Totora Floating Reed Islands

The Lake is 165 Kilometers long (about 99 miles) by 60 Kilometers wide (about 36 miles).

Peru and Bolivia share joint ownership.

We navigated out to the islands through channels of Totora reeds that grow profusely and abundantly in this sheltered part of the lake.

Here, we see a boat made of the reeds. Each creative boatmaker puts a different head (bow), on his boat. On this particular boat, the head is pointing upwards to the Universe and the deities, with mouth wide open. He may be asking for safe passage.

As our boat approached one of the islands, the Uros women stepped forward to assist us in docking.

In the background is a tower (made of reeds, of course), that one may climb to get a view of the surrounding islands.

The villagers live on the islands and the children go to school in Puno, which is the closest major city. How would you like to ride a reed boat to school every day?

Yes, the islands are a little squishy to walk on.

The root system is about 3 feet deep and is the base for the islands. The reeds are then laid criss-cross to create the ground.

Every year the Uros add more reeds to the base. Some of these islands are between 50-90 years old.

The green part is used to create the flooring. The white part toward the bottom is eaten.

Here we see a home with new reeds drying by the front door. Notice the solar panel above.

In this photo, the Uros women are making fry-bread. It's quite tasty.