Visiting the floating islands of the Uros. These are indigenous pre-Incan people that live in self-made floating islands in lake Titicaca, in Peru and Bolivia. To visit them is a unique experience. At first you don’t believe that the islands are in reality floating, but then you find out it that yes, the islands are floating and also can be moved and anchored elsewhere
The best way to visit is by boat from nearby Puno. I visited for roughly a morning tour in August 2012. The weather was sunny but very cold. Due to the high altitude, even in summer it is very cold. The Uros say about themselves that they have ‘black blood’ because they don’t feel the cold as much as others. In reality this means that after millenia of living in Titicaca they have adapted to the cold climate
The islands are floating but not permanent. They are built on three layers, a bottom layer of weeds that expand with water and float, a middle layer of reeds and on top of them a light structures such as dwellings. The bottom layer must be renewed every 40 years or so and the middle every 10-12 years. The islands are build in blocks packed together so when a block is renovated, people and structures can move and use the other blocks of the island. Ingenious