Peru – Lake Titicaca – home stay

2013 May —–

We got back into our boat and headed for our home stay at Karina on a peninsula. We were greeted by our home stay Momma’s and taken to our respective homes. 19 year old Matilda had a 3 month old baby, that she carried on her back in the traditional sling. As the baby took most of her time and attention, I was pawned off on a 9 year old girl named Anna. I am still not sure if she was Matilda’s sister or neighbor.

We were told in Puno to not give the local families money, but to bring a small supply of food items, as it is very expensive for them as well as difficult to get some of the items. We were told that rice, beans, flour, oil, coffee, marmalade or canned tuna were all good items to bring. We were to keep the price in about the 30 sol range. I ended up bringing a little of everything, in the smallest sizes I could find. When I gave Matilda the items, she simply took them away in her skirt and did not seem too excited to receive them. Maybe it is their culture, or maybe it was a case of “more damned beans from the tourists”.

 I was given a meal of mashed potatoes and rice. It was delicious but enough to feed three people. I gave the leftovers back to her and said it was very good but too much food. I am pretty sure she put it back in the pot for her family to eat at supper. Fair enough….

 She was eager to play games with me, and her favorite was jump rope. My goodness, I thought she was going to kill me! She was very used to the 4000 meter altitude and could jump all day. I (old enough to be her grandmother) could only jump a few times before I was out of breath. Then a neighbor boy came along and they decided to play football, the girls against the boy. I think we tied in the end. I was getting so tired that I showed them how to play tic-tac-toe, a quiet game 🙂 They had never seen it before and caught on quickly, liking it very much.

Then I had to help them with their normal household duties and chores. I had to cut broad beans with a scythe, shell the beans, then feed the bean stocks to the cow while I milked her. It was very much like being back on my family’s farm.

Then everyone met at the school grounds where about 50 children attend school. The locals challenged us to a game of volleyball and football. We won both matches! They said that was the first time the tourists won. I think it was because our tour group was mostly Aussies and they have a good handle on football. Even 76 year old Don scored a goal!

That evening our host families dressed us up in traditional clothes and we set off to have a group meal, again at the school. It was cold and I could certainly appreciate the layers and layers of skirts and jackets! The meal was simple but delicious. I was slightly disappointed that the families did not join us, but we all had a great time relating the chores we had to do with our families. This part was such a treat to those raised in towns and cities.

I was the only guest at my family’s place. The dwellings are built with 3 small buildings with a wall forming the fourth side of the compound. The family stayed in one building, I was in another, and I am not sure what was in the third, but the guide said it is usually the kitchen. My room had a toilet, sink and shower, but there was no running water. The toilet was appreciated and had to be flushed with a bucket of water, which the provided. They gave me a small basin of water to wash in for the morning. It was very modest, yet very comfortable.

I was a bit concerned as to how warm I wold be at night, as it was only 9 degrees Celsius in the room. There were 4 really thick blankets on the bed, as thick as horse blankets. When I got into bed I felt as though I were in a waffle iron, I was pinned to the mattress. It hurt to sleep on my side due to the weight of the blankets. I finally propped up the sides of the blankets onto the mattress and formed a sort of cave to sleep in. It was VERY warm.