Lake Titicaca (Bolivia/Peru) - Week 37

27th to 30th May

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I shall say this only once, unlike the myriad guides and guidebooks. Titi means puma and Caca means grey, the colour of the lake on a cloudy day. We have only seen it the most brilliant mediterranean blue, reflecting the cloudless skies above. With a lot of imagination and assistance from a large joint, the lake looks like a puma closing in on a rabbit. It is 3800m high, 100m long, 50 miles wide, 250m deep and 46% in Bolivia and 54% in Peru but don't quote me.

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Snow capped Andes behind Lake Titicaca

We stayed at the sweet little lakeside resort of Copacobana (picture above), the original from which the Rio one took its name. We stayed at the lovely Hostel Cupula and the first afternoon we had a wander to the cathedral and very typical religious museum full of random religious artifacts.

From there we took a boat trip to the Isla del Sol, and saw the site where a llama is still ritually sacrificed on midsummer's day. In the good old days it was a virgin. Has the practice died out because, as in Stockport, females with the necessary qualifications would be impossible to find? We did a three hour walk from the north to the south of the island which was a little bit tiring up the hills with the altitude being 4000m at the height. It was beautiful, however, with gorgeous panoramic views of the lake from all angles.

Ready for a potential swimming on the worlds slowest boat.

Pre-Inca sacrificial table

On to Puno, another dump, but it provides boat trips to the reed islands which lie a mile or two offshore. About 500 years ago, the original lakeside dwellers built and fled to these islands to escape some nasty invaders. Each is about 1/2 an acre and 8 ft thick. They are constructed on shore, floated out into the lake and last about 15 years. Each island accommodates up to 12 families. They subsist by fishing, husbandry (chicken, duck, trout and guinea pigs) and flogging homemade trinkets to tourists.

Your humble scribe thanks you for indulging him thus far. Whether the editorial board will consider his efforts merit a futher report remains to be seen.