Floating Islands Uros

Made a stop in Puno, enroute to Cusco primarily to visit the Floating Islands of Uros. 

Located on the Peru side of Lake Titicaca, lives a community about 30 minutes away by boat from Puno.  What is fascinating about this community is that they live on “man-made islands” that are created using a plant called Totora. 

According to the guide, there are currently about 60 of such islands located in close proximity to each other, and a total community of 2,000.  This whole group of islands is known as Uros. 

One of the islands we visited belonged to the family of “Winay Khantati” and had 4 families living on it.  We were given an in-depth explanation of how these were built which I found extremely amazing.  No where else in the world would probably have the same.

First, they need to travel about 20km away to find a special type of porous base and tie a few blocks of such base together.

Subsequently, they will pile on top of these base, many layers of Totora, a plant which is highly porous in nature, facilitating the floating nature of the island.  It is then anchored to the base of the lake with a stick. 

Houses and other necessary facilities are subsequently built on each island.  Every 15 days, they will need to stack on additional Totora, since the bottom layers will decompose after some time. 

These people live an extremely simple lifestyle.  No electricity nor money, and survive purely by bartering with the mainland, either with fish they had caught, or with Totora, as well as income from visiting tourists and selling of some handicrafts made by the community. 

I could only imagine how cold it could be in the winter considering that they are surrounded by mountains and there is no electricity access.  Furthermore, they need to be extremely careful with fire as any accidental spark could result in the whole island being burnt down in a matter of minutes!

They even keep pets and on this particular island, they have a pair of flamingos.  This is the first time I get to see them so close up!

For those who were interested in experiencing how it is like to stay in one of such houses and islands, there is even this option available on one of the floating islands. 

I think I still like my modern facilities and nice hot showers!