Bolivia · Wood/Fiber Carving-Adjacent (Boat-Building)
Balsa de totora
An ancestral Aymara boat-building technique from Suriqui Island, Lake Titicaca, in which bundles of totora reed are shaped by hand and foot into Viking-canoe-silhouetted vessels without nails, adhesive, or powered tools — reeds alone, bound by twine stripped from their own outer layer. Suriqui's builders, led by master boat-builder Paulino Esteban (1927–2016), gained international recognition when Thor Heyerdahl recruited them to construct the reed vessels Ra II (1970) and Tigris for his transoceanic voyage experiments, and later the Uru for explorer Kitín Muñoz.
Risk level: Endangered · Not inscribed; Bolivia is a State Party to the 2003 ICH Convention
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