly, I believe that one or two nights here are not enough to get the whole picture but at least it lets us have a glimpse of Titicaca people´s lifestyle.
Would you be willing to arrange a homestay?

Further information:
Sergio backpacker
Phone number: 0051-84232520