Los Uros on Lake Titicaca

Published by jacko77 on Tue Aug 4th, 2009

Los Uros is a set of 32 floating islands located on Lake Titicaca near the town of Puno.  Here you will find the Uros people building their own homes, schools and land out of the reeds that grow in the water around Lake Titicaca.

Today only a estimated 15 islands get visited on a regular basis by the tourists because the remaining islands are relatively hard to get to because of their isolated locations.  You will come across two different types of Uros people which are the ones who live close by the main town of Puno and are easily accessible to tourists and the ones who live on the isolated islands.

When you arrive on the islands you will see the locals living a life totally independent from the main society, doing their own fishing, hunting, doing craft work and living off the lake plants, with the totura reed being one of the most important because its used to build boats and houses.

You will see more women than men on the islands, because the men are generally out hunting, while the women are making the handicrafts to sell to the tourists who come onto the islands.  The few men who you will see on the islands are generally fixing houses and boats.

They cannot just survive on tourism alone, but they also trade their fish on the main islands with other locals.  The tour boats that are used to get to the islands are little more than floating stalls which gives you a fantastic experience on how the Uros live and the tranquillity and amazing surroundings.