Un Llarg Viatge d'Orient a Occident- Laura en América: Taquile Island, Peru

Taquile Island is an island which sits on the Peruian side of the Lake Titicaca, 45km off shore from the city of Puno. About 1,700 Taquileños live on this island and they live from fish, rice and potatoes and of course... gringos.

They gave us this amazing show, with lovely dancers. These dances are mainly used for weddings and different religious ceremonies. Taquileños, run their society based on community collectivism, since every one must learn from others as soon as they can basically walk.

After the show, they cooked an amazing local fish with different kinds of potatoes, as you know Peru has got about 4000 different kinds of potatoes, so there's enough choice for the one that has hat it with European pomme frites.

I had the most amazing experience with these people. I was keen to get in touch with them and since music is the universal language and they had just given us an amazing dance and music show, I saw myself borrowing a guitar from a local Taquileño, I told them I wanted to play to them since they had just played to us.... well, not being a Eric Clapton nor Paco de Lucia playing guitar.... I started playing some fireplace songs, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Stones...
and suddenly I saw myself surrounded by about 30 people, 20 being children. I reckon they had never heard of Dylan in their lives and they thought I was some kind of rock star from far away... at the end I decided to play some gipsy/Spanish music and well, they all started clapping, dancing, going mad. It was the best way to get in touch with them... definitely.

I felt like finishing a bridge between the Locals and the tourist which never closes, since they just play their thing, cook their meals and get some money in return. That's how far is goes, most of the time.. but as I said before, music is a global language and I'm glad I got to share it with them. It was magic yet ephimeral...

I apologize for the delay on posting pictures, but I took about 1000 photos on my trip through South America. Expect Machu Picchu soon!

Puno harbour