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Show Celebration of the Founding of Puno most of their own clothing, and is one of those special spots in the world where you could stay on and on forever and feel rarely lucky to have found. disturbed but us and as Rocky said, "It was better than sac:ificing a virgin as was the custom in the days of the Incas." The lake itself proved infinitely infin-itely less unsettling and the next morning after a late night over a bottle of local rum and a deck of cards, six of us (we were now traveling with a German couple and an American Ameri-can fellow) set off from the iier crammed with 40 others into a small boat for the three hour ride to the island of Taquile 24 Km out into the lake and like a world apart. Reached only by the daily boat. Taquile is an oases of tranquility in an otherwise hustling and bustling country. No roads or cars, no electricity, no crime, only small carefully tended agricultural fields, mud houses and friendly people. We stayed for two nights in the house of Fortunate Cruz. sleeping on reed mats upon beds of mud for 25 cents each and eating meals cooked by his wife over a smoky wood fire 25 cents for breakfast of coffee and two egg sandwiches 40 cents for a dinner of soup, meat, potatoes, rice and tea, and we left the island with two homespun shirts and a knit hat with unbelieveably intricate designs. de-signs. The island is almost completely self-sufficient, the people weaving and knitting by Shirley Smith Puno is not an attractive town, and after Cuzco and Macchu Picchu, it looked down right dreary. But it held two special attractions. It sits on the shores of Lake Titicaca at . 12,000 feet, the world's highest navigable lake, and the day after we arrived was to be the biggest festival of the year the celebration of the founding of Puno and the arising of Mance Capac from the waters of Lake Titicaca. lnca Legend says that the Sun. supreme god of the Incas, looked down upon the earth and was dismayed with the uncivilized and lawless way that mankind lived. To help them organize their lives in a better manner, he sent to earth his own son Manco Capac with his sister bride Mama Occla. They arose from the waters of the mighty lake and ruled as the first lnca leaders. The morning of the festival, a Sunday in November, a month that is usually sunny, and warm, there was snow on the ground and Mance Capac's proposed 6 a.m. arrival by reed boat was postponed till later in the day. The preferred warm beds and hot coffee to freezing on the lake shore waiting so we let him arrive without us and went directly to the huge stadium near the water's edge to watch him and his lnca bride be carried into the arena sitting on a litter borne by six tunic clad lnca nobles. The festivities proceeded nicely with appropriate pomp, music and narration and then came the beautiful brown Alpaca Al-paca being led into the showground show-ground by two lnca priests. Since we could not understand the announcer who spoke in Quichua, the language of the Incas, and still the primary tongue of this region, we had only a visual picture of what was happening and were totally total-ly unprepared for what followed. follow-ed. The animal, regal and perfect, per-fect, was led to a waiting table, lifted upon it and held in place while the high priest changed and slit his throat. The blood poured from the quivering quiver-ing animal and was caught in a huge ceremonial cup. The lnca and his bride advanced to the table, the priest blessed the cup and placed it in the Inca's outstretched hands and the regal couple drank from the vessel. But only the beginning. -Next came a few deft strokes of the blade and the shimmering shimmer-ing heart of the animal wask offered up in the biood dripping drip-ping hands of the p'-iest and presented to Mance Capac. The crowd cheered, the mighty ruler sprinkled blood on the heads of the kneeling priests, the animal was unceremonious- lv dragged from the field. The! dancing and music began and we left. No one seemed |