Puno - The Floating Islands

I loved the floating islands. They were better than I thought they would be, there are a few hundred of them on the lake facing Puno. They do quite literally float, they're made from the reeds which grow naturally on the lake. It's bizarre, the sensation of walking on a floating pile of straw. The islands are attached to the bottom of the lake at a couple of points so they don't move, but they can be moved and pinned elsewhere.

They're largely fisherman and artisans, descendants of a tribe fleeing from the brutal and bloodthirsty but evidently lazy Incas who couldn't be bothered to pursue them on the water and left them alone on the lake.

It was amazingly peaceful being on the floating islands, I don't know if it was the setting and the novelty of being on something so unique or trying to appreciate and imagine a life in these straw huts on a floating village on a huge mountain lake. Really HOW do these people live? What do you do when you live on an island that is only a few square meters? What sort of contact nowadays do they have with dry land and the community in Puno?

I really was dumbfounded thinking about it.

The islands as seen from a distance as we made out way on the boat

The reeds that make the islands AND the houses on the islands

Some really cool mobiles and ceramics for sale - pretty much their only source of income apparently

I bought one of these but sadly its not as vibrantly colourful as the ones in these photos

Their boats!!

Amazing clouds - still at pretty high altitude so sometimes the clouds seems abnormally low

Quechua!

Cooking pots, really cool ones at that

A very cute puppy

A gimick, but you can write a postcard on the 'capital' island and pop it in the post box. I didn't...