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Welcome to Peru!1 Aug 2008
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The "floating islands" of Uro (made of reeds)
Villages on the floating islands
Two of the 2,000 residents on the islands
| We left Copacabana early morning and travelled 10 minutes to the border. A very quick border process welcomed us to Peru! We decided to break up the first leg of our trip in Peru in a small town on Lake Titicaca called Puno. Puno is the hop off point for people visiting the floating islands (Islas del Ouros). These islands are basically made of totora reeds stacked on top of each other. Once upon a time the Uros tribes people decided to isolate themselves from the mainland and from rival tribes like the Collas and Incas (so not today or yesterday). Today there is a total of 40 islands housing around 2000 islanders. The guide informed us that the islands could be joined together or seperated depending on how relations were with the different islanders (one way to get rid of the neighbours if you dont like them!!). It is a very simple existence on the islands with small huts for people to sleep in, otherwise all other daily activities are carried out outside on the islands. Saying that, there was a few TV aerials and solar panels dotted throughout the place! Tourists can stay overnight on the islands but we decided to skip that option seeing as it was pretty cold even at sunset. Our first hot shower and warm bed in Peru awaits! |
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