Day 6: The Floating Islands

Today we went to the Floating Islands on Lake Titicaca. These islands are a must-see for tourists. Look up “Puno” on Google and you’ll see what I mean ;) We traveled to the islands with about 35 kids, most from the Mary Bloom tutoring program and a few from the orphanage, so it was a huge group.

A picture speaks a thousand words so I’ll just let you scroll through the pictures, then I’ll give you a history of the islands :)

Our group:

Here's the special corn treat they gave us. It was such interesting and different looking corn, I had to take a picture.

The islands are man-made with totora reeds. Totora is a cattail type of plant which grows native in the lake. The dense roots of the reed support the top layer, which rots and is regularly replaced by stacking more reeds on top. According to South America Travel on About.com, “The surface of the islands is uneven, thin, and some liken walking on it to walking on a waterbed. The unwary might not notice a thin spot and sink a leg or more into the frigid waters of the lake.” I second the waterbed part… thankfully I was not victim to thin spots!

The people living on the islands are of the Uros Tribe, which pre-date the Incan civilization. They speak Spanish and their native language of Aymara. They make everything with these reeds, most notably those incredible boats! Approximately 2,000 Uros live on the various islands. The homes are created with reeds as well, and the residents wear layers of clothing to combat the cold, mostly wool which protects from cold, wind and sun which burns dangerously at that altitude. They live by fishing, weaving and now, tourism. Women still wear colorful outfits including full skirts and the popular derby type hat. source

After returning by boat to the mainland, we hopped on buses with all the kids and traveled with them to their different homes to drop them off. This was an eye-opening experience, as we saw the kids exit the bus to their homes, located in the really rundown part of Puno. We passed over bumpy dirt/mud roads through an area filled with people making bricks. It was basically like a brick factory. This isn’t a picture from this particular area of town (I wish I had pictures of it), but this gives you an idea of the poor living conditions of the Peruvians:

We arrived back at the orphanage around 2 o’clock and relaxed the rest of the afternoon until the New Years Mass at 8pm. After Mass we had New Years dinner which we saw the preparations for earlier in the day (roast pig), along with potatoes, rice, tea and grapes. Twelve grapes were served to us in a little bowl which represent the upcoming months of the new year. The tradition is to make a wish for each month as you eat the grape. They also gave us big yellow party hats which I don’t know if there’s a tradition or story for. The grape wishing is actually supposed to be done at midnight but we were too tired and went to bed at 11. We were so tired the fireworks didn’t even wake us up.