Floating+Islands+of+Uros

The Floating Islands of the Uros **

//The **Uros** is the name of a group of pre- Incan people who live on 42 self-fashioned floating man-made islets located in Lake Titicaca off Puno, Peru// [5]. These people live, eat, sleep on these islands made completely out of the //totora// reeds that grow in the lake. //Food is cooked with fires placed on piles of stones. To relieve themselves, tiny 'outhouse' islands are near the main islands. The ground root absorbs the waste// [5]. Almost everything that they use and build are made out of the reeds as well. Their houses, tourist boats, watchtowers, and toys are all made from this plant. They even eat the reeds and put them in their recipes for meals! The white bottom of the reed called //chullo// is often eaten for iodine. This can help prevent  goiter, a disease that makes your neck swell due to an enlargening of the thyroid gland [5].

media type="youtube" key="yE43uhO8lww&hl=en" height="268" width="316" In the past, the Uros had their own language. However, as years passed, they would frequently intermarry with Aymara-speaking Indians, so they adopted their language [2]. The floating islands are inhabited by people whose parents and grandparents have also lived there. In other words, their children will most likely also live there. They are tied to each other and anchored to an "anchor island" that has roots that extend to the lake floor. An island is composed of layers of reeds stacked on top of each other. Each day, the bottom layer rots as time persists. In order to keep the islands sustained, the Uros people must lay down a fresh layer of reed every day. The people of the islands have very few possessions and live humble and simple lifestyles [3]. They buy their groceries from people who come around on boats every day with sugar, flower and other necessities. media type="youtube" key="OdC2ydxbl1Y&hl=en" height="278" width="328"

//Early schooling is done on several islands, including a traditional school and a school run by a Christian church. Older children and university students attend school on the mainland, often in nearby Puno [5].// These kids have to row themselves from the island to the mainland and back again in order to attend school on the mainland. media type="youtube" key="9ojX0KxCtRw&hl=en" height="283" width="337" They mostly make their living off of the tourists that come there everyday to see the islands. They sell crafted items, clothes, blankets, artwork, and other little trinkets to tourists that come by. They also offer boat rides on //balsas//, or boats shaped like canoes. The balsas are also made out of reed. It is very important that many tourists go there each day. Without the tourists, the Uros people could not live and survive [3]. A whole piece of history lies on these man-made islands which stretch for miles across the lake. media type="youtube" key="CqgVVnZeREM&hl=en" height="319" width="377"