The Uros in Peru and the Floating Islands

The Uros floating islands, or the floating islands of the Uros, are one of the few floating villages in the world.

We’re dedicating an article to them because yes, they really made an impression on us! To be clear, what struck us was not so much the Uros tradition and culture itself, which we believe has by now been heavily shaped by the area’s tourism economy, but rather their ingenuity and their use of natural materials. Let us explain!
 

The Uros in Peru and the floating islands: history and interesting facts
 

Who the Uros are

Near Lake Titicaca (or rather, on the lake) live the Uros, an ethnic group that predates the Incas and originally came from Lake Uro-Uro in Bolivia. To escape invasions by the Incas and the Colla people, they took refuge on Lake Titicaca, where they still live today. Once they arrived at Lake Titicaca, they began building boats and eventually joining them together to create actual artificial islands—floating villages.
 

How the floating islands are built

The Uros live on floating islands on Lake Titicaca. Not all the islands found on the lake are open to tourists—only those that have chosen most strongly to benefit from tourism, such as the Uros islands.

These islands are unique precisely because of how they are made: they are formed by several layers of woven reeds called totora, a very strong aquatic plant that grows abundantly along the shores of the lake itself and allows these islands to float. Each island is about 3 meters thick.

These small islands, which together form a true archipelago, require constant maintenance, precisely because the natural material they are made from wears out very quickly and therefore must often be replaced. In fact, the deeper layers of the island gradually rot, so the upper layers are covered with new reeds, which is why the surface becomes increasingly soft and springy.
 

Life on the floating islands

The inhabitants of these islands have a very distinctive social organization: everyone makes their own clothes (and knitting is an exclusively male activity, while women handle the yarn and weaving), and they use different clothing elements—skirts, pom-poms, hats, and so on—to show their social status within the community (married, engaged, single, person in office, former person in office, and so on). 

An Uros person’s entire life is tied to the reeds, which they use to build houses, boats, and handicrafts that they sell to tourists who come to visit them.

On most of the islands, only one family lives, while some islands are communal. There is also a Capital Island, where there is a church and several buildings (also made of totora) where food and drinks can be purchased. Isn’t that incredible?!

During our TRIP TO PERU we visit this people and discover the floating islands. It is well worth experiencing what it feels like to be immersed in a world that is certainly different from our own and truly fascinating.