Uros Floating Islands

— Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world: 12,507 ft (3,812 m) above sea level. The lake has an average surface temperature of 50 to 57 °F (10 to 14 °C). This is where you can marvel at the floating islands of Uros and also beautiful Andes views from the island of Taquile. At Uros, you can visit their homes, talk with them and understand how these people live. The islands are built entirely out of reeds. The Uros people constantly have to keep replacing old layers of reeds with new reeds. Also, in order to keep the islands from floating all over the lake, the people anchor them down. You can see one of the pipes in the photo here behind and between the two women in the center. We spent a couple of hours walking around this village and talking with its inhabitants. This is Suma Pacha, one of the 37 floating islands in Uros. The Uros are pre-Inca people who live on these islands and still speak their native language (called Uro or Pukina). The women wear brightly colored outfits and adornments. They all bear some significance in their society. For example, you can see some black adornment tied to their braided hair on these women. They indicate these are married women.