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The above was said by our “English” speaking tour guide to the Islas Flotantes (Floating Islands) near Puno, Peru (where we are now). He was referring to the fact that Peru claims 60% of Lake Titicaca and hence Bolivia gets the remaining 40%. These islands are truly floating - they have been constructed with layers of naturally buoyant totora reeds.

According to our guide, only about 30% of the population welcomes tourists, which probably explains the packaged and limited views we had of the island. However, the approach by boat from Puno offered a truly amazing sight - a city skyline (albeit not very tall) of huts and towers completely constructed with the tan totora reeds. Walking on the islands is very strange - imagine walking around on a haystack.

Also, the people do not eat pork (supposedly due to their religion), and I’m guessing cows are out of the question since they would probably fall through the reeds into the cold waters of Lake Titicaca. We didn’t see any chickens however, but we did see lots of rabbits (nice and lightweight and you know they reproduce quickly). The history of the people on the island is a bit long and complicated and I would not do it justice so here are a couple of links for you:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uros
http://gosouthamerica.about.com/od/topdestlaketiticaca/a/floatingislands.htm