Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable body of water in the world, is a unique landscape whose people still stick to traditional lifestyles. While I decided to take a day trip to the islands, my friends and travel buddies, Amrita Singh and Rachelle Bergeron chose to stay at the home of a family on one of the islands for one night. Guest bloggers Amrita and Rachelle were nice enough to share this incredible experience…
Electricity was not guaranteed and we would undoubtedly spend the night huddled under a blanket, shivering. Despite our guidebook’s account of the rugged conditions, we decided to venture to Amantani Island for an overnight stay with a local family.
Following a visit to the Floating Islands and a three-hour boat ride, we arrived on Amantani Island.
Our host mother, Celia, met us at the dock. She was a short woman with deeply tanned skinned, rosy cheeks and a welcoming smile. She spoke no English and we spoke only a handful of Spanish, which was not much use anyways, since the islanders speak Aymara. After exchanging pleasantries via smiles and hand gestures, we walked through the hilly island to Celia’s house.
Celia took us through a small courtyard to our room. With four twin beds, our room was much bigger than I expected, and could have easily passed for a 20$/night quadruple room at a hostel. But the view from the window was priceless.
Immediately after entering our room, we scanned the wall and flipped a switch – let there be light! There was electricity after all! Although we didn’t tour the rest of the house, I’m quite positive our room was at least twice as big as the other few rooms that house Celia’s extended family.
After our long boat ride and the hike to the house, it was only natural that we were in need of a restroom. After asking for “el baño,” we were led outside the small gate of the house and around the corner, where we walked about 100 ft. up a dirt path to an outhouse!
After “freshening up,” we headed to the kitchen, a small hut in Celia’s courtyard where the women of the household were cooking over a fire. Like so many households in the US, the kitchen appeared to be the hub of the house. Abuela (grandmother) was constantly tending to the fire and family members stopped in and out throughout the day.
Laid out on the kitchen table was an Andean tea service: a thermos of hot water, a bowl of coca leaves, and springs of “muña,” which the local people refer to as mint. The mate de muna was delicious and tasted like a combination of chamomile and mint. Never having developed a taste for coca tea, muna was a welcome alternative for me. 
Celia served us large bowls of the quinoa soup for lunch, which was some of the best quinoa soup we had in Peru! We also were treated to a plate of boiled potatoes served with sliced tomatoes and a huge piece of delicious fried cheese – so good!! After some persuasion, Celia’s school-aged son and daughter joined us at the table and even sang us a song.
After a brief rest, Celia knocked on our door. She led us to the local school where we joined our guide and hiked to the top of the island to watch the sunset. While the sun sank behind the Bolivian mountains, we each made a wish and walked around the temple at the top of the mountain three times, following our guide’s advice that doing so would ensure a wish come true. Someone must have wished for an incredible view, as the sunset over Lake Titicaca was unbelievably gorgeous!
After the sun went down, we hiked back to Celia’s house, where we asked – via ridiculous hand motions, of course - if we would help cook dinner. We were put to work peeling bite-sized potatoes, but didn’t mind at all as the kitchen fire kept us warm. Dinner was tasty corn soup, followed by rice and potatoes in a corn curry-ish sauce that seemed to be made from the same base as the soup.
After dinner, Celia and her daughter hurried up to our room with a large bag of clothes. The village hosts a party every evening for the tourists staying on the island, and we were all to dress in traditional island clothing! Celia added many layers of colorful clothing – a petticoat, full skirt, blouse and a wide belt and shawl – on top of the jeans and sweatshirts we were already wearing.
We then hiked up to the village school, which had transformed into a dance hall complete with live traditional music. The other island tourists and their host mothers all attended. All of the women wore layers of colorful clothing featuring beautiful floral embroidery, while the men sported drab-colored ponchos and hats. Celia kept us dancing throughout the entire night. Whenever we dared to sit down and catch our breath, Celia would grab our hands and take us to the dance floor. During the last song of the evening, the tourists and host mothers all joined hands and danced in a huge circle. It was the perfect ending to an amazing day!
It was pitch black outside when we left the party – there are no streetlights on the island! With the help of two small flashlights, we stumbled along the rocky path to Celia’s house while craning our necks to stare at the starry sky. We were still warm from dancing when we arrived at our room, so before our body temperatures had a chance to drop, we quickly bundled up into every item of clothing that we had and hopped into bed, piling on several heavy blankets.
We awoke to a beautiful view of the sunrise through our window. After a breakfast of tea and pancakes with jam. With a warm hug we bid farewell to our wonderful host mother and the beautiful Amantani Island. Without a doubt, it was an unforgettable experience.
A little wooziness was not going to stop me from exploring the city. We walked around the central Plaza de Armas taking pictures with pasted smiles on when in reality it felt like with each step we had a a ton of bricks on our backs. It may sound extreme, but there was so much pressure inside my head I felt like my brain was going to explode. I could not help but wonder why anyone would recommend this place to a traveller!
