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Totora is an aquatic plant harvested from Lake Titicaca, one of the most culturally
rich regions of Bolivia, and it's where both the Inca and the Tiwanakan civilizations originated.
For more than 4,000 years, the Aymara Indians of this Andean region have used totora reeds to build
their boats and homes, deftly transforming this natural fiber into beautiful and utilitarian objects.
These totora reed boat baskets were crafted by the Esteban family, originally from Isla Suriqui,
an island in Lake Titicaca, but now living in the community of Huatajata, on the shores of
Lake Titicaca.
Porfilio's father, Paulino, is world-renowned for making sea-worthy totora boats, and
taught his sons the art of working with totora. (See below for more information on full-size totora reed boats.)
Porfilio's family has a small amount of land for agriculture - only enough potatoes and beans to feed the
family part of the year. They purchase the rest of their food.
When there are enough orders, the whole family works in totora crafts.
To craft a boat, they start by making the "heart" of the boat with long pieces of totora that run through
the center.
Next, they make two bundles of small, strong pieces that give the shape of each side of the boat.
Surrounding these they bind the outer layer of longer, finer pieces of totora.
They then bind all three pieces together with strong string or natural fiber,
until the pieces are tightly bound, and the "heart" can no longer be seen.
Once the pieces are together, they wet the boat with a little water, and using a stone, shape up each bow.
This whole process takes a day to make a small boat or tray.
These totora boat baskets are available in the large size
and 3 bright colors.
Modeled after the historical RA II, a life-sized craft made famous for its 4000 mile transatlantic voyage in 1971.
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Large Totora Reed Boat Basket $42.00
about 19" long, 3.5" high and 6" across
(Sorry - green and purple are out of stock)
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These Bolivians hope improve their baskets and continue using age-old techniques
so that their traditions and culture are maintained through the generations.
They would also like to continue teaching more people to work with totora, so
as to help more families in the area with this beautiful craft from renewable, natural resources.
An archaeological mystery has been how pyramids and other large stone religious and cultural
monuments physically came to be at the prehistoric city of Tiwanaku on the southern shore of Lake Titicaca.
To get to known quarries, one had to cross 10-90 kilometers of water with stone boulders many tons in weight.
Paulino Esteban has helped experimental archaeologists build a totora reed boat 14 meters long, 5 meters wide
that then held a 9 ton stone and was water-worthy.
www.archaeology.org/interactive/tiwanaku/project/experiment.html
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