To visitors to Lake Titicaca at an altitude of 12,500 feet, a boat trip to the floating islands, a unique tourist destination, is a must. There are about forty islands made and re-made from the totora reeds which provide home, sustenance and transportation for their residents. Tours are easily available from Puno, Peru, about a two hour boat ride away.
Peru and Bolivia share the lake, which is 3,500 square miles, and about 850 feet deep in the center. The Uros islands lie among stands of reeds in shallow water at the western end, close to the Peruvian port of Puno.
These floating islands are the home of the Uros tribe, one which pre-dates the Incan civilization. According to their legends, they existed before the sun, when the earth was still dark and cold. Because of their simple and precarious lifestyle, the Incas thought them worth little and accordingly taxed them very little. Yet the Uros, with their basic reed homes outlasted the mighty Incas with their huge stone temples and mountain-top enclaves.
