a fisherman hoists

a fisherman hoists

his heavy net on his boat,

slowly rows away

Amaru, our Inka shaman guide, stops at the open air market on our way to Lake Titicaca to purchase ingredients for a picnic at Castle Beach. It's hard work carrying the heavy boxes and bags down the steep, rocky hill to the beach. We pitch in to slice ripe avocados and tomatoes, which Amaru stuffs into pocket bread, sprinkled with olive oil and oregano. Our fingers drip with slices of ripe mango, chunks of a gigantic papaya, gelatinous grenadia (misleadingly referred to as snot fruit), delicious pears and melons. While we are gorging on this feast, a fisherman rows up to one end of the half-moon beach. His nets are spread out to dry on the smooth, sloping rocks. Patiently he tugs and hauls and folds and rolls one big net, lifts the heavy burden and wrangles it onto the bow of his boat. He pushes the boat into the water, hops in and rows off across the wide waters, bent on catching fish.