LIFE ON THE FLOATING ISLANDS OF LAKE TITICACA

The Uros people have built their entire world — homes, boats, even the islands themselves — from totora reeds. For at least seven centuries, this ancient civilisation has lived on the surface of the world's highest navigable lake, at 3,812 metres above sea level, on islands that must be constantly rebuilt as the reeds decay from below.

The floating islands of Lake Titicaca are not a tourist fabrication. They are living communities where families are born, grow old, and die in a landscape of their own making. Each island is roughly the size of a basketball court and home to between three and ten families. Beneath your feet, you can feel the island flex gently under your weight — a surreal sensation that never quite loses its strangeness.

Totora reeds are the foundation of Uros life. They are harvested from the lake margins, dried, and woven into mats that form the floating base. Fresh reeds are continuously added to the surface as the lower layers decompose. The reeds are also eaten — their soft white interior has a mild, slightly sweet flavour — and used to make the iconic dragon-headed boats that serve as water taxis and ceremonial vessels.

Taquile Island, accessible by a 45-minute boat ride from the Uros communities, offers a contrasting experience. The Taquile people are famous for their textile art — intricate weavings that the UNESCO has recognised as part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The island has no vehicles, no dogs, and operates on a collective economic system that dates back centuries.

Lake Titicaca at sunset, seen from the deck of a slow boat returning to Puno, is among the most affecting landscapes in South America. The water changes colour — from deep cobalt blue to copper and then to the purple of a Kantuta flower — while the mountains of Bolivia appear as a dark silhouette on the horizon.