The Floating Islands of Lake Titicaca

After we left the Isla del Sol, we went to the Peruvian side of the lake. We stayed in the town of Puno, which sits just on the lake side protected by two penisulas about 20kms apart. This allows the lake to be perfectly still and allows lots of reeds to grow. From these, the indigineous people have made reed islands which float on the lake. Originally these people built the islands to flee the Incas, and have remained there ever since. There are a number of islands with different communities and families, and the Uros Islands, which we visited had a total of 4,000 people living on these islands. Each island has about four houses on it which seem to support one extended family. The houses have wooden frames with reeds that form the outer cover. The floor is reeds, the furniture is reeds, the transport is reeds and well, pretty much everything is made from reeds. These days the islanders have solar panels and watch all the Latin America soap operas, only coming outside to greet the tourists and try and sell their wares, which range from postcards to stuffed birds and fish (umm, interesting).

We were a little disappointed with these islands as they seemed very fake, only there to exploit the tourists, or perhaps that´s the other way round. Regardless, it wasn´t the best morning we had. Shame. The town of Puno wasn´t that great either. They had really commercialised the lakeside in a bad way and unfortunately, weren´t putting much money to cleaning the lake and surrounding area. The lake was full of green algae and plastic bottles and the edge of the lake was being used a site for ´spoil´, a term for surplus rubble and soil from building sites, which they seems to laying at the edge of the lake. Unfortunately, this was attracting rubbish from the local people who also seemed to have a total disregard for the potential beauty of the lake. It was a stark contrast to the Bolvian side.

Funnily enough, we met plenty of people who said don´t bother with the Peruvian side of the lake as its not as nice as the Bolivian side, but we still felt we had to go to Puno and the Islands and see for ourselves. There are some islands further out which aren´t quite so commerical and where you can stay with the islanders for overnight or for a couple of days, but we simply didn´t have the time.

We quickly left Puno the following day for Cuzco and the Sacred Valley.