When you leave a beautiful place, you carry it with you wherever you go
It is incredible what surprise we can find in this beautiful country that offers all what one need and definitely much more. Discover the most important Lake Titicaca Facts on the following article.
Among all the incredible tourist sites that Peru has, we cannot fail to mention the highest navigable lake in the world. Lake Titicaca the world’s highest navigable body of water, is located between Bolivia and Peru. It is situated at a very high altitude, at over 3800 meters about sea level. It is a sacred place for the Inca civilization, as the Incan mythology says that the first Inca king, Manco Capac, was born here.
As said, Lake Titicaca, is the world’s highest lake navigable to large vessels, lying at 12,500 feet (3,810 meters) above sea level in the Andes Mountains of South America, astride the border between Peru to the west and Bolivia to the east. Titicaca is the second largest lake of South America (after Maracaibo). It covers some 3,200 square miles (8,300 square km) and extends in a northwest-to-southeast direction for a distance of 120 miles (190 km). It is 50 miles (80 km) across at its widest point. A narrow strait, Tiquina, separates the lake into two bodies of water. The smaller, in the southeast, is called Lake Huiñaymarca in Bolivia and Lake Pequeño in Peru; the larger, in the northwest, is called Lake Chucuito in Bolivia and Lake Grande in Peru.
The lake averages between 460 and 600 feet (140 and 180 meters) in depth, but the bottom tilts sharply toward the Bolivian shore, reaching its greatest recorded depth of 920 feet (280 meters) off Isla Soto in the lake’s northeast corner.
Titicaca’s level fluctuates seasonally and over a cycle of years. During the rainy season (summer, from December to March) the level of the lake rises, normally to recede during the dry winter months.
You also have to know that at Lake Titicaca there are three vey beautiful islands where the people live with their very special customs. –
The floating islands of Uros
This island is constructed from totora, a plant that grows under the cold water. In the floating islands of Uros, there are houses, schools and churches build also with totora plant.
The Aymara people, who are considered as one of the most ancient Andean civilizations in Peru and who rose up long before the Incas, are the citizens in these almost 40 Islands.
Their economy is based on fishing, sale of handicrafts, and barter. It takes about 30 minutes from the shores of Lake Titicaca to get to the Uros floating islands.
Taquile Island
Travelers get to this place by boat from the Island of Uros in approximately 3 hours. Taquile Island has 567-step stairs that you must go up if you want to visit the upper part of the town and watch a magical landscape.
There is community-based or experienced-based tourism, which means that tourists should stay in the houses of locals and learn from them what they need to do to eat and survive. Barter is still carried out in this place inhabited by Quechua speakers. However, their main means of income are agriculture, handicrafts, and textile work, which is worldwide-recognized.
Amantaní Island
It is a place full of vegetation and beautiful fields; Amantaní Island hosts trees and flowers such as gum trees and Qantuta flowers. It is also known as the “Love Island” because of the romanticism evoked by its captivating landscapes, it is the largest island in Lake Titicaca.
Like Taquile Island, there is no lodging in this island, so you may stay in the houses of locals, which allows you to get to know better these ancestral communities that preserve the traditions of their ancestors.
The journey by boat from the floating islands of Uros to Amantaní Island takes about three hours.
Finally in Lake Titicaca you can practice sports like diving, sailing and paddling. Another activity to carry out is kayaking, departing from Esteves Island to floating island of Uros. Trekking and cycling are also fun activities you will enjoy on the shores of this impressive lake.
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