Puno & Uros Islands

Today, we left the Isla del Sol to move toward Peru. Met up with the bus at Copacabana and crossed the border into Peru. After jumping the usual bureaucractic hoops at both borders, we arrived at our hotel in Puno at lunchtime.

After lunch, we took the option of visiting the Uros Islands on Lake Titicaca. Those islands are made entirely out of reeds grown in the lake and are floating islands with unique Islanders. The boat passed various birdlife including ducks with bright blue bills and what looked like moorhens. We also passed what used to be an Island Prison, now a luxury hotel, but it still looks like a prison...

The Islands are fascinating, stepping off the relative stolidity of a 21st Century boat onto the springiness of a reed island was strange to say the least. All the females were shoeless and very welcoming. We sat on reed logs whilst our guide, Jorge (sp?) explained about the islands and how they cam into being. Basically the indigineus (sp?) population were being squeezed out by the Incas, so they had the bright idea of creating floating islands, then no one would bother and/or kill them. The foundations came from earth in shallow waters - they hacked out great blocks of those earth, bound those together with reed ropes before laying on layer after layer of reed. Then the island would be tugged by a reed boat to its mooring, where it would be tied in place by a reed rope. This way, entire islands were created.

They are surprisingly durable - each week, another layer of reed would be placed over the entire island, and they lasted quite a long time. I´m afraid I can´t remember exactly how long. Naturally, the houses were made of reed as were the furniture including beds. The only things not made of reed, were clothes and bedding. Oh and pots and pans for cooking. An islander told us that a few weeks earlier, the elders had gone ashore in Puno, leaving children on the Island. Somehow or other, they lost control of the fire and the place burnt down. The goup of islands total, I think around 35 islands and accommodate around 400 people. I think.

To prove to us that we really were on a floating Island, a hole in the mud base was shown to us. I think the water depth at this point was aorund 25 metres deep, naturally, proved by a reed rope with a heavy stone at the end. After a talk about the history of the islands, we were taken by the women to their homes and had a good look round the place. Had some singing and dancing, wearing local clothing - in the females´case, big skirts and a hat. Tradition dictates that the hat be angled if the female is single, and right on the top of her head if she is married. A fascinating insight into the culture of the time. Apparently the Incas more or less left the Islanders alone so long they didn´t interfere in Inca politics.

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