Islas de Los Uros — Attraction in undefined

The island themselves were cool to see and it started off in a pleasant way when visiting one of the small islands and getting a presentation of how they are made etc. They then asked for a donation which seemed fair enough. Then we were supposed to se how they lived inside of the little houses, and while in the house it was more of a store where the next sales pitch started. A few minutes later we were asked to buy souvenirs as a memory of our visit. It was all way overpriced and the exact same key rings, lamas etc that are found in every street corner in all of Peru. When getting on the boat again some of the girls on the island seemed to be forced (?) to sing for us. They stared in the ground and mumbled through the song and obviously found it humiliating, which it was. Later on a five year old girl living on the island sang on the boat and then proceeded to ask every passenger for money. The whole thing felt very strange and we regreted that we ended up supporting these kids and young girls essentially begging for money. Something feels way off about the culture at least on the island we visited. A shame, since the islands themselves are obviously a very unique thing. Would not recommend...

The Uros (or Uru) are one of the oldest peoples of the Andes who today mainly live around Lake Titicaca, Lake Poopó and along the Rio Lauca. The best known group are the Uros who live on the floating islands in Lake Titicaca near Puno, Peru. With the arrival of the Incas, the Uros, who lived mainly from hunting and fishing, fled to Lake Titicaca where they built and still build their famous floating islands from the thick blocks of totora reed roots. The totora reed is a building material by the Uros on the one hand, they not only make their islands from it, but also their huts and boats, and on the other hand the white underside of the reed is eaten (and is therefore a source of iodine). Where the Uros used to have to live from hunting and fishing, a difficult life that did not generate a particularly high income, nowadays tourism is an important source of income. An educational excursion, the sale of souvenirs and even an overnight stay are possible. The floating islands: a fun and unique...

Our boat stopped on the way over to Taquile Island. Fascinating how the original islands were created by local tribes escaping invaders and that ,so many centuries later ,these are still maintained by descendants. Obviously now reliant on mainly tourism, fishing and agriculture, and sadly ,mainly inhabited by the older generations (although about 1/4 are younger) it was so uplifting to find a group of super happy, simple ladies(and one man) happy to show off their way of life, crafts ,sing and dance and share their love of life and pride in family and achievements. Also happy to pay(not a lot) for a ride in one of the colourful boats. Not sure how they put up with the severe cold in winter . I speak a number of languages and was so sorry that I lack the Spanish ,or Quecha or anything better than sign language to communicate with these...