The Urus or floating Islands are a bunch of man made islands that have existed in the lake for over a few hundred years (some say 900 years). I wasn't convinced by any of the explanations that the guide gave us about why they were created in the first place.
Each island has five or six families living on them. They are made of a very tough reed that is used in multiple layers in defferent froms so that the islands float but there is a solid surface on which to build huts as living quarters. Even so, it is all very wet and I imagine that this can't be very heathy for the population living on it. This reed has a soft inside which is supposed to be rich in nutrition and forms one of the staple foods along with trout or tricha as it is known in Spanish. The local boats that looked pretty solid are also made of this reed. Apparently sometime in the middle of this century a local fisherman crossed the Atlantic in one of these boats just tp prove how god they were. Naturally his island is a star attraction now.
All in all the Urus as a concpet is unique and really interesting but tourism has taken the charm out of them. The islands have become a show and when that happens, it is quite depressing. Having said that, the islands themselves are quite a revelation of mans ingenuity.
I came away wondering how young couples met...
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