Legend of the Uros

The Uros are a group of people who live on floating islands in Lake Titicaca, Peru.  the floating islands are quite literally just that... floating islands.  The people who live on them, the Uros, make the islands out of totora reeds that grow in the lake.  There are many layers of reeds, criss-crossing, to make the foundation that they live on.  Even the huts that they dwell in and the boats that they travel in are well constructed with tightly  wound reeds.  The legend of these strange people that float around on a lake their whole lives is simple and goes like this:  They believe that their ancestors existed before the sun and the moon.  They were immune to drowning and being struck by lightning.  They only lost their superior status when they disobeyed universal order and mixed with human beings.  Since then they have been scattered but remain on their various floating islands as the Uro tribes.  As we visited these people and their minuscule islands that were maybe 100 feet wide, it felt as if we'd gone back in time.  Each family lives in a tiny hut with one bed.  There is little to no electricity throughout these islands and they make nearly all of their own clothes as well as many beautiful handicrafts.   The lives of these people revolve simply around surviving.  Throughout their lives, their islands must be constantly added onto with more reeds as the bottom layers slowly disintegrate.  Although I don´t believe in the legend of their ancestors, I believe that if you can live in the middle of a massive lake on nothing but reeds for your entire life, you truly can be considered legend.