Lake Titicaca, Peru - Uros Floating Islands - postcard, good stamps 1978

• Postcard

   

• Picture / Image:  Islas flotantes...Lake Titicaca 
• Publisher: obscured
• Postally used: yes
• Stamp:  Peru 24 & 6 + Monument al Agriculture overprint (see scan)
• Postmark(s): 1978 cds
• Sent to:  Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire, England
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Titicaca (Spanish: Lago Titicaca, pronounced [ˈlaɣo titiˈkaka], "Lake Titicaca"; Quechua: Titiqaqa Qucha, "Titiqaqa Lake") is a large, deep lake in the Andes on the border of Bolivia and Peru, often called the "highest navigable lake" in the world. By volume of water and by surface area, it is the largest lake in South America.[4][5][6] Lake Maracaibo has a larger surface area, but it is a tidal bay, not a lake.

Lake Titicaca has a surface elevation of 3,812 m (12,507 ft).[7][8] The "highest navigable lake" claim is generally considered to refer to commercial craft. Numerous smaller bodies of water around the world are at higher elevations.[9] For many years, the largest vessel afloat on the lake was the 2,200-ton (2,425 U.S. tons), 79-metre (259 ft) SS Ollanta. Today, the largest vessel is most likely the similarly sized train barge/float Manco Capac, operated by PeruRail.

Other cultures lived on Lake Titicaca prior to the arrival of the Incas. In 2000, a team of international archaeologists found the ruins of an underwater temple, thought to be between 1,000 and 1,500 years old, perhaps built by the Tiwanaku people. The ruins have been measured to be 200 by 50 m (660 by 160 ft).[10]

The "Floating Islands" are small, man-made islands constructed by the Uros (or Uru) people from layers of cut totora, a thick, buoyant reed that grows abundantly in the shallows of Lake Titicaca.[46] The Uros harvest the reeds that naturally grow on the lake's banks to make the islands by continuously adding reeds to the surface.

According to legend, the Uru people originated in the Amazon and migrated to the area of Lake Titicaca in the pre-Columbian era, where they were oppressed by the local population and were unable to secure land of their own.[46] They built the reed islands, which could be moved into deep water or to different parts of the lake, as necessary, for greater safety from their hostile neighbors on land.

Golden in color, many of the islands measure about 15 by 15 m (50 by 50 ft), and the largest are roughly half the size of a football field.[46][47] Each island contains several thatched houses, typically belonging to members of a single extended family.[46] Some of the islands have watchtowers and other buildings, also constructed of reeds.

Historically, most of the Uros islands were located near the middle of the lake, about 14 km (9 mi) from the shore; however, in 1986, after a major storm devastated the islands, many Uros rebuilt closer to shore.[46] As of 2011, about 1,200 Uros lived on an archipelago of 60 artificial islands,[46] clustering in the western corner of the lake near Puno, Titicaca's major Peruvian port town.[47] The islands have become one of Peru's tourist attractions, allowing the Uros to supplement their hunting and fishing by conveying visitors to the islands by motorboat and selling handicrafts.[46][47]