Chasing Eden - Peru

Las Islas Flotantes

So....Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world at about 4000 meters. It also rains more here than any other spot in Peru I am told. That makes for impressive scenery....really.

Crisp, cobalt sky with low puffy clouds from the altitude framed by fertile, deep green, stepped farmland and a complete absence of modern stuff. I won't describe it more....I can add a picture later.

By far more interesting than the scenery were the Las Islas Flotantes (the Floating Islands). There is nothing else in the world like this. I was very amazed and even more entertained. Things get very amusing when traveling.

These "islands" are not islands at all really. They are a mat of reeds floating on the lake, anchored to the bottom with sticks. Although some of the islands are larger...most are about the size of my yard back in Easley...a little smaller maybe.

The reeds grow everywhere, and very quickly too (They "grow like reeds" I was told). If dug up, the roots of the reeds, along with the muck attached to them, float and form the foundation of the islands. Then they lay the reeds themselves over the muck in layers until it forms a spongy floating island...of dead reeds and muck.

The reeds rot from the bottom and so are constantly replaced from the top once a month so that the island doesn't sink....or become thin so that it will no longer hold weight.

The houses are also made of reeds and the reeds are partially edible as well. I ate one....it tasted like water and ruffage.

The boats that the islanders use to navigated the lake....also made of reeds. I didn't see anyone clothed in reeds although I wouldn't rule out the possibility.

As you can imagine, life on a reed island is pretty spartan...probably moreso than for the Spartans themselves. I cannot imagine that there is much in the way of the conversation "what do you want to do today?"

One can either sit on the reeds, stand or lie on the reeds...You can talk to whomever is on your small island...although I am not sure of what the conversation would consist.

There are no sports...I don't think that would work so well anyway...one could drown if they went out of bounds, or fall through the field if tackled too hard...homeruns would make baseball tough, unless the baseballs floated. I don't think reeds would make very good bats anyway.

There is no electricity on the "islands" and no running water. An island lasts about 40 or 50 years before it begins to sink under it own weight.

As far as I can tell the only two activities on the island are island-making and fishing.

Our guide said the Reed People are notoriously lazy and the primary fish they eat has the peculiar property of making one very sleepy 15 minutes after eating it.

I think that's very fortunate since there is likely little else to do anyway.

I guess you could go swimming...although at 4000 meters I am sure the water is freezing year around.

I did ask a few questions that I was curious about:

- Yes, they can all swim.
- No, an island has never burned down, at least in recent memory (that was my first question since to me an island full of dry reeds is easily the world's largest tinderbox).
- They make their money from tourists...before that (20 years or so ago) there was no money...at all...ever (just fish, water and reeds).
- Yes, there are schools and solar panels on some islands, given by former dictator Fujimori (most Peruvians I've talked to say that life was better under his dictatorship than under the current democratically elected president).
- They do not have an address, and so do not receive mail. There are no telephones.
- The islands are not considered land and so are not taxed.

I leave you with this bizzare scenario:

Lake Titicaca is remote by any measure. It has hundreds of miles of fertile, habitable coastline.

Imagine the ancestors of these people hundreds of years ago at a meeting of the elders........some idiot at the back high on cocoa leaves and tripping on some hallucinogenic cactus stands up and says, "Come on guys, seriously, let's make our own islands (even though there are already several "real" islands on the lake)...It'll be fun....land is overrated anyway!! And reeds taste good...you know they do...come on admit it. Who is with me?"

And somehow they thought it was a good idea!?!

Posted by kelliottdykes at March 30, 2005 02:17 PM