Lake Titicaca - Puma Rock (03.08.08)

Floating Islands of Uros

Today we visited two of the 48 current floating islands of Uros. These islands are in the Bay of Puno, Lake Titicaca (translates to Puma Rock), about a 25 minute boat trip. I have always wanted to see this place, ever since I was 10 years old and watched The Cities of Gold. However, the TV show led me to believe that the people living on the reed islands were descendants of Incas but this is not the case. They are in fact related to the pre Inca cultures who fled to the lake to escape their enemies sometime in the distant past.

The first reed island we went to was called Ccapi. Apparently 5-10 families (approx 20-50 people) live on each island. All in all, there are around 2500 people living in Uros. If the families on one island have an argument they can severe their part of the island and float away to a new spot. Each island is constructed from reeds and is about 1.5-2 metres thick so it is possible to cut through them. They float in water about 20 metres deep and are tethered to the reeds that grow in the lake. There are primary schools on some of the islands and a hospital. However, the locals prefer to use traditional medicines – probably lama fetus stew for a cold or something similar. The four main things the Uros people do are fishing, hunting birds, weaving and collecting reeds. I must say I am glad I don’t live here and am very thankful that I grew up in Australia. We were told all this fascinating information on Ccapi and got to view the people’s simple reed houses and of course look at (and buy) their handicrafts, made surprisingly from… reeds! I am not sure how customs back home are going to like the reed items I bought. I am guessing if discovered they will be burnt.

We were ferried to the second island on a reed boat (had to pay extra for the experience). The second island was even more commercialized than the first one. It had numerous restaurants and huts for tourists to camp out in. It also had the ugliest turkey I have ever seen – comparable to the foul bird we saw in Vietnam. This was the first turkey I have ever seen alive and I am presuming they all look that vile. There were also some guinea pigs (dinner) running around. We didn’t stay long on this island.

Even though all the islands are touristy, decked out in souvenirs, with locals willing to pose for 1 sol, we really enjoyed them and I wasn’t disappointed – they lived up to my twenty year old dream.

Island of Taquille

Following this we sailed a further three hours or so to Isla Taquile (only 34km from Puno). The people on this island are Quechuas, descendants of Incas. They are renowned for the weavings. UNESCO has labeled their weaving something important, I guess world heritage something or other, which would explain why everything was rather expensive compared to Bolivia. When we arrived at the harbor we had to walk 20 minutes up hill (all these islands are rather steep with many terraces) to the main village. Once up the top we were greeted by locals dancing in the main square. I think a festival may have been on, although perhaps they do this every day for the hoards of tourists who visit – who knows. There was lots of monotonous recorder type playing going on and colourful costumes, including some very layered skirts on the women. An interesting experience, though after a while rather painful on the ears.

Lining the edge of the main square were stalls selling lots of woven beanies and hats (apparently acrylic and not wool according to a lady we have since met). In this community the men knit the hats. Women weave but do not knit. Single men knit themselves a predominantly white floppy hat (resembles a night cap) with a giant colourful pom pom at the bottom. Married men’s caps are red. Important men in the village wear a slightly different style fluro beanie and if they are real big shots they get to put a bowler hat on top of the beanie. Although, we did see one man with a construction helmet on top of his. You can tell the marital status of a woman by the colour of the pompoms on her shawl. However, I do not believe you can see if she is in a trial marriage from the pompoms. On this island you live with your fiancé for up to two years before getting hitched to see if you are compatible. If you don’t back out before the big day it is too late once you have said “I do” - there is no such thing as divorce on Taquile. If you do decide to split before getting married and you have had some kids, the woman gets any girls, and any boys go with the father. I learnt all this information at lunch. After hearing this I wanted to go and buy one of the beanies – a red one for Jon. However, once we had finished eating, our tour guide said we had to leave straight away and I couldn’t go back to the main square. Instead, we had to walk down 500 steps to the main harbor. So, I am hoping that I can buy some of these hats in Cuzco where they will no doubt be twice the price.