Amantaní, Lake Titicaca, Peru

The island of Amantaní, is an island on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca a place of about 3663 peasant people  According to a 1988 census, divided among about 800 families Quechua speakers.

It is a haven of tranquility and bucolic landscapes still unknown to most travellers. It preserves ancient traditions and the possibility of knowing an authentic life in community.

The ten communities that live in Amantaní are dedicated to: agriculture, livestock and artisanal fishing. The almost 4000 people work cooperatively and provide mutual assistance. When staying with local families traveller can share its activities, rituals and participates in folkloric events. With some effort the traveller can also learns Quechua, the first language of the Amantaneños.

According to Andean mythology, from Lake Titicaca emerged the sons of the sun god, Manco Cápac and Mama Ocllo Huaco, who founded the empire of the Sun. In Amantaní itself there are several milestones that celebrate the Andean worldview. One is the Pachamama ceremonial center, at the highest point of the island, dedicated to the female genus, The other is the Pachatata, representative of the masculine, on the Coanos hill.

As you go through the wilderness you feel no more fear than that of exposure to nature and once at the top of one of the hills, You can enjoy one of the most breathtaking views in earth, the deep blue Titicaca lake with the Cordillera Real as a backdrop.

At Dusk descending among the beauty of nature, you reach the central square where a Festival in Hohour of Our Lady of Candelaria is taking place

In this sqare, Plaza de Armas, a paved rectangle in the middle of the village where the municipality, the school, the church and some wineries coexist, already falls the night and also the first drops of rain but, the show must go on and doesn’t matter if soon, the entire place will be inundated by a tremendous seasonal storm.

It is in these minutes of waiting that one feels the rhythm and dynamics among the inhabitants of the island, the time seems eternal, and the folks carry on dancing and laughing, in a word, enjoying the gift of Life.

As the storm breaks out outside, inside, the cold and altitude sickness are healed by a muña tea, the plant suggested by the ancestral wisdom of the Amantaneños.

Here, in this timeless place, where life flows slow and and with bucolic nuances, I have perceived what I have never experienced and that, I have been told so many times, the simplicity of the world and the centrality of man in it. 

Sunset seen from Pachamama Site.

Even in moments, seemingly relaxing, women are always engaged in the production of things that somehow always help the family economy. Titicaca lake shore

A solitary boy is seen strolling around the shore of Titicaca lake

A group of Women is seen in Tradition costumes on the shore of Titicaca lake.

A couple of sheep are seen at the backyard.

a little girl is seen in a field during the day, surrounded by nature, with the lake Titicaca in the background. A field of potatoes can be a playground for children as their parents are working nearby.

At 5 o'clock in the morning, Maria starts her day washing up and tidying up the kitchen. To carry out the family in the general sense, it is only one of the activities of the women, they also work the fields, they care for the guests, and other related activities.

For many kids, the backyard is like a playground, they are safe there, close to the family and, they are happy playing with any object found around.

The almost constant “lack of” water, most of the time does not even allow basic hygiene.

Father and son are seen early in the morning get ready for a new day of work.

A curved old peasant, intent on finishing the daily work during sunset.

A man is seen resting after a long day of hard work.

A detail of a plant of Quinoa.

The hillsides are terraced, mostly worked by hand, and planted with wheat, quinoa, potatoes, and other vegetables.

Women are seen going back home during twilight.

A woman with traditional costume performs during the festivities of the carnival in the central square of the island, where all the communities, from all parts of the island, are gathered for the festivities.

Nepali boy

The April 2015 Nepal earthquake killed nearly 9,000 people and injured nearly 22,000.

Hundreds of thousands of Nepalese were made homeless with entire villages flattened, across many districts of the country.

Disastrous events in very poor and politically paralyzed nations such as Nepal often become , a long drawn out cain of events, in that one disaster feeds into another for years or even decades upon end. The aftereffects from the earthquake had subsequent effects on a myriad of things:  human traffic, labour cost and availability, rental and property cost burdens, urbanization, private and public debt burdens, mental health, politics, tourism, disease, and damage to the healthcare system.

This is a one of the thousands stories of people from Nepal. This is Batsal, a fantasy name, 13 years old, A very young Nepali worker in India, precisely in Rajasthan, about 1500 km away from his village and his family.

Few months after the quake, where he lost his father, the only “man” in a family of 5, with the help of Family’s friend decide to cross the border looking for fortune in India. After few experience here and there, He arrived in Bikaner, where is has been living for 4 Years, working as factotum in the hospitality field.

Dhobi Khana

We arrived in Veli in Fort Kochi, riding a beautiful  Royal Enfield, a motorcycle with vintage charm, after a deep visit of Mattancherry. The first sight that greets Us inside the gate market Dhobi Khana is an array of men and women ironing clothes, some still use the traditional charcoal iron, some of these irons were bought decades ago in Sri Lanka.

The environment is pervaded by music and animated by slow and gentle gestures, which give life to this space.

Pass through into the next portion of the three-acre compound of the Khana, and you see,  approximately, 40 wash pens lined up in a row dedicated to the washing of garments, acquiring life from the silent and laborious presence of these proud and kind dhobis.

The dhobis belong to the Vannar community of Tamil Nadu. Though there are different accounts about their settlement in Fort Kochi, it is widely believed that the settlement is more than three-centuries-old.

They use the traditional method of soaking the clothes in bleach and detergent water. Soaked clothes are washed by beating on a laundry stone. Starching the clothes is also done by dipping the clothes in starch obtained from boiled rice.

Next to the shed is a drying yard with cross poles and ropes. The washed clothes are left out to dry in the sun for almost five hours. The clothes are tucked in between ropes to secure them, thus avoiding the use of clips. 

This is, probably, the only Dhobi Khana (community laundry space) in Kerala, existing in the city successfully for many decades, thanks to a fair number of Kochi citizens who prefer their clothes washed by hand.

They say that the process has remained unchanged for at least the last 40 years, but as with many older ways, most of the people at the dhobi khana say that theirs is a dying profession. Younger generations doesn’t like to pick up this job, They study and aim to have a different and more lucrative job.

Moreover the increasing expand of modern laundry , put the survival of this dhobi khana at risk in in the near future.