Trip to the reed islands of Uros

The cruise to the Uros Islands begins at the port of Pune. There are dozens of pedal boats, but it is more of an attraction for locals. There is a nice view of the city from here. The surrounding hills invite you to climb and a nice view of the surroundings. Cruises to the islands are organized by local travel agencies, so you will be transported to the port by minibus from your hotel and you don't have to worry about anything.

The beginning of the voyage is not very handsome, the whole bay of Punic is full of algae and cyanobacteria. The beautiful distinctive blue color of Lake Titicaca is far beyond. The round hills in the background are less than 4,500 meters above sea level.

Finally he arrives in the area of the „Isles Floantes“ – floating reed islands. There is one family living on each of these islands and one travel agency boat always lands here, so there can be a maximum of about 20 tourists.

Finally, you are approaching one of the islands, where you can learn something about the lives of people from the Uros tribe. Although reed vessels are moored everywhere, locals prefer to ride in new boats anyway.

When walking on a reed island, you really feel that it is not 100% solid ground. The base is soft and flexible. Maybe you will be lucky and visit a real floating island, because some of them have already grown completely to the ground.

There is an interesting history connected with the Uru tribe. They basically hid on the lake from aggressive Inca and Coll tribes. Now there are about 300 of them (but none is said to be purebred Uru) and they basically live only from tourism.

Fish is, of course, an essential part of the local diet. They will let you taste delicious freshly baked pancakes.

Local young men often go fishing and fish are dried in the sun.

Of course nowadays, the whole visit to the tribe is a game for tourists. Without them, those people would not have lived here for a long time. There is a lookout tower on each island, from which you can look around. The locals unpack the stalls in a while and try to sell some souvenirs.

Of course, in the end you can still have a ride on a local boat.