Went to the Uros floating islands on the 17th and they are really interesting, Lake Titicaca is the only place in the world they exist, and becuase of that they have become slightly touristy but most of the traditional things are still there. The islands are made initially by reed roots which they cut into blocks and then tie together. They then layer reeds ontop and that makes the island. To stop the island floating away they tie all the islands together by ropes under the water, so if they did want to move the island all they do is untie the ropes and float it to the new position. They have to put a new layer of reeds on the island every month but so they don´t have to move everything each time they put more layers under the houses so they only have to lift them and relayer underneath once a year. There are loads of reed near the islands but these aree apparently damaged so they have to travel 8km to get the reeds. When walking on the islands it´s like walking on hay as it squashes and moves under you.
The reason the islands are there in the first place is because when the spanish arrived the locals went to live on the lake to avoid them. initially they lived on boats tied together and then over time these boats became islands.
After looking around the island we had a ride in one of the traditional boats, which are also made of reeds, so overtime they just rot away from the bottom, same as the islands.
We then headed to Amantani Island which is a were we stayed the night, with a local family. in the evening we climbed the hill on the island which gave us a really good view over the lake as the sun was setting.
At night we got dressed in traditional local dress, which meant poncho and hat for thew men, and we went to a dance. There was a local band playing local music which was really good. The dancing was more like a work out and afterwards I was a tired as after some of the treks, but it was really good fun and something different.
The next day we went to Taquile island, which is much more touristy as you go there on the day trips to the lake. The restuarant we stopped in gave us really good views over the lake, and we had grilled trout caught in the lake that morning. Afterwards we headed back to Puno
The next day I went to Sillustani and it´s not really what expected. The tombs are impressive as there built with huge blocks but then everything incan is. But got some good views over another lake.
