Lake Titicaca, Bolivia/Peru

During a three week tour of South America in 2002, Vee and I saw the famous Lake Titicaca, which is a huge expanse of water covering more than 3,000 sq miles (8,000 sq km) with more than 30 islands, divided - roughly east and west - between Bolivia and Peru respectively. What struck us immediately was the colour of the water - it was just so blue or azure. However, the water is always freezing cold because the lake is located at 12,700 feet (3,810 metres) which makes it the world's highest navigable lake.



Lake Titicaca - so blue

In fact, Lake Titicaca is not one lake but two, the main lake and a smaller one on the south side called Lago de Huinaimarca. Both the larger and the smaller lakes are divided east-west between Bolivia and Peru respectively but, at the point where the two lakes join (where the land almost touches), the international boundary dips to bring both sides of the interconnecting 'mouth' inside Bolivia.

We crossed the lake at this point, called San Pedro on the east and Tiquina on the west. The crossing takes a mere ten minutes, but it is the excuse for land-locked Bolivia to have navy in order to carry out the 'onerous' checks. Another fun feature of the crossing is that, whereas the passengers travel by motor launch, the bus with the luggage floats serenely behind on a raft.

From Tiquina, it is only a short ride to the picturesque port of Copacabana (this is actually the original one and the beach in Rio is named after it). From here, we took the opportunity for a three and a half hour boat ride out to the largest island in the lake called Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun). This island - which today still has some 3,000 inhabitants - has a special historical significance, since Inca folklore holds that this was the birthplace of the original Inca who took his powers from the sun. From the Isla del Sol, one could easily see the much smaller Isla de la Luna (Island of the Moon).








Languid llama and little lady on Lake Titicaca's Isla del Sol


Over in Peru, we spent the night at the Isla Esteves Hotel which is on the outskirts of Puno on a promontory jutting into the western side of Lake Titicaca. Next morning, from a mooring just outside the hotel, we took a motor launch to Isla de los Uros, the reed islands. We had never heard of these islands before but, amazing as it seems, they are made of local reeds which are strong enough to sustain small communities. The reeds are replaced every two-three months to keep the islands afloat. There are around 40 such islands and between them they are home to some 1,000 people. We took the motor launch to an island called Tribuna Kollas and, even though it was very small, it had a school and a museum on it. We then took a reed boat over to a second island called San Migel.




A young resident of one of Lake Titicaca's floating reed islands
tries to make a sale to Vee