Titicaca

We have now reached the Titicaca Lake. Only two South American episodes left… then back to Paris. (I’m sorry, but this will be a bit long; there is so much to tell about this Lake.)

Titicaca, at some 3800 meters altitude (12500 ft) is the highest navigable lake in the world and the largest in South America. There is a great number of arriving rivers, but only one major departing river, taking care of only 5 or 10% of the lake’s water balance, the rest is handled by evaporation. The water is actually slightly salty, about 1%. The level changes somewhat according to the seasons and there is also a small tide. The shores and the lake are split between Peru and Bolivia. There are more than 40 islands, some of which are inhabited. As a curiosity: Bolivia has no access to the Sea, but has a Navy, based on the Lake.

The legend says that not only the first Incas, Manco Capac and his sister Mama Ocllo emerged from the lake, but also the sun! Already before the Incas, the lake was “holy”, inhabited by Aymara Indians. Today part of the population speaks Aymara, part speaks Quechua, the Inca language. Titicaca means the “Rock of the Puma” in Aymara language.

It was said that the Inca treasure was hidden in the Lake. J-Y Cousteau spent eight weeks with his submarine, but found nothing but a new frog specie.

I spent two days on the Lake, its shores and some of its islands.

The islands which are the easiest to reach when you are based in Puno (arrival point of the train from Cusco) are the famous Uros artificial islands made of floating reeds. They are populated by some 2000 people - meaning a lot of intermarriages -, living on fishing, bird hunting and eggs and today on tourism. As the bottom of the islands decay, they put new reeds on top, but after some ten years they have to construct a new island. Their “houses” are very simple (see one of the photos) and there are no commodities… however some of them have invested in solar panels and can have some temporary access to light, television…

Some three hours navigation in a small boat allows you to reach the Taquile Island. The island, with a population of some 3500, is self governed (you can see the “government” having their weekly meeting on one of the photos) – they try to avoid their way of living to be too destroyed by tourism. One particularity is that only men have the right to knit. The handicraft they produce is slightly different from what you find elsewhere and is really beautiful.

On the way back to Puno, the engine of the boat gave up and we were seriously delayed before another boat came to tow us ashore.

The following day, I went by a small bus along the shore and we crossed the border to Bolivia (the arch you can see on one photo below). We arrived at Copacabana. I learnt that the name is Quechua (Inca) and should mean “Looking out on the blue” or something similar. The more famous Copacabana actually got its name from this place, which has a very modest beach compared to the Rio version.

From there we left by catamaran to Isla del Sol (Sun Island), another fantastic (Bolivian) island. We fed some friendly (but spitting) llamas and alpacas, got a blessing from the local island governor (I’m sitting with him and a young girl on one of the photos), got an opportunity to (try to) row a boat made of reed… and left again with the catamaran for the Bolivian shore, from where we took a bus in the direction of La Paz.

One last detail: On the lake I looked up on the sun and found that it was surrounded by a rain bow… or do you say circle? This lasted for half an hour.

Added 27/10:

Isabella kindly advised that this rare phenomenon is called an icebow!

Once more, I suggest you go to my photo blog to see the photos in full size.

... and now I will give you and myself a break until Monday; nice weekend to you all!