Titicaca Lake (and Puno)

Umbros Islands (Islas Flotantes):

One of Peru's highlights is a visit to the artificial reed islands where the Umbros islands live. These islands, which are actually called the Islas Flotantes, are made of totora-reed that grows along the banks of the Titicaca River.

The dense roots that develop the plant ensure that the islands grow firmly. They are anchored with ropes that run to the bottom of the lake. The reeds at the bottom of the islets rotate quite quickly. When the water level is high, these islands float. As soon as the reeds dies off, a new layer is added.

The islands should be replaced after around 30 years. The residents make everything from reeds: houses, household goods, boats and so on. The local inhabitants fish, hunt for birds and make their cattle graze on the islands. The Indians cook with fires placed on heaps of stones. On the larger Urose Islands, about 10 families are housed, while the smaller islets, about 30 meters wide, offer only 2 or 3 families. The Uros also buried their dead in the Mainland. 

The people of Uros originally built these islands to escape the Incas. The Incas dominated the mainland at the time. The Uros traded with the Aymara on the mainland. They mingled, causing mixed of both peoples. Some 'left' the language of the Uros for the Aymara. Today, there are still about 3,000 descendants of the Uros, although only a hundred of them still live on the islands and maintain them.

Most have left the mainland where their children can go to school. Nowadays, the Uros live mostly from tourists visiting Puno from the islands.

Sillustani

At about one hour driving from Puno via a road with a well-tarmac-ed road along intensively used and partly artificially irrigated land with quinoa and sweet potatoes is the archaeological site of Sillustani at about 4000 m altitude.

From the small, poorly maintained museum in the valley you walk about 150m up to the high, from Colla people's highly visible grave towers. Collasuyo, the southern area of the Incarijk Tahuantinsuyo, was named after the Colla's living tribe.

The Colla's, together with the Lupaca's, ruled the region around Lake Titicaca. The Inca Empire swallowed more or less the both tribes. The people of the Colla's tribe spoke Aymara, were kind of agressive but greatly appreciated a burial of their noble in the so-called chull pass (the Aymara word for grave-towers), which have been preserved in various places around Puno. 

Because of their quality and dimensions, the Chullpas of Sillustani are the most symbolic and impressive of their kind in the area of Titicaca. The Colla's chose on purporse this idylic place, located on the peninsula of Lago Umayo, for their impressive tombstone. According to archaeologists, the most of the chull pass has already occurred in the time of Incarnity. The most round gravetowerss are 12 meters high and have a diameter of 5 meters. They contain the mummies of different nobles or whole (noble) families.

In the largest tower, the Chullpa del Lagarto, the dead were even stacked in five stories above each other. The dead were buried with food and drinks. After the funeral, the small door that was usually on the east side (to the rising sun) was blocked with big stones. The death of a nobleman meant death for the whole family. Spanish chroniclers mentioned that at the time of a nobleman's burial, twenty llamas were burned, and the deceased's wives, children and loved ones were killed.

Generations of grave robbers took important evidence from the towers, so that important clues about the Colla culture for archaeologists were lost forever. Fortunately, however, these huaqueros forget to take one important treasure: in 1971 archaeologists near the Chullpa del Lagarto discovered at a depth of about 1 meter a treasure from the Incatime, which contained nearly 4 kg of gold in addition to countless small things.