We spent the better part of a week in Bolivia, but as all good things must end, so must this little vacation. Before heading back to Tarapoto, we really wanted to see a little more of the area around Puno, so we planned to spend another couple of days there. We returned to Puno by bus, this time in sunny weather and minus the fishy cargo. We decided to stay in the same hotel as we had at the beginning of the vacation, having enjoyed it so much. Upon arrival we arranged a full day boat trip for the next day.
The day began as it often does in the Andes, blustery and chilly with bursts of rain. We were lucky in that by the time our tour guide picked us up at the hotel, the rain had eased and the sky was lightening up. We boarded a largish boat, double-decker, along with a mixed group of tourists and local people, heading out to the Islas Flotantes and Isla Taquille. We had fully functional motors on this boat as well as an interesting and personable guide named Manu.
We weren't long on the boat when we arrived at our first stop of the day, one of the floating islands of Uros.
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| Small but sturdy |
As we pulled up alongside the one we would visit, I was struck by how tiny it was and hoped it would hold up under the weight of all the passengers climbing off the boat. I needn't have worried. We were warmly welcomed to what was a family island, occupied by five families, all related through marriage or birth. They and their ancestors have lived this way for centuries, and though we might think it strange to live afloat in a lake, it is their normal.
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| Barefoot in the cold- helping moor our boat |
Uros is a community of about 80 floating islands, home to about 2000 inhabitants, Included is an island with a school for the children of the community. Each island has a president, whose term lasts for one year. The president acts as the representative of each island and is also the final decision maker, especially in cases of emergency.
On each island is a tower on stilts, a type of crow's nest if you will, and the president uses this as a lookout to check on potential storms, and to send signals to other islands. If a storm blows in and a raft becomes unmoored or is in trouble, the president signals for help and other islanders rush over in their boats to help.
At this point I should explain how these islands came to be and how they are built, a fascinating process and a testament to human ingenuity. When the Incas came to the land and began conquering the people there, the Aymara who lived on the shores of Lago Titicaca fled into the marshes to hide. As fishermen, the reeds were familiar and a safe hiding place for them. As the Incan empire grew stronger remaining in the reeds had to become a way of life for the Aymara, and they came up with an ingenious solution: float homes.
The islands are built from blocks of reed roots, a tangled and dense network with the capacity to float. These blocks are cut uniformly and tied together with reed ropes and wood poles that are driven into each block. They are roped together into one giant raft, then successive layers of cut and cured reeds are laid on top of them, alternating directions to provide the greatest water impermeability. Soon the roots of each reed block grow together, forming a single unit. Layer upon layer of cured reeds is built up until the island is joined together into one nearly water-tight raft.
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| Model of reed root blocks and over-layers of cured reeds. |
The island is moored in place in the shallows of the lake by a series of ropes and wooden poles driven into the lake bottom. Once that is accomplished, homes are erected on the island, tiny huts also composed of the cured reeds and woven together to be impermeable. Each of the buildings has a purpose: kitchen, sleeping huts, storage.
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| Model of how an idea island is built and furnished |
There are no washroom facilities on the islands, as contamination would be a problem, but that need has been accommodated on a separate island/islands that have shared bathroom facilities maintained by the entire community. As the guide told us, children potty train for the nighttime very quickly as they have to pole a boat to the bathroom island every time they need to use it. Nocturnal visits would be less than fun on a chilly night.
Each structure on the island is light-weight and fully mobile, without floors, since once a week they all must be picked up and moved to allow for an additional layer of cured reeds to be laid down on the top of the island. An island's lifespan is directly related to how well it floats of course, and over time the reeds become water-logged, the ones on the bottom rot, and it eventually becomes uninhabitable. At that point the families move all their belongings to another island they have constructed.
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| Light reed structures are fully mobile |
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| Views from the lookout tower |
There is an island that houses an elementary school. The young children of Uros boat to their school daily. When a child has passed the elementary school age, they must move to Puno and live there for high school. The community of Uros has built accommodations in the town of Puno where these adolescents live while they attend school.
When a woman is pregnant in Uros, she gives birth on her own island, attended by one of the midwives in the community. There are some modern amenities on the islands, like solar panels for radio, but their life is spare and very similar to that of Uros centuries ago. The people of Uros, not surprisingly, are fishermen, not farmers, and spend most of their lives on the water. They do keep a few animals, such as cats to control rodents, and ducks or other birds for food and eggs.
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| Ducks belonging to this island's families |
Many of the people, especially the children, don't wear shoes despite the cold. I suppose wet shoes are rather pointless, and there is certainly some dampness on the islands, and soft spots where a shoe gets soaked quickly. It makes sense to go barefoot. The children and adults we met all were ruddy-cheeked and healthy looking and the president of this island said respiratory infections are nearly unheard of in Uros. The Uros people maintain they have "black blood" which is immune to the cold. Arthritis is the main health problem according to him, probably related to the cold, damp conditions in which they live. In the hills surrounding the lake, nighttime temperatures can get down to -20 Celcius, but the lake moderates the temperatures and on the floating islands it stays generally at or above 3-4 degrees at night.
The children have no fear of the water, operating the reed boats and dinghies from a young age. The group of youngsters on this island were all outgoing and energetic, and very excited to see us. Tourism is a main source of income for the people of Uros, and they sell their beautiful textiles to visitors as well as rides in their reed boats. One enterprising girl jumped from boat to boat, singing songs in Spanish, English and French to us, then collected coin donations from the passengers. The community receives little or no government assistance so the importance of tourism for them cannot be overstated.
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| The girl in the yellow sweater was the singer |
We took a ride in a big reed boat, poled by a man with an ever-present smile, and enjoyed the singing of the girl when she got to our boat. I was struck by just how tiny the island looks in comparison to the enormity of Lago Titicaca. Storms blow up there suddenly and with ferocity, and I admire the knowledge and tenacity with which these people continue to live under difficult circumstances.
We purchased some of the intricately woven wall hangings and miniature reed boats they offered for sale, knowing how financially important this was to the islanders, and wanting a tangible souvenir of this incredible experience they had shared with us. We then all scrambled back aboard our boat with several little boys excitedly cheering for us and waving goodbye. We were off to our next adventure and making space for their next visitors.
I've got one more island for you to explore with me, so join me next week for a trip to Taquille. Another culture, and more beautiful and interesting things to see. See you there!
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