Floating Islands - Peru

Greetings from Peru! We took a bus from Copacabana (Bolivia) to the northern side of Lake Titicaca to Puno (Peru). From there we took a boat out to see the ´floating islands´.

These islands are inhabited by the Uros people, a people who have lived in this area since pre-Inca. They have traditionally fished and hunted for hundreds of years. In the 1500s, the Uros people fled the Inca by building these floating islands out of reeds. Here they have lived ever since. There are 11,000 acres of these reeds growing on the edge of the lake. The base of these reeds is used for food - tastes like cucumber.

The people traditionally built their fishing boats from these reeds - their next step was to build these islands for their safety.

These islands are one metre in thickness. The reeds are layered over large supports made from reeds strung together. They are anchored to the bottom by large rocks.

Today there are sixty islands. The Uros people continiue to live on these islands - they fish and hunt (birds, eggs). The children are schooled on the islands - both Primary and Secondary schools. Two languages are spoken - their own language and Spanish. The people also rely on tourism for their economy. Each island has it´s own leader. They use solar energy. They live very simply. Their sleeping accommodation is built higher as to avoid humidity - rheumatism is a problem.

There were five species of trout in the lake. Today there´s only two as Kingfish and Carp were introduced recently.

Ciao