Neal Bierling, Archaeological Adventures: Getting High in Peru, Year 2: Lake Titicaca, Islas de los Uros

Lago Titicaca with its Islas Flotantes (Floating Islands)

Islas de los Uros y las Isla Taquile

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Sept 19, 20 & 21

A Two-night trip to Puno and Lago (Lake) Titicaca—Islas de los Uros y Isla Taquile

Our international group from the US, Columbia, and Mexico

We left for our trip to Puno and Lake Titicaca Friday afternoon around 4 pm, so we were able to see Misti, Chachani, and snow-covered Ampato as we left Arequipa and ascended. Profe had advised us to take cold-weather gear along since we would be boating and hiking above 12,500 feet. In addition, we ascended above 15,000 feet with the bus. Saturday morning was sunny and a few of us wore t-shirts for at least part of the day. This year we arrived here with 24 students from the US, Columbia, and Mexico.


On the boat above and below

Numerous boats waiting for passengers

A family trying to avoid us

A local fisherman

The channel through which we pass to get to the main body of Lago Titicaca

Our international group above and below

Love the sun.

Upper deck

There was a ring around the sun, but I forget its proper name.

We left the hotel a bit after 8 am to hop on board a boat to travel on Lago Titicaca. It took at least two hours to arrive at Islas Flotantes (Floating islands) inhabited by the Uros people. The man-made islands float on reeds approximately 7 km east of the Puno harbor. I had my GPS and noted that the fastest our boat went was 9.5 mph. But we were on the lake for 9 hours covering about 75 km (approx. 40 miles) roundtrip. I remember reading about this lake and these islands decades ago in National Geographic, but I never dreamed about coming here since for the past 40 years (1972-2012) my life was devoted to archaeological work in the Middle East. And now, here I am for a second time. What a treat.

One of the floating islands

Explanation talk about the island

First off, once we disembarked from the boat onto the reed surface of the island, we were presented with a talk on the island construction and many of us ate pieces of the totora reed, the hearts of, which add fiber to the diet. The reeds are used to construct the homes and boats, and the students were treated to a reed-boat ride (Profe paid). The roots of the totora reeds are buoyant. They tie clumps of it together and then pile the reed tops in a crossway fashion on top. The islands are anchored, so we tied the boat to the island and stepped on the soft and springy reeds.

These particular islands are geared for and survive solely from tourist dollars and are fairly new. But, originally, the small Uro tribe fled to the lake and constructed the islands to escape the more aggressive on-shore tribes. The Uros speak Aymara language. The families live, fish, and use the tourist dollars to buy other staples. The children, who you will see in the pictures, are boated to school. These islands have solar panels to provide light in the evening. Some of the pictures will show some of us gathered around the small homes.

Birds are part of their diet

It is possible to overnight here, which Profe and I could do at some point in the future since we have additional questions about life on the islands. It was interesting to watch the little children go right to the water’s edge to play. When the students boarded a reed boat, they needed to be careful to not step into the water. Since the reeds do rot, newly cut reeds are constantly piled on top, but in some places I noticed water seeping up onto my shoes—more reeds here please.

Too soon after the students returned from a ride in a reed boat, it was time for us to depart for another island, Isle Taquile. Some of the Uro residents here waved ‘adios’ to us. For me, this was another interesting visit. Paz.