It is a set of artificial islands, so it is also called floating islands, located in the highest lake in the world at 3812 masl, the Titicaca, so they would also become the highest islands in the world; The origin of these islands is attributed to the Uros, an ancestral people that inhabited the Peru-Bolivian high plateau, also known as the Collao plateau.
Although the last of the Uros died in 1950, the construction of these islands has been carried out to this day by descendants of mixed race between this tribe and the Aymaras, the totora is the most abundant plant of the entire lake, and is that its multiple uses to which the uros could give, made this plant the basis of the survival of this community, its uses vary between: walls of braided totora (mats), roofs, fences, food, individual and group boats, floor for the maintenance of the islands, etc.
These islands are raised on a portion of Lake Titicaca, to be able to build them, overlapping blocks of roots 4 meters wide by 15 meters long and with a thickness of approximately 0.8 to 1 meter, these roots are detached from the soil of the lake itself. natural phenomena, these blocks will serve as a base for the construction of the islands, then proceed to tie all the blocks, this way you avoid that all the blocks are dispersed due to the movement of the water of the lake, on them are placed totora interspersing the directions perpendicular, weaving in this way a considerable portion of totora, finally the islands already finished are anchored to the base of the roots of totora near (in this way you avoid that the island appears in Bolivia the next morning), for that you will see all the islands near the areas where the totora grows, and finally the island is ready to begin the constructions of the houses and even corrals for the animals (all based on totora).
For the maintenance of these islands, the inhabitants of the islands place a layer of totora every 20 days, in addition the constructions of the houses will have to be built on a surface or greater thickness of the island, in order to avoid the cold by the humidity of the lake, each house built consists of a single room, also as is obvious, the kitchen is built outdoors and on a flat stone to prevent fires, because the totora that is found on almost the entire island is highly Flammable in addition to being dry in almost every month of the year.
On the side of Peru there are currently 20 islands of the uro Chulluni ethnic group, the number of families occupying the place is variable, usually ranging between 30 and 10, among the main islands that are in this part of the lake are Tupiri , Santa Maria, Tribune, Toranipata, Chumi, Paradise, Kapi, Titino, Tinajero and Negrone; On the other hand, in Bolivia the existing islands have just begun their construction within this last decade, and 4 are built by the uro Irohito ethnic group, the first floating island in Bolivia was inaugurated in March 2007 with the name of Pachakamak, then the plan La Paz tourism was responsible for the conditioning of other islands.
To be able to set foot on one of these islands, it is necessary to reach the city of Puno located at 3810 meters above sea level and known as the Folkloric Capital of Peru, this, due to the more than 350 ancestral dances that Puno has, geographically includes 56% of the Lake Titicaca (4772 km2). There are several ways to get to this city, it could be by car (its duration will depend on the place of departure) by plane (whose nearest airport is in Juliaca, one hour by car from Puno) and by train either from the city of Cusco, Arequipa or Juliaca, it is worth mentioning that the train service provided by the concessionaire Peru Rail, is classified as a First Class service, in addition to adding to this the incredible landscape that runs this rail service.
Do not wait any longer and get to know the floating islands of the Uros, one of the most representative constructions of a thousand year old culture, Los Uros. Embark on this wonderful adventure with the best travel agency in Peru Machu Picchu Travel.
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