Puno is a Peruvian town on the edge of Lake Titicaca, its main attraction is the reed bed villages that float on its lake, home to the native Uros people. The islands are incredible, they take over five years to make (by cutting cubes of reed roots and adjoining them together then cross layering 3 meters deep of reeds over them). Each month new reeds a lain to maintain the island. The floating land lasts around 30 years before beginning to sink and the whole process starts again. Almost everything the Uros use is made from reeds: their houses, beds, home decor, seats and boats! Solar panels are used for electricity and a large stone is placed underneath a terracotta oven outside the house for cooking.

 

Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world at over 3,800 meters above sea level. We also visited the island of Taquile on the lake, the landscape was very Mediterranean and interestingly the men on the island weave textiles. Puno was our last destination in Peru before crossing the border to Bolivia and the eastern side of the lake.