The day after arriving in Puno we visited the Uros Islands and Taquile Island on Lake Titicaca. From Puno it took around 45 minutes by boat to reach the Uros Islands, which are made entirely from reeds. There are dozens of islands, each one home to 5 or 6 families and we were given a tiny insight into the simple lifestyle of the inhabitants. The islanders live very much from their surroundings and do not believe in killing animals or fish for any purpose other than eating. Everything on the islands is made from reeds - their houses, boats, beds and they had various beautifully made souvenirs to sell to the tourists. It was really fascinating to see how these people live but it did make us wonder what they must make of the hundreds of tourists invading their habitat every day or indeed what they would make of our lifestyle!
From the Uros Islands we moved onto Taquile Island, which was much more developed and more of a village. It took around 2 hours to reach Taquile from the Uros and once we arrived we had a steep climb to the main square. There was much less to interest us there but the views from the top of the island out across the lake were completely stunning. After eating lunch at a small restaurant on the island, we returned to Puno, spending the entire return journey enjoying the afternoon sun on top of the boat!
Of all the cities/large towns that we have visited, Puno is probably the favourite. It lacked the pollution that we experienced in Cusco and also we did not have the problem of being hassled in the street every time we turned around.
From the Uros Islands we moved onto Taquile Island, which was much more developed and more of a village. It took around 2 hours to reach Taquile from the Uros and once we arrived we had a steep climb to the main square. There was much less to interest us there but the views from the top of the island out across the lake were completely stunning. After eating lunch at a small restaurant on the island, we returned to Puno, spending the entire return journey enjoying the afternoon sun on top of the boat!
Of all the cities/large towns that we have visited, Puno is probably the favourite. It lacked the pollution that we experienced in Cusco and also we did not have the problem of being hassled in the street every time we turned around.
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