We’re in Puno, Peru. This is the best place to see the Floating Reed Islands. With the geography of the lake and territorial boundaries you won’t be able to access them from Bolivia.
As we arrived late the night before it seems only fitting that we’re now rising early to meet our guide at 6.15am. It’s a quick drive across town to the port where it seems every boat on the lake has anchored for the night.
Our little group heads out as our guide tells us the history of Puno and why these people sought out a home on the reeds. It seems that they had a couple of choices. To be closer to the fishing stocks, but the more important was to be free from the Spanish and their demands for high taxes. As the people of the time couldn’t afford to pay the tax to the Spanish, the Spanish would set them to work in the mines for silver. This held terrible working conditions, and the lake offered refuge from this regime.
It’s a short run through the channel with reeds on either side and leaving as early as we do, we had the advantage of still waters all the way up the Chanel. I was astounded at how many people lived in these islands that just seemed to stretch on for miles.
Each island houses about eight families and it’s not one big island as I first thought but rather a series of smaller islands linked together.
We pull up and are ushered to a reed made bench set and the history presentation begins. It’s interesting to listen to and we now have an understanding why these people choose to live here and also how the islands are constructed.
Walking around the island is very spongy underfoot. Initially the people here would walk bare feet on the island, however this gave rise to many cases of arthritis in their feet and legs, now all wear shoes.
Over the years there have been several adjustments. To the way the reed boat are made, early boat models would last 6 months but now using nylon ropes boats can last up to 18 months. With all modern technology and the income from tourism, the island now have WiFi and I wonder how long their traditional way of life will survive.
Our tour last two hours and to be honest it’s long enough, however if you do want to stay longer there’s an opportunity to stay longer. There are several reed huts built for tourists that wish to overnight on the islands.
Like most places in the world, when people are poor they’ll be trying to seek something from you. But we had to resist as we still have miles to go and our luggage limit needs to stay low if we don’t want to pay for cargo on some of the low cost airlines we are still yet to fly with.
The Floating Lakes is a experience that should be done if you’re coming to Puno.
