Puno
Visiting Lake Titicaca was a dream came true. The syllables ‘Ti·ti·ca·ca’ of its exotic name sounded like a song when I was a child. I knew that the lake was somewhere deep in the Andes, far from my native Russia, and I had no hopes to see it one day.
Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake on earth. It is up to 1,000 feet (300 m) in depth. Mountain lakes are always beautiful, but Titicaca is also famous for its floating man-made islands that are home to the Uros tribe.
The legend says that 5 centuries ago the Uros lived on the mainland. When the Incas came, the Uros fled from them in reed boats. The Incas were not seafarers and they did not chase the Uros. For a while, the tribe lived in reed boats that were not designed for permanent living. Then someone smart had an idea. Reed is waterproof and it floats well. If they could make boats out of reed then why not to build a reed island? A thick layer of reed can support several people. The Uros cut bunches of reed and placed them on the water surface. That is how the reed islands came to existence.
The Inca Empire is long gone but the Uros continue to live on their man-made islands. Small huts and virtually everything else on the islands is made out of reed. Food is cooked on open fire built on metal sheets or rocks. In 2004, there were 17 floating islands on Lake Titicaca. Large islands are equipped with solar panels. They have schools, shops and a post office.
The problem with reed is that in water it rots in 3 months and disintegrates. Fresh reed must be constantly added to maintain the islands. It takes time to get used to walk on a floating island. The reed springs under the feet and it feels like walking on a soft mattress. One also must be careful not to step on rotten reed and not to fall through it.
There is also a real island on Lake Titicaca called Taquile. We walked all over it and lunched on the lake fish before returning to Puno.