2026 Mar 20-21: Puno, Uros Islands

A day in Puno city, then a couple nights and the intervening day on one of the Uros floating islands in Lake Titikaka.

The bus ride to Puno (on the 19th crosses the bordrr into Peru. You disembark, walk through Bolivia & then Peru border offices, reboard & off you go. Total elapsed - ~1 hour. Lots of 3-wheel taxis:

Puno is a mid-size city:

We met, had photos taken with one of the candidates in the upcoming presidential election:

There’s a string of floating islands in the lake - the Uros Islands. They’re man-made with reeds, anchored in place. Now, the main export is tourism - they show you how rhey used to live. 2000 inhabitants; speak Spanish, a bit of English, and the native language - Aymara.

Afternoon, took a skiff out to Titakaka Floating Lodge, on the island of Hacha Chaiwa, meaning Big Fish, run by a guy called Isaac and his son Isaac. Spent 2 nights. First night:

Morning of the intervening day, Isaac Sr took us out on the skiff & showed us how they used to fish, hunt animals and trap birds:

His brother, Noah, is a boat builder - builds boats in the traditional style, with reeds (pontoons filled with discarded water bottles & styrofoam):

Running about the neighborhood:

Afternoon we took a tour out to the island of Taquile:

Dear reader, on this day the real-life consequences of a collossal mistake made 30 years ago came home to roost like a ton of bricks. Had i not made that mistake, i’d have a beautiful place to live in Pacific Heights where i would be happy to settle down for the next 10 years. I write this here in the hope it will bring a little catharcism. Not so far.

Anyway, next morning, the morning of our departure:

Normally they push or pull these things around with their skiffs; here they are rowing one: