Timelessness on Taquile Island

Taquile Island, in Lago Titicaca, is a timeless place. Arriving by boat and climbing stairs cut into the high cliffs is a journey upward to a world outside of time. Staying at the home of Don Alejandro and his family, high above the lake, in the distance the Holy mountain known as Apu Illimani.

Everything on Taquile feels like it's been there forever. No cars or motorized vehicles buzz there. Only one trail winds its way through the small fields and farms and into the heart of the village. This trail is ancient. At night the skies light up with a bowl of stars above. Solar power is the only electricity here and at night a few house lights dot the horizon. In the distance the soft barking of village dogs and the faint rhythm of the waves on the shore.

This must be the ancient past, I think. Wait, no, this must be the far future. Surely we can live like this again. Simple, sufficient, steady. Content with what is. Letting go of constant yearning and wanting.

It is said that the people of Lago Titicaca are among the most ancient of the human race. When the great cataclysm and flooding happened they were able to rise along with the waters, to float and ride the waves of chaos and change. They adapted to survival on water and so they persisted and subsisted and eventually repopulated the barren lands.

​Deep in the lake are ancient sacred temples. Holy offerings, carvings of alpaca and symbols of ancient Pre-Inca cosmology are resting quietly in the dark. They are still present and alive and steadily emanate their power and grace. So many prayers were whispered and blown like winds of devotion to Mama Occllo - the goddess of the lake. In response, she holds the tiny islands in her hands and keeps them safe.