Peru – Puno & Lake Titicaca

There isn’t much to do in Puno and, to be honest, the city is quite ugly… But you should still go there for one reason: the islands! You have a few you can visit and you can even stay a night on some of them, but I chose to do a day trip to Uros Floating Islands and Taquile Island on Lake Titicaca (or Titikaka).

Lake Titicaca is 60% Peruvian and 40% Bolivian. It’s the 18th largest lake in the world, the largest in South America and the highest navigable lake in the world.

Yes, Uros is VERY touristy, but it’s still completely worth it! The Aymara people started creating these Floating Islands in 1450 to flee the Incas on the mainland, and then the Spanish. Since then, they have been living in these reed islands. There are 107 islands and 2000 inhabitants. The people actually choose who lives on each island and they will enlarge or reduce it if needed. Hey have to create new islands every 30-40 years because the reeds below will start shredding into pieces.

During the tour, you will go on one of the Floating Islands and meet the local people. They will sing for you, show you their houses and sell handmade souvenirs. They are super friendly and seem genuinely happy to show you around. You will also be able to do a 20 min boat tour on one of the reed boats (10 soles per person). Pretty fun really and you get great shots of the islands!

As our guide explained to us, local people do not get a salary for tourism but they don’t pay taxes as well. Their only income comes from the boat rides and selling their souvenirs. Please, do not give money out of pity for anything else, our guide told us, and I agree, if you start giving money, they will become beggars and depend on that kind of offerings. And it’s not the purpose of these tours!

Then we went to Taquile. National Geographic elected the island one of the 14 most beautiful islands in the world in 2014. And it is beautiful! Our tour brought us to the south part of the island, less touristy. We had traditional trucha (trout) for lunch in a nice little local restaurant and just walked around the island and beach. The local people do not use any mechanical technology, so it is very peaceful. I also love their philosophy of life: ama sua, ama llulla, ama qhilla (Quechu for don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t be lazy).

I booked my tour with Edgar Adventures and was very pleased! Our tour guide spoke very good English, was a native from Uros and have a lot of very good explanations (as well as little jokes!).