Puno - The Floating Islands of Uros

We left Copacabana extra early - to Tom's dismay - so that we would arrive in Puno, Peru early enough and still have some time in the day.
So we arrived in Puno at 11 a.m. local time (1 hour earlier than in Bolivia) after having a stress-free border crossing like we hadn't had in a long time. When you want to go from Bolivia to Peru, you don't have to pay an exit fee (you had to pay €2 to go from Bolivia to Chile).

In Puno, the first thing we did was find something to eat - finally some pizza, baked in a good stone oven.
Then we set out to find a tour to the Islas Flotantes: The floating islands or Uros islands.

Since the tours stay overnight on other islands and we wanted to stay on the floating islands, we ended up booking an accommodation instead of a tour. That was clearly the better decision.

The next day, we were picked up by a shuttle service at noon and taken to the port with our luggage, where we were received by the island owner.
We took a small motorboat to the island, which was about 20 minutes away.

On the way to our island

The island consists mainly of reed.

Our little house

The floor is made of composting reeds - since you have to spread new reeds on the floor about every 15 days, the old reeds underneath rot and a special soil is formed.

The houses are also completely covered with reeds, the structure and walls are made of wood, and the roof has a metal plate, making it weatherproof.

Around view of the Uros island

First, we were allowed to relax in the sun and look around. We were quite fascinated by the peace and quiet. Apart from some music in the distance, it was just quiet.

Eventually it got so warm that I preferred to cover up a bit 😁

On the island, one of the approximately 7 residents cooked lunch for us and we had an extremely delicious 3-course meal for €4.

Our private dining room

For the main course, we had Trucha (fish), which is a specialty in the area around Lake Titicaca.

Appetizer

Main course - fish with (warm 😍) vegetables, sweet and salt potatoes 😲😊

In the late afternoon, we were allowed to try on the traditional clothing, which was very funny for us and looked very strange.

Thankfully those times are over - the hat and the pink tassels are for unmarried women 🙈💁

Afterwards, we were told about the construction of the islands. Nowadays, plastic bottles are also used to make the islands last longer. The same applies to the traditional boats, which still only last 2 years.

Since it gets cold here in the evening, dinner was served shortly afterwards and everyone disappeared to bed around 9 p.m. We were even brought hot water bottles!

Water bottles filled with hot water

View from our room

Since we went to bed early, breakfast was served at 7 a.m. Finally a change from the eternal rolls with jam! 👍

Shortly afterwards, we took the traditional reed boat to cut reeds. Similar to a gondola, we were taken there by boat.

Remnants of cut reed floating in the water

After being shown once how the sickle should theoretically look like, we tried it ourselves.

The sickle

Even the lower end of the reed, which is buried in the ground, can be eaten. You can do it 😉

On the way back, Tom and I tried our hand at rowing and failed miserably.

Tom the gondolier - we spun around in circles more than anything else 🤓

Our hard work turned into some new island floor 🙈

Back on the island, we were taught about traditional crafts. I tried my hand at embroidery and Tom at reed jewelry making 😆

The reddish-brown one was my work 😅 I took at least 20 minutes for it

Tom's necklace in the end 👸

I would say I did better, since most of Tom's ship necklace was finished by the island's gentleman.

Afterwards, our time was already over and we were taken back to Puno, where we went to the bus station to continue on to Arequipa.

Next stop: Arequipa, Peru

➡ Colca Canyon; Cusco