Lake Titicaca Awaits

Kayak to floating islands, explore ancient tombs, and feel the warmth of Peru's highest lake under an impossibly blue sky.

A Week That Changed Everything

Ian McHale, a University of Vermont student and MEDLIFE volunteer, arrived in Puno expecting cold mountain air. Instead, the sun hit his face as he stepped off the plane in Juliaca, warm and brilliant—a first hint of the transformation ahead. Yampu Tours sponsored his final week in Peru, crafting a journey through Lake Titicaca's floating islands and the ancient burial grounds of Sillustani that would become the capstone to his summer of service and discovery.

Ian's Journey

Three Days That Changed Everything
From Puno's markets to Lake Titicaca's floating islands to Sillustani's ancient towers.

Puno's Warmth

Puno's Warmth

Fresh-baked chips from a wood oven, colorful markets stretching across the city, and the kind hospitality that makes you forget the altitude sickness.

Kayaking Uros

Kayaking Uros

Paddling across brilliant blue water toward 36 floating islands made of reeds and roots, where seven families on each island live as their ancestors did.

Sillustani's Towers

Sillustani's Towers

Ancient chullpas rising 40 feet above Lake Umayo, built by the Inca for their leaders and still standing as monuments to a civilization that shaped these highlands.

The Uros: Built on Water, Rooted in Tradition

The 36 floating islands of Uros are not natural—they're engineered from the reeds and roots that grow in Lake Titicaca's shallows. Each island is built 2-3 meters thick with blocks of woven reed roots and eucalyptus stakes lashed together, then layered with fresh reeds three feet deep. Beneath them, 60-70 meters of open water. The people of Uros fish for trout, travel to the mainland for supplies, and receive food deliveries by large reed boats. The Peruvian government installed solar energy so families can have light at night. Young people still sneak away on small reed boats to meet in private—a tradition as old as the islands themselves. When you kayak out to Uros, you're not visiting a museum. You're witnessing a living, breathing culture that has chosen to stay on the water.

What You'll Discover

The history, engineering, and culture of Peru's high plains revealed through Sillustani and Lake Titicaca.

  • Eucalyptus forests cleared for colonial silver min

  • 40-foot chullpas built with encircling ramps

  • Pre-Incan burial traditions still visible today

A Summer That Changed Everything

This summer was absolutely unbelievable. Ian McHale, a University of Vermont student, came to Peru as a MEDLIFE volunteer and left transformed. He connected his Biology major and Community and International Development minor through hands-on work that mattered, and by week's end, he'd been accepted into his Accelerated Masters of Public Health. The excursions Yampu Tours sponsored and planned—from kayaking the floating islands of Uros to standing among the ancient chullpas of Sillustani—weren't just breaks from the work. They were the capstone, the moment to breathe and reflect on how much he'd learned, experienced, and grown.

Plan Your Journey

Your Peru Adventure Awaits

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