Friday, May 23, 2008

Caballito de Totora - Huanchaco


, originally uploaded by ladyhedda.

One afternoon in Huanchaco, Darrin and I took out a couple of the reed rafts called Caballito de Totora by the locals. The fishermen here have been using these same rafts built in the same traditional way for over 1,000 years. The Moche people left pottery remains with drawings depicting the same style raft being ridden back to shore on waves. The nearby Temple of Chan Chan has incredible decorative carvings of waves covering walls. The ocean had a massive impact on these people´s lives. We thought we'd try to tap into that millenium old tradition. We made it out the back without to much trouble, but actually catching and riding waves back in without either burying the nose or swinging to one side or the other and getting slammed was not easy. As usual the locals made it all look too easy. It was amazing to see a 1,000 year old tradtional method of fishing unchanged and thriving today.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

what a great idea to seize the moment to time travel.... yes good thinking to take the reeds out to sea and to see... i lkie your style miiguillitoes papa-pablo