Amantani baby

Amantani baby

in hand knit cap, Oshkosh jacket --

father, son, old, new

On Isla Amantani we are staying at a hospedaje run by an extended family. Everyone on this remote island in Lake Titicaca wears traditional attire, so it's funny to see this baby dressed in an Oshkosh B'gosh jacket below his hand knit chullo. I try to explain in my limited Spanish that I live a day's drive from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where this jacket is made. The father, who only speaks Quechua, is as amused by my gestures as the son he is lovingly supporting.

on the bed golden

on the bed golden

mats of totora reeds made of

mud, water, sunlight

The bed I am sleeping on at the hospedaje on Isla Amantani has a frame made of mango-colored wood and a double mat of totora reeds, harvested from the lake, dried and braided together along the edges. The resilient mats are very comfortable to sleep on and give off an earthy fragrance that reminds me of wheat straw. Despite the altitude, a thunderstorm and an early wake-up call, I sleep well on Mother Nature's gifts.

retrofit wiring

retrofit wiring

hangs from thick adobe on

a remote island

Isla Amantani in Titicaca Cocha is a four-hour boat ride from Puno. The islanders have recently installed solar panels that are able to generate a limited amount of electricity. At the hospedaje where we are staying, we have one light bulb hanging from the ceiling, but the wall socket is dead and the two toilets in the courtyard are lit at night by a single candle placed on the dividing wall. The wiring running along an adobe wall and hanging down from a nail may or may not be functional. It would certainly cause an electrician back home to shudder. Yet the sinuous black lines contrasting with the white box and the rough brown adobe with the smooth white plaster work well as modern art.

woman in red skirt

woman in red skirt

entering a turquoise door in

a mango courtyard

On Amantani Isla we are staying at a charming hospedaje run by a local family. The paneled wooden doors radiate the same intense turquoise as the sky above Titicaca Cocha, and the earth-plastered walls exude the color of ripe mango. While I am washing up at the communal sink, a woman in a red skirt passes by and pauses at the threshold of a bright blue door on the far side of the courtyard. There is something inviting and mysterious about a threshold. What lies beyond?

between turquoise lake

between turquoise lake

and towering white clouds, a door

of bright baby blocks

Of all the amazing doors I have seen in Peru, this one is the most spectacular, all the more so because of the simple setting, a cracked adobe wall halfway up the path to the Temple of Pachatata at the top of one of the two mountains on the island of Amantani. It often seems that the more barren the landscape, the more colorful the costumes and decorations, and this is certainly the case in the dress and decor on this rocky island. Other doors on Amantani are painted in bright monotones, but none of them are as graphic and eye-popping as this one of bright blue baby blocks.

on the isle of love

on the isle of love

a moon-faced baby peers out 

from his ruffled cap

On Isla Amantani I fell in love with this little boy, son of the family who run the hostel we stayed in. This circular island in Lake Titicaca is also called Isla Kantuta, after the national flower that grows here. Amaru, our Inka shaman guide, calls it the Love Island, because of the pair of peaks, each with an ancient temple on top to Pachamama, Earth Mother, and Pachatata, Earth Father. I saw evidence of this love theme in the heart shape set in the center of the white window grilles on the adobe houses. The costumes of the women and children are very bright, with multicolored embroidered skirts, blouses and shawls. In contrast, the men wear black pants, vest and hat with a white shirt. Unmarried children wear ruffled stocking caps, the boys with a white background and the girls in brown, both knit with colorful designs. This baby boy is obviously loved by his entire extended family and charmed us all.