Lake Titicaca is the world's highest navigable lake and the center of a region where thousands of subsistence farmers make a living fishing in its icy waters, growing potatoes in the rocky land at its edge or herding llama and alpaca at altitudes that leave Europeans and North Americans gasping for air. It is where traces of the rich Indian past still cling, in spite of, the past centuries of the Spanish conquistadors' aggressive campaign to erase Inca and preInca cultures and, in the most recent times, the lure of our modern societies. This is the most sacred body of water in the Inca empire and now it is the natural separation between Peru and Bolivia. It has a surface area exceeding 3,100 square miles, with more than 30 islands. At 12,725 feet above sea level Lake Titicaca has basically two climates: cold and rainy or cold and dry. In the evenings it becomes very cold, dropping below freezing from June through August. In the day, the sun is very hot and sunburning is quite common. Legend is that Lake Titicaca gave birth to the Inca civilization. Before the Incas, the lake and its islands were holy for the Aymará Indians, whose civilization was centered at Tiahuanaco, which is a complex of ruins on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca. Legend also says that the sun god had his children, Manco Capac and his sister consort Mama OcIlo, re-born from the cold waters of Lake Titicaca to found Cuzco along with the beginning of the Inca dynasty. Later on , during the Spanish Conquest, the lake is said to have became the hiding place for the emperors gold. Among the items buried upon the lake's bottom; is Inca Huascar's gold chain weighing about 4,400 pounds which was stored in Koricancha (The Temple of the Sun in Cuzco). But, his loyal subjects threw it into Lake Titicaca to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Spanish. In no way could we give you a complete description in the short time that we visited the lake. We hope this short page will make you interested in visiting Lake Titicaca. We visited Lake Titicaca on April 20, 2006 and on April 21, 2006.

Lake Titicaca From Puno

Lake Titicaca Esteves Island Libertador Hotel	Lake Titicaca, Leaving The Dock Area
Beautiful Green Duckweed	Lake Titicaca Esteves Island Libertador Hotel
Lake Titicaca Channel	Totora Reeds Near Uros Islands
Uros Islands	Uros Island Woman
Leaving The Uros Islands	Many Lake Titicaca Villages Along The Shoreline
Lake Titicaca Fisherman	Lake Titicaca Terraces
Bolivia Lies Beyond The Horizon	Taquile Island
Lake Titicaca Esteves Island Libertador Hotel Coming Back To Puno	The Waterway Back To Port
Lake Titicaca At Night From Libertador Hotel	Puno At Night From Libertador Hotel Parking Lot