The Floating Islands of Lake Titicaca

Puno, Peru -- It´s easy to understand why Lake Titicaca is the world´s largest high altitude body of water when you´re on a boat heading for its many islands. One island we visited today took us two and a half hours to reach! Just when you think Peru can´t offer anymore stunning beauty, it ups the ante again. This morning we took off from Puno for the Uros Floating Islands in complete awe. We talk about lakes acting as mirrors and this is easily the biggest mirror of them all -- clouds and mountains mingling in amazingly placid waters for miles upon miles. The Uros Islands are 48 islands made up by piling up layer upon layer of tortora reeds , a plant found near the shallows of the lake that is also a source of food for the Uros indians, who originally built the first islands centuries ago to remain far away from more powerful forces, like the Incas. Amazingly, many of their descendants still live on the islands. Our guide said today´s Uros love the fact they don´t have to pay property taxes. The islands can be moved in only a matter of weeks. In fact, family feuds on one island often result in one family using a saw to cut themselves away from their neighbor. It happens all the time, said the ¨president¨ of the island we visited. The islands are anchored to the lake bottom using rope and all a person has to do to send it floating off is a snip or two.
To get to Puno, we took an 11-hour tourist bus from Cusco (the public bus would about been about 8 hours, but withoug the stops ), which stopped at some less known but still amazing historical landmarks including one of the largest remnants of an Incan temple anywhere. But, the payoff is the final four hours of the trip, where you seem to fly upward through mountain passes and watch as the snowy peaks wink at you in the afternoon sunlight. It´s the best bus ride I´ve ever been on. Frankly, I didn´t want it to end.

The Uros Islands: