Los Uros, Lake Titicaca

I enjoyed a big breakfast at my hotel in Puno then my guide picked me up and we headed down to the marina to go out to Los Uros which is the floating islands in Lake Titicaca where indigenous people live and work. The taxi to the marina was late but we still made it in plenty of time. My guide gave the taxi driver grief for being late. We boarded a boat and headed out onto the lake about ten in the morning. There were fishermen working nets in the lake. We watched them circle their boats and then drop the net while other boats tried to drive fish into the mouth of the net before they pulled it up.

The lake had reeds growing all along the shoreline. These are the reeds that the islands are made from. They cut the reeds, dry them and then bundle them into long tightly tied bundles which they then tie together on top of the previously placed bundles. The bundles at the bottom just rot away eventually. They also make their boats and houses out of the same bundles of reeds. I really liked the boats. They had either one or two hulls and some of them had fancy designs and faces on their bows. The boats were either poled along or paddled sometimes with a combination rudder paddle and sometimes with separate rudder and paddles. A few of them had small outboard motors on them either gas or battery powered.

We passed a few of their boats on the way to the islands. The people in the boats were always friendly and waved at us. Some of them were fishing and some of them were going to or coming from the market in town and some of them were water taxis moving people around the lake from island to island or shore. We had to stop at a controlled point to enter the area around the islands. I noticed a water tower on the first island I saw. The had plumbing for drinking water I guess. We drove up to the first island and the people came out to greet us. We docked the boat against the island and carefully climbed out onto the floating reed islands. The inhabitants were all dressed in very colorful clothes. I had to laugh at some of their hats perched on top of their heads. Real character showed through in their hats. We assembled in a circle and sat on some reed bundles while our guide gave us a history of the islands and the culture from early days to the present. Then some of the people showed us how they cook and what they eat. There were demonstrations of making clothing out of raw wool and a discussion about the fishing in the lake. They had a few trout in an enclosed lagoon on the island. The trout in the lagoon were up to almost two feet long and several pounds. I wanted to go fishing. After the show we broke up and people that came out with me on my boat started to shop for handicrafts the locals were selling. Since I don't buy anything I wandered around.

A fancy reed boat was coming in to land on the island and I reached out to have them throw me the line and when they did I pulled them in close to the dock. We started to talk and I told the owners of the boat I wanted to go for a ride on their boat. They immediately agreed to take me and some of my friends out for a ride on the boat. We piled on the boat and pushed off the island. The man was using a pole to push and paddle with and a woman dressed in hot pink with long black braids with tassles on the ends was at the rudder/paddle combo in the stern of the boat. Since I was sitting near her I started to chat with her in Spanish since she did not speak English. She had three kids from on to ten years old, but was single and according to her own comments, she was in the market for a husband. The man she was on the boat with was her uncle. She was laughing all the time and started to act all suggestive with me. She told me she wanted me to be her new husband. We all got a laugh out of that. But she persisted with flirting with me the rest of the day. We had a good time. She tried to talk me into staying the night that night and told me if I did I would never want to leave again after she was done with me. I did not doubt her for a second. She was serious I am sure. But we cruised around for a while and then the uncle wanted to take us back to the island for lunch. We went back. I climbed off the boat and she grabbed my ass as I tried to step off. I laughed at her but one look in her eyes and I knew she meant business. My friends and I thanked them for the ride and gave the uncle some cash for their time. Then we went to eat some lunch. My tour group had lunch included but I branched out and had some fresh fried trout that they pulled out of their lagoon and cooked up for me. My girlfriend or future ex wife, from the boat came over and sat down next to me. She was aggressively trying to get me to stay the night. I shared my trout with her and we talked some more. I tried to gently let her down by telling her I had to go back to town because I took medication that I needed which was back at my hotel. She offered to take me to go get it in her boat. I couldn't win at her game. I should have just taken her up on her offer. Finally the tour operator collected us to go to the next spot and I extricated myself in the group. She gave me a pouting look when I left.

We went to another island after the first one. It was mostly the same with a greeting and some handicraft sales but they did some more history and demonstrations too. They told us about how they make the islands and boats from the reeds. It was interesting. A boat takes about two months to make and lasts about a year before it gets too waterlogged to use anymore. I would have liked to have taken one back to the San Francisco bay area just for the curiosity factor. After this stop we drove around in the boat to see some sights along the shoreline and then we headed back to Puno.

I enjoyed my day. I was nearly raped by the one woman but all is good. She was fun to hang around with for a couple of hours. I might have taken her up on her offer if I had felt better but I was not feeling so good and I was on a tightly planned schedule. She will find her new husband I am sure. I kicked back at my hotel and rested. I was pretty tired. We were at 12,700 feet and I could feel it now. The next day I was going back to Cuzco then on to Machu Picchu and I was looking forward to that.