Both having serious withdrawal symptoms after the jungle, we were in desperate need of some TLC and we most certainly found it on the islands of lake Titicaca. Lake Titicaca is the world’s largest high-altitude lake with 8400sq km at 3808m. You can definitely feel the air is thin and walking around is pretty tiring. The name Titicaca comes from the Quechua words “Tite” which means puma and “kaka” which means grey because apparently if you look at the lake upside down it looks like a large grey puma (a little bit of imagination is obviously required).
Our first stop in Lake Titicaca was the floating Uros islands. This is a collection of 65 islands made entirely from totora reeds (found in the lake) and eucalyptus, that float in the middle of the lake. The locals anchor the islands in place using rope and more eucalyptus and they joke that it is necessary to do so as they don’t have passports and can’t risk floating over to Bolivia(the lake is split between the two borders). The Uros people also use the reeds to build their houses, boats and crafts which they sell to make a living. The reeds that are left over they eat as apparently they are great for digestion and keeping the hunger away. Fishing is an important business for them and they use the fish they catch to exchange for potatoes, quinoa and other necessities from local ports.
As the whole island is practically made from reeds, it is needless to say that nobody smokes, and the oven is the only thing on the island made from clay and placed on wet reeds. The islanders also intermarry with girls from different islands who come to live on the man’s island, and nowadays the children more commonly leave the islands in order to get an education on the mainland.
The boys demonstrate how the island is made. Muddy floating reeds form the base and the totora is layered on top, with the eucalyptus anchoring it in place.
The house on the left is the modern day houses used and on the right is what they used to use in the olden days. On the islands you can also see the traditional boats used and the president with his wife. There is a new president looking after the island every year and it is a rotary system so all the islanders have a go.
Obviously i had to have a nibble. Tastes a bit like a mix between apple and onion.
The Uros kids seemed to enjoy their own company and splashing about in the water kept them entertained at least for the whole time we were there 🙂
