The floating islands of Peru’s Lake Titicaca

Andean actors sail in a totora raft during a re-enactment of the legend of Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo in an Uros island at Lake Titicaca in Puno. (Enrique Castro-Mendivil/Reuters)

The Uros islands are a group of 70 man-made totora reed islands floating on Peru’s Lake Titicaca. Its inhabitants, the Uros tribe, pre-date Incan civilization and continue to hunt and fish the plentiful land and waters they occupy.

Photographer Enrique Castro-Mendivile captured Andean actors performing a re-enactment of the legend of Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo on a Uros island in early November. According to an Inca legend, Manco Capac and Mama Occllo emerged from the waters of the lake carrying a golden staff instructed by the sun god Inti to create a temple in the spot where the staff sank into the earth. The actors involved in the re-enactment were locals from the islands.

All photos by Enrique Castro-Mendivil/Reuters