The caballitos de totora are types of boats built from a thousand of years ago B.C. with stems and leaves of totora (Scirpus californicus). They are designed to transport a sailor with his gear, during marine fishing in Peru and lake fishing in Bolivia and Peru.
The front end (bow) is pointed and curved upwards, the rear end being wider. It normally has a length of 4.5 to 5 meters; and a width of 0.6 to 1 m; its weight varies between 47 and 50 kg and it can support 200 kg of payload.
For three thousand years its design has not changed. The Mochica already used it around 200 A.C., and is currently used by Bolivians and Peruvians.
In the Peruvian coast
In some beaches of the Peruvian coast, such as Huanchaco (Trujillo), these boats are also used for sports to ride waves in a similar way to surfing.
Embedded in its sand rest these reed boats. For along past this was the symbol of the respect of the population of the Peruvian coast for the subtle threads that weave the ecological balance.
Bordering the beach, in the distance an almost imperceptible green line. From there, the material used for millennia for the elaboration of these rustic ships continues to be extracted. They are the totorales, the wetlands, the rafts. In the ancient language of the area they are called “wachakes”, a word that can be translated as “eye of water” and which they say gives its name to Huanchaco, one of the last redoubts of the caballitos de totora in the Pacific Ocean.
The representative element of this ancient tradition is the use of the caballito de totora, a fundamental heritage of the Mochica and Chimú cultures that has been maintained over time and that constitutes a representative symbol of their identity, with unfathomable historical value.