A Day On Perelandra

Reed boat at Uros — On the” Islas flotantes” of Uros (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

We spent most of today out and about on Lake Titicaca. Much of that time involved cruising on a fairly fast boat — something that I love for its own sake — but, even so, we covered very little of this very large and quite beautiful lake.

We spent about two and a half hours on the large Peruvian island of Taquile. There, we watched a presentation by one of the island’s elders (who had the help of a couple of women) about the creation and significance of the colorful local textiles, about marriage customs on the island, and so forth. It was quite interesting.

Thereafter, we had a very good lunch at another location on the lakeshore.

Where is Uros? — Standing on Apu-Inti, our guide provides general background information regarding the floating islands of Uros. (Except where otherwise indicated, all photographs for this entry were taken by my wife.)

The highpoint of the day for me, though, and a highpoint of the trip as a whole, was a visit to the famous man-made floating reed islands of Uros (of which there are something on the order of eighty or ninety), and specifically to the island of Apu-Inti, whose residents are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I spoke to two brothers, for example, who had served in, respectively, the Bolivia La Paz Mission and the Colombia Bogotá Mission. Tourist boats are likely to put in at any one of the islands, but my wife had been to Apu-Inti before, and we specifically requested it.

On Apu-Inti — A patriarch on the “island” of Apu-Inti stands by the model that he’s just constructed as a way of showing us how the islands and their structures have been built.

The name of the island, Apu-Inti, derives from two Quechua words, if I’m not mistaken, although the language of the people of Uros and of the general region is actually Aymara. Inti was the solar god of the Incas, and apu means, roughly, “sacred.” These people have been out on these artificial islands for many centuries.

We bought from her. — A young Apu-Inti mother displays some of her weaving.

At one point, out came familiar-looking green hymnals, and several of the islanders sang to us in Spanish. The first hymn was “I Am a Child of God,” and it was followed by “Nearer My God to Thee.” In response, we sang “As I Have Loved You.” They also proudly showed us an Aymara translation of the Book of Mormon.

Peruvian LDS singing — A small choir on Apu-Inti

At the end of our visit, we went for a brief ride from Apu-Inti on one of Lake Titicaca’s famous reed boats, something that I have long wanted to do.

Lauren and the reed boat — On the right is a member of our tour group. On the left, a fellow who had served his mission in La Paz, Bolivia, and who is now saving up money to take his wife and his daughter to the temple in Cochabamba, Bolivia, to be sealed. Behind them you can see a reed boat of precisely the kind that inspired Thor Heyerdahl’s famous “Ra Expedition.”

An article about the Latter-day Saints of Uros appeared in the July 2011 issue of the Ensign:

“Islands of Faith: A Story of Diligence”

Elder Ronald A. Rasband, then a member of the presidency of the Seventy, spoke about members of the Church on the floating islands near Puno in April 2008 General Conference:

“Special Experiences”

Posted from Puno, Peru

A day on Perelandra