The beautiful star girl escapes and flies off. She loves the young man, our hero in the story, but cannot live on earth with him.The young man is heart-broken and starts off on a journey to the end of the earth to find her.
On the top of the highest mountain he meets a giant Andean condor who offers to take him to the sky kingdom.
After a year and a day they reach a marvelous place very high and far away on the shores of a huge lake. The star girl is found living near the temples of the sun and the moon.She is very happy to see her potato farmer husband and invites him to stay with her in her fabulous house.
As happens so often in such stories, in spite of the good food and love of the beautiful girl, the boy cannot live in the sky. He is sick and must return to earth.
Lake Titicaca is a huge fresh water inland lake on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It is 12,500 ft above sea level and has Inca ruins including sacred temples dedicated to the sun and the moon. Reed boats constructed like those of the ancient Incas are still used on the lake.The hillsides that rise up near the lake are terraced and planted with potatoes. Long stone fences divide the land where alpacas and llama graze.
Another element that went into this story is the story of the models who posed for me as the girl and the boy. My own sister and her husband cheerfully acted this out for me. My sister tried many interesting flying poses, holding her basket and leaping through the air. This is what you must do if you have a family member in the arts.
The happy ending is that the model pair are still married, in love, and now the parents of three beautiful children.
