Peruvian Chulos, Pompoms, and Love at 14

6.22.2008

Sunday

At 6:15, we awoke to Papi pounding out rabbit furs on wood.  We dressed and went downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast.  All the women of the family were there, including Mildred, who had taken a liking to watching every move we made.  For breakfast we had very thin pancakes, like Swedish pancakes, with strawberry marmalade.  They were beyond delicious! 

It was time to say goodbye and head back to the boat. 

We left for Taquile Island at 8 am and arrived there a mere hour and a half later, only to be informed of another intense hike. We hiked literally straight up for about 15 minutes and at a steady incline for another hour, until we reached the very top of the island. From there we could see Lake Titicaca in both Peru and Bolivia!  Walter informed us that customs on this island are very different from the last.  Single boys and men wear stocking caps (chulos, not to be mistaken for chulo) that are trimmed with red on the bottom and are white on top.  Married men wear chulos that are all red, and leaders wear chulos with neon colored designs. Single women wear shawls with long pompom attached to them, little girls and married women get pompoms to, but they’re shorter than the single ladies.  

When a boy likes a girl, he takes a bag of colored rocks and throws them from all points behind her.  If she likes him too, they fall in love.  Oh how simple it seems! I wonder how women here in Seattle would react if men threw colored rocks at them.  Anyway, in Taquile, the acceptable amount of time to fall in love is three days and usually around age 14 or 15.  After falling in love, the girl moves to the boys family home where they have five years to have a baby.  (say what!?). If they are able to have a baby within five years, they get married.  If they don’t, they either have to separate from each other, or move from the island.

Later we had lunch at a “restaurant” (more of a room with some tables, really) called Cusi Casa – “Happy House”. Cusi was the name of our tour group too!  We had three choices for lunch: fried trout, baked trout, or an omelet. Eggs again for Jill! It seems that the people of Peru really enjoy their omelets as an alternative to meats, but there sure is room for growth in preparing them. I ordered the fried trout, even though I’m not the biggest trout fan.  I had flashbacks of Spain when I was 17 years old and we were served whole fish – head, tail, skin, and everything in between. Well, this wasn’t quite as shocking, but my fried fish (which Jill had guessed would come out breaded like fish and chips) came out filleted open, no head, but tail sticking straight upright. It was actually pretty good once I found my way past the bones.  The “chips” were potatoes flash fried and dripping with grease, but with a little lime they were still good.    

After lunch we walked down the 550 (no seriously. I’m not joking.) steps to the boat on the other side of the island than we had started.  We were headed pack to Puno.

Back in Puno, Jill and I found our way to a “supermarket” to find something for dinner and snacks for the bus ride back to Cusco the next day.  We got cereal and soy milk for dinner, ritz crackers, some chips, and some Inka Kola.  Peru is insane over Inka Kola, so we had to try it at least once.  On the way back, we also bought mandarin oranges and little baby bananas.

The Inka Kola tasted so much like bubble gum! I’m not sure if Jill wants this broadcast, but it was the first soda Jill had tasted in six (six!) years!

That night we went to bed in our shit-smelling hostel, but were content with our cravings satisfied. 

* A note on the shit smell.  In all of Peru, you can’t flush toilet paper.  You wipe and toss it in the trash.  So of course sometimes it’s just going to smell like shit.