Uros, Lake Titicaca
The Uros Islands are made of reeds which grow naturally on the banks of Lake Titicaca.
The reeds are matted down and added to as they disintegrate at the bottom.
The islands float on the surface of the lake. The reeds used to make their island, homes, boats, etc. are called tortora reeds.
Uros-islands Peru, video-impression
The Uros
Article in Wikipedia
The Uros are a pre-Incan people who live on forty-two self-fashioned floating islands in Lake Titicaca Puno, Peru and Bolivia.
They form three main groups: Uru-Chipayas, Uru-Muratos and the Uru-Iruitos.
The latter are still located on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca and Desaguadero River.
The Uros use bundles of dried totora reeds to make reed boats (balsas mats), and to make the islands themselves.
The Uros islands at 3810 meters above sea level are just five kilometers west from Puno port.
Around 2,000 descendants of the Uros were counted in the 1997 census,
although only a few hundred still live on and maintain the islands; most have moved to the mainland.
The Uros also bury their dead on the mainland in special cemeteries.
The Uros do not reject modern technology: some boats have motors, some houses have solar panels to run appliances such as televisions, and the main island is home to an Uros-run FM radio station, which plays music for several hours a day.
Early schooling is done on several islands, including a traditional school and a school run by a Christian church. Older children and university students attend school on the mainland, often in nearby Puno.
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In the video we sail along a island and you see woman who show the former barter.
Floating Islands of Lake Titicaca
People started living on floating islands hundreds of years ago in order to escape paying taxes. Their descendants have continued the tradition.
Uros, Lake Titicaca, Peru - 2009
Uros children before going to school
The Uros Tribes have lived on these floating islands on Lake Titicaca for hundreds of years. The islands and homes are made of reeds which have to be constantly replenished. Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world.