Wind and Water of Ancient Times . . . . People Who Resemble Nature

Amantani Island, which is located in the middle of a huge body of fresh water called Titicaca (height of 3815m), is the highest place in the world.

When the reporter went to meet Mr. Benigno Kalata (32) who is living on the island, at the end of last month, he was cleaning solar panel boards of the Solar Heater installed on the roof of his house and each solar panel board was 2.5 square meters in size.

Looking from the roof of his house, which is at a height of 4,210 m, solar panel boards were installed on most houses in the neighborhood.

Titicaca lake, which borders Peru and Bolivia on the east and the west and is created by 4 big rivers like Ilibe and Andes mountains like Oxydental Royal, which has an elevation of 6000m, has an area of 8,560 square kms and is similar to the scale of Northern Chungcheong-do, Korea.

About 100 islands, including uninhabited islands are on this lake, which is located at the end of Southeast Peru.

The biggest island among those, Amantani, has 1500 houses, and 500 houses are in Takile.

People on these islands do not get electricity nor water facilities from the government.

In fact, electricity construction was in progress in Takile and Uros Island 2 years ago, under the Huzimori government.

They installed telegraph poles by using big motorboats from Puno city, located near the lake.

However when the Ban Toledo government resumed office, government officials started withdrawing telegraph poles, bringing the issue of discrimination in the former government.

Therefore, people have to bring water from Titicaca and use it in place of tap water.

After all this, representatives of Uros island in Takile went to a solar heater specialist in Lima, which is the capital of Peru and is 2000 kms away from the island.

They were determined to utilize the resources of Titicaca, which is the lake closest to the sun in the world and there is always sunshine in the daytime even in the rainy season.

They agreed to pay 525 Soles (around 210,000 won) per house every year for 5 years for installing solar heater panels.

After installing the solar heater, the average reduction in waste was 28 percent.

The life of the people in Titicaca lake is half-agricultural and half-fishery, as they cultivate potato and vegetable for soup called kinua and catch fish like trucha from the lake.

The Andes and surrounding mountains are not two but one range for them, and the mountain water and human life are one.

The reason why Titicaca has cold and emerald water with a temperature under 10 degree Celsius whole year is because of its location at high altitudes and because the Andes mountains block the heat.

Therefore people of this lake wear peaked caps at night even in January, which is the midsummer in the Southern Hemisphere.

They cannot cultivate rice due to the cold weather.

The way they live in Titicaca is very interesting. They have learned how to live using the environment as well as to protect it.

`Totora` reeds of 2 cm thickness, which grow in this lake, play a role in architecture as well as being used as toilets for people on Uros Island.

If it surfaces on the water, it spreads like mat. They make `Balsa`, the fishing boat by totora and build `chosa`, the house.

Above all else, totora absorbs everything. Therefore, no other toilet is required for them.

They go to stool with the bucket they bring from the land and throw this on the totora, which is then disintegrated without polluting the Titicaca.

Mr. Kalata showed me the ancient monument of Titicaca, which is on the top of Amantani island at 4300m height.

He explained that there are 3 spirits of Titicaca, `pachatata`, which symbolizes holy light, `panchamam`, which is the symbol for cultivated land, and `mamakocha`, which is the symbol for holy water.

When I lifted my eyes from the monument, the water of Titicaca and the islands, which form high mountains, were shining brilliantly.

Seung-Heon Lee ddr@donga.com