The Floating Islands and Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca

Posted by Dave and Zephie

After returning to Copacabana, we decided to head to Puno, which is on the Peruvian side of Lake Titcaca. It was only a brief stay there so we could see the floating islands, but the trip was memorable. We arrived at a lovely new hostel where we booked a tour for the next morning.

We were picked up bright and early by a bus to take us down to the water to get on a boat for our tour to the Uros Islands and Taquile - another island further out. Our guide turned out to be excellent - as well as being totally bilingual he was very knowledgeable and informative about the area and local culture. The islands themselves were incredible. For thousands of years people have lived on them using the reeds on the lake for almost everything. Their boats, houses, food and the ground they walked on were made of reeds. The islands were made by sticking large squares of earth with the the roots of the reeds on together and allowing them to grow into each other. They were then anchored onto the bottom of the lake, which was about 20m deep at that point. There were 50 or more of the islands at that time, each with a number of families living on them. We were treated to a song to welcome us and a demonstration of how the islands are made.



After checking out some of the local weavings on one of the islands, we took a boat to the next one. It was a small reed boat that was paddled by one of the people who lived on the the island we left.









After visiting the islands we headed off to go to another island further out in the Lake. The hats and clothes worn by the men of the island were important for establishing whether they were married or not. Their hats would be a different colour if they were single than if they were married. Traditionally the men made their own hats. After a short walk on the island, we stopped at a small place for lunch. However, before this we were treated to an example of traditional dancing and a market of some more handicrafts. The dancing and music was incredible and at the end they had some of the group - including Zephie - up dancing as well.

This is the national flower of Peru.











After our meal, we walked back to the other side of the island to get back to the boat. We walked to the top of a small hill then down 500 very steep steps which everyone had to take slowly, although we soon saw some local women literally running down them!!!. Then we took the boat back to Puno!!