Are the Uros people living in a bubble of time? Is Uros Islands worth visiting?
Ah… Uros Islands. The floating man-made islands created by the ancient renowned Uros people situated on Lake Titicaca. Pictures of the straw huts and straw islands with brightly dressed locals enticing you to check out this mystery. People either love it or they hate it, there’s no in-between.
I initially didn’t want to visit the island, it just didn’t appeal to me. The whole setup, it just seemed off. Some friends, on the other hand, spoke very highly of this place, so what gives?
Lake Titicaca
The Uros Islands are situated on Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world (3812 m/12506 ft). Navigable meaning sailable by boats or ships (so by no means is it the actual highest lake). It’s so large that it just looks like you’re looking out to the sea. And if you do see land, it’s almost like looking across a strait.
On its own, I wouldn’t plan a trip just to see Lake Titicaca. It’s just a body of water after all, and the islands, while interesting up close, don’t look very spectacular at a distance. Most people that visit are coming here for the islands (primarily Uros Island or Isla del Sol) or are simply passing through. Whatever your reason, just be sure it’s not the same reason of someone I bumped into: “I wanted to see how large it was”🤦🏼♀️
Uros Islands (very brief) History
Uros Islands are a string of artificial islands, an engineering marvel, created by the ancient Uros people to escape the invading Inca. The islands and buildings are made of totora reeds growing all over the immediate area.
This is pretty much the history accord to the tour I went on and from the majority of the internet. However, in researching info for this post, my tour operator’s website claims they escaped and lived on the boats themselves and instead made the islands more recently – accounting for a 400+ year discrepancy. Interesting.
After thinking about it more and now that I look at the catamaran-style boats (pictured in the video), it seems more and more plausible that the ‘houseboat’ came before the islands. How long would it actually take to create a liveable piece of floating land? How much notice were they given of the invasion? If they saw them at their doorstep, chances are the Uros didn’t ferry materials to and from town on a daily basis. Finally, if you’re trying to escape from an empire via water and you’re an expert shipbuilding fishing village, is your thought to build habitable boats or a floating island?
Anyway, that’s where my interest in the matter ends. Just some food for thought.
Modern-day Uros Islands
Modern-day Uros along with my sentiment can be summed up in a few words – solar panels and tourism. The islands I feel are a recreation of what life was like back in the day as a sort of outdoor living museum, but with modern adaptations. If that’s good enough for you then you will probably love this island and you should probably skip over the rest of this section and the next one.
On a tour, you get taken to the Puno docks where you can board a boat that service the islands. It’s at the docks you really get a feel that tourism is a big industry in Puno (probably the only industry). There’s simply rows and rows of boats that can each transport a few dozen people (in the video above you’ll see a lot of white boats moored at the islands). From there you will be taken to but one of the many islands that form part of the Uros Islands. Each island has it’s own group of Uros and caters to 1 boatload of tourists at a time. As such you can’t explore any island but the one they drop you off on (and the one mentioned later).On the island, you’ll receive the typical treatments: a demonstration, a brief history, how the islands work, presented with trinkets and wares to buy and offered other addons like a quick ride in a traditional boat.
After that portion of the tour, you are dropped off at a second location. I can’t remember if this was an island but it was big and had some larger structures on it which effectively served as a break stop where you could buy regular snacks, get a passport stamp like at Machu Picchu (but this one isn’t free) or buy more trinkets.
I’ve heard and seen stories where people dress up like the locals and listen to singing, but I’m so bloody glad that wasn’t my group. When you’re already less than half interested the last thing you want is some kind of cringy interactive element added to the mix. 🤦♂️
Do Uros people live on the islands?
Depending on who you talk to, the people either live on the island or they simply work on the island and don’t live on them. On the tour (at least on mine), you’re given the impression that they live there and that’s their way of life – one even said ‘this is my room’ when talking about one of the huts. 500+ years ago? Sure. But today? Hmm. If you’re on an island that runs accommodation, then yeah they’d probably stay there to look after you, but what about everyone else? Tourism is their primary business and that’s only during the day. It would make sense if they lived in town or nearby and simply travel to the islands daily for work (to entertain the tourists) – waste production, supplies, habitability, etc, but I’m sure you can imagine the detrimental image that would give to the whole present-day Uros mythos.
UROS Souvenirs
As for the souvenirs, I can’t say for certain if they actually make them on the islands or if they’re the regular mass-produced stuff from Lima. It’s not that it would be hard to figure out, it’s more that I wasn’t really paying attention. There are typical ‘work in progress’ demonstrations of some kind of textiles taking place in the background but at a glance, I wasn’t able to tell if it was legit or a farce demonstration like the alabaster shops in Egypt or the silver shops of Bali.
The photo above definitely looks like a collection of mass produced stuff. On the other hand, the toy boat below looks like it could have been crafted locally (the fact that it blends in with the reed ground is a good indicator) but this was a ‘demonstration’ boat, I don’t know if they were actually selling them.
If you’ve been walking around the markets in Lima or other areas then you could compare easily. If you see the same items in multiple shops, that’s a dead giveaway that it’s mass-produced in a factory (though it could still be factory hand made). You could also see if any of the items in these photos are in the shop (but that doesn’t necessarily mean all items for sale here are all mass-produced). If you’re coming from Bolivia then the shops of Puno would be your only reference.
In any case, I do love buying souvenirs (mass-produced or not) and if you do buy them here they’re more likely to say ‘Uros’ rather than ‘Peru’ or ‘Cusco’ etc and you’d be supporting the local Uros population and probably as well as… the local Lima population.
So why the hate?
So, you can now see where some of the polarising reviews on the internet come from. Largely it can be boiled down to tourism vs authenticity. With the tourism aspect shoved in your face in a not very discrete manner, it waters down authenticity significantly. Coupled with the ‘lite’ tour offered it has people questioning said experience.
Why is Uros Island different from anywhere else in Peru? At the other historic sites there’s nobody there claiming to be Incan and selling you wares. There is usually a clear division between the historic site and souvenir shops (although your tour may additionally end up at a tourist trap).
Staying on Uros Islands
It’s possible to spend the night on one of the islands if that’s your thing. Needless to say but facilities would be minimal. If you’re in the ‘love it’ camp then this could be an interesting insight.
Uros Islands logistics from Puno
Uros Islands are only 5km from the town of Puno. It takes roughly 20 to 30 minutes via boat and you may have to wait a bit while your boat fills up. Given the close proximity to Puno, if you arrive in Puno early, you can visit Uros Islands, explore town and leave the same afternoon without spending a night in Puno. Puno is a small town and I wouldn’t recommend staying for more than 1 night, if at all.
The tour to Uros Islands alone is a half-day tour lasting approximately 3-4 hours in total. If you do the tour via Peru Hop, it’s faster at around 2 hours. This is likely so it works in conjunction with their bus schedule but I didn’t book through Peru Hop as well to compare (I doubt anyone does). So it’s hard to say what exactly was cut to make it significantly shorter but there would probably be some efficiencies if they had a private boat. The tours from Peru Hop, at least for Uros and Taquile, were straight-up cheaper on the face of things too however I can’t say if service or activities were cut as a result, or if part of the price was already baked into the bus ticket whether you take up the tour or not.
Uros Islands without a tour
You can go to the islands without a tour by going to the docks and asking around there (like the poor man’s Galapagos off Paracas), but from what I’ve read, the experience is pretty much the same – you have to wait for your boat to fill and you get taken to one island – I wouldn’t be surprised if you were put with ‘tour paying’ people. You are effectively getting the ‘tour’ without the (significant) middleman markup but also without transfers to and from the dock to your hotel. So if you think you can sneakily avoid the pitfalls mentioned previously and explore ‘the real Uros’, you’re s**t out of luck.
Taquile Island
I justified my trip to Uros Islands by tacking on Taquile Island. Taquile Island is a natural (regular) island a fair way out from Puno in Lake Titicaca. Tours to Taquile Island are bundled with tours to Uros Islands which together make a full-day tour. While there are the tourist elements including a ‘musical performance’ and the sale of souvenirs (these I recognised in other stores), Taquile overall seems like less of a ‘show’ offering a more natural experience as you walk around the island. Definitely something I enjoyed more.
It takes a whopping 3 hours one way by fast boat to get to Taquile (30 minutes to Uros then 2.5 hrs to Taquile). If I recall correctly there was a ‘slow boat’ advertised which is cheaper but given that it’s a 6 hour return journey on the fast boat, I’d hate to even think about how long a slow boat takes (now that I think about it I wonder if it even exists).
If you tack on Taquile Island and decide not to spend the night in Puno, be careful with the timings since you arrive back in town after 17:30. Also, keep in mind it can take a considerable amount of time to drop everyone in the minivan off. Given that tours depart at around 06:30 you won’t have much time if any to explore the town on the same day.
Amanataní Island
Amanataní Island is situated close to Taquile Island and as such, is sold as a 3rd option – the 2 day 1 night tour. It typically includes both Uros and Taquile, with the night being spent in a homestay on Amanataní Island. If you simply can’t get enough of Lake Titicaca islands then ‘the works’ package is for you.
Taquile Island vs Isla de Sol
Which island should I visit? Should I visit both?
Isla de Sol is an island on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca off Copacabana (no not the famous beach in Rio). Copacabana is the Bolivian equivalent of Puno but far less developed.
If your trip is solely Peru or excludes Bolivia then the decision is straight forward. However, if you’re traveling by bus across the border from La Paz to Cusco or vice versa then this might be a decision you’ll come across as the bus route goes through Copacabana.
Isla del Sol is one of the main attractions of Copacabana. Uros Island is the main attraction of Puno however, Taquile Island is physically more similar to Isla del Sol.
I visited both and I’d have to say they are the same but different. If you have time and money then, by all means, visit both but I’d say most people would find them very similar. I.e. they’re both islands on Lake Titicaca, they both have a local population, both are high altitude with a hill to walk up and they both sport some great terraced island views. If I had to pick one, it would have to be Taquile simply because the walk is longer and I personally found it more enjoyable and engaging. It was guided, complete with history and other interesting info.
It’s worth mentioning that I did book Isla del Sol through Peru Hop (Bolivia Hop) so maybe that was why? It was essentially solely transportation. You arrive at the dock, walk a predetermined path on your own and board at a different dock in town. While I do usually prefer exploring on my own, the predetermined path and time constraint made it rather restricted.
The downside of Taquile Island is the significant duration onboard the boat (6hrs vs 3hrs total) and that can be a real drag. If this is an issue and you really want to visit at least one then go for Isla del Sol. Uros Island can be decided based on which camp you fall into – love it or hate it.
Uros Islands final thoughts
At the end of the day, the Uros Island experience costs only US$10-15 going via a tour (extra for Taquile, homestay, etc). So even if you end up not liking it, you haven’t wasted a lot of money or time (assuming you’re just passing through) and if you do love it, then the unforgettable experience has come at a pretty cheap price.
When you visit Uros Islands are you getting an authentic experience? Or is it all just a show and are the people effectively just actors? Perhaps it’s just good business to up-sell you on a boat ride, instead of simply including it. Would you still buy the souvenirs ‘to support them’ if you knew they lived in Puno? Would you even visit at all? Perhaps an authentic historical experience is just simply not good business as for the Matsieguenka Amazon Tribe. (see my Amazon post here)