The Uros Islands are floating islands made of totora reeds that grow near the shore of Lake Titicaca near Puno. The islands are anchored into place with ropes that radiate out from the edge of the islands. New reeds are continually laid on top as the reeds at the bottom begin to decompose.
To get to the Uros Islands it was a two hour ride in a small boat with an outboard motor.
The Uros people are thought to descend from some of the earliest settlers of the Altiplano, the Urus. Over time they intermarried with the ethnic Aymaras on the mainland and adopted the Aymara language. Today, Aymara is the predominant native language south of the Puno region and well into Bolivia. To the north, Quechua is more common.
Totora reeds are used for making the islands, the houses and even the boats, known as balsas. The roofs are waterproof because the reeds expand when they come into contact with moisture, the houses need to be rebuilt and repaired regularly.
Today, the balsas are built with empty plastic jugs inside the reeds to help with buoyancy. The boats typically last a year or two before becoming too waterlogged to float.
The Uros people took to the floating islands to put some distance between themselves and a succession of more belligerent neighbors, the Collas, Incas and ultimately the Spanish. While fishing was the traditional means of subsistence, today tourism is the main livelihood. There are no shortages of embroidered tapestries or handicrafts made of totora reeds.
Many of the smaller islands are home to only one or two families. The children attend school on one of the larger reed islands.