Blogs from Uros Island, Lake Titicaca , Puno, Peru, South America - page 9

Hi Again a little snippet from what will be effectively the last sight seeing I do in Peru (for now). I would definitely like to come back and see more of it one day. We arrived in Puno 2 days ago after a 3.5 hour bus trip from Cusco. Our day of sight seeing yesterday consisted of a little ride down to the lake on bike taxis and then we were off to see the Uros Islands. These islands are man made of reeds and float on lake Titicaca which by the way stands for Grey Puma (not that we saw any). The islands last about 10 years and then each community on has to build a new island to live on as they build layer on layer and with too many layers they no longer ... read more

Just spent the last few days in Lake Titicaca, on both Bolivia and Peru side. This is the largest freshwater lake and is the highest commercially navigation lake in the world, at an altitude of 3,800m. Visited the islands in the lake, Isla del Sol (Island of Sun) in Bolivia, and Isla de Los Uros (Floating Island), Isla Amantani and Isla Taquile in Peru. My favourite is definitely the Floating Island! Yes, it may have become very touristy, but it´s still very amazing for me. The islands are home of the Uros people. The islands, their homes an boats are made of reeds. They depend on weaving and fishing for living, and now of course tourism. The people are friendly and welcoming. Simply Amazing! We also stayed overnight at a family in Isla Amantani. The room ... read more

We entered Peru 15 mins from Copacabana and changed our Bolivianos for Soles, so we could start spending! We arrived in Puno, we are here because we want to go and visit the floating islands (Uros) and Taquile as we have heard they are beautiful. We went out early to the floating islands, islands made of reeds, the houses the ground and everything. The staple diet of the people of the islands is also reeds. It was very cute, little communities on each island. We took a reed boat from one island to the other. A traditional way of transport... and really comfy. From the islands we headed on another boat to Taquile Island. Which is the largest island on the Peruvian side of the lake. It was beautiful. We got off and walked up to ... read more

Lake Titicaca is jointly owned by Peru and Bolivia and can be visited from either side. We had originally planned to visit from the Bolivian side and visit Isla del Sol and Isla de la Luna but having been told that the latter was temporarily closed to visitors, we decided to visit the floating Islands of Uros, Isla Taquile and Amantani instead (from Puno). We were slightly hesitant as this trip is supposed to be very touristy and contrived but I´m glad we decided to see for ourselves. The Lake is the highest navigable lake in the world and natives believe it is the product of tears from a God (I forget which one now) Dotted around the lake are traditional villages where Spanish is the second language and where ancient myths and beliefs still hold ... read more

After a hearty lunch of Shepards Pie in the Irish bar (not quite local food , but heh) , we left Cuzco and headed to Puno on the shore of Lake Titicaca. From here we hooked up with SAS Travel and their tour of the lake. First was the Uros Islands, floating islands made of reeds. When they got a bit soggy, another 5 " of reeds were laid on top. Even the locals boats were made of reeds. Very primitive, although they did have solar panels for their electricity, a gift from the Peruvian government! From here our boat continued to Amantani Island. We were introduced to Olga who was to be our host for the night. Her house was made of bricks held together with mud and straw, although our accommodation seemed better than ... read more